Would you turn back to 2nd Corinthians
chapter 10? Now, in this 10th chapter of
2nd Corinthians and on through the end of this letter, the Apostle
Paul is defending himself against the accusations that were made
against him. There were people in the church
at Corinth. that were seeking to undermine
his authority and they were making accusations against him. Look
in chapter 10, verse two, he says in he says, I beseech you
that I may not be bold when I'm present with the confidence wherewith
I think to be bold against some which think of us as if we walked
according to the flesh. They said Paul walks according
to the flesh. Look in verse nine of the same chapter. That I may
not seem as if I would terrify you by letters, for his letters
say they, these people who were undermining him, his letters
say they are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak
and his speech is contemptible. Look in chapter 11, verse 12.
But what I do that I will do that I may cut off occasion from
them which desire occasion, that wherein they glory, they may
be found even as we. For such are false apostles,"
he speaks of these people who are detracting from him, deceitful
workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ,
and no marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an angel
of light. Therefore it is no great thing
if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness,
whose end shall be according to their works. Look in verse
17 of this same chapter. That which I speak, I speak not
after the Lord, but as it were, foolishly, in this confidence
of boasting, seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will
glory also." Verse 22, are they Hebrews, these people who are
undermining me? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of
Abraham? So am I. Look in chapter 12, verse 11,
I've become a fool in glorying. You've compelled me, for I ought
to have been commended of you. For nothing am I behind the very
chiefest apostles, though I be nothing. Look in chapter 13,
verses 2 and 3. I told you, therefore, or I tell
you before and foretell you as if I were present the second
time and being absent now, I write to them which heretofore have
sinned and to all the other that I come again, I will not spare
since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, which to you
it is not weak, but is mighty in you. Look in verse five, he
says, examine yourselves, you're all examining me, he says, examine
yourselves, whether you be in the faith, prove your own selves. No, you're not your own selves,
how that Jesus Christ is in you, except you be reprobate. So we see from all these statements
Paul made that he was defending himself against the accusations
of the false prophets. Now, a false accusation is painful,
isn't it? Have you ever had a false accusation? Someone accused you of something
that you did not do. Now, as false accusation as painful
as it is, it's generally. Pointless to try to defend yourself.
Pointless. Don't try to defend yourself,
and if we need defending, the Lord will defend us, won't he?
We have that confidence, and I like what Spurgeon said regarding
Anything anybody says about you. You make it blacker and it'll
be closer to the truth. Do you believe that? Now, regarding everything anybody
says about you, you're going to have people talk about you.
It's wrong. It's wrong. It happens. People say negative things about
you. It might even be me that says
it. That's wrong. I hope I don't. But let me show
you a passage of scripture in Ecclesiastes, chapter seven,
that I found very helpful regarding this thing. How many times have you been
righteously indignant regarding what somebody said about you? Plenty, I'm sure. Look in verse
11 or verse 21. Also, the wise man said, take
no heat. Unto all words that are spoken,
lest thou hear thy servant curse thee. For oftentimes also thine own
heart knoweth that thou thyself likewise has cursed others. Now, for every bad thing somebody
said about you, probably there's 10 things you said bad about
others. It's best to keep our mouth shut. May the Lord enable
us to watch our tongues in this and don't seek to defend ourselves.
Just keep your mouth shut. That's the best policy. And remember
how many times you said negative things. I love that scripture.
I find that very comforting. So why did Paul so vigorously
defend himself? Because there's a lot of self
vindication going on from chapter 10 all the way to the end of
the book, because if he was undermined, the gospel he preached was undermined. If his authority was questioned,
the authority of the gospel he preached was questioned. So he
begins his defense in chapter 10. Verse one. Now, I call myself beseech you. And I love his argument, I beseech
you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. Who in presence, here's
the way I am in your presence, I'm base among you, but being
absent, I'm bold toward you. Now, what's this all about? Well,
look in verse 10. The same chapter, for his letters say they are
weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak and his
speech contentable. Let such a one think this, that
such as we are in word by letters when we're absent, such will
we be also indeed when we are present. Now, Paul's using a
little sarcasm here. And sometimes sarcasm sets things
in the clearest light. They say that I'm base in my
presence, but I have weighty letters. OK, I'm going to be
weighty in my presence also when I'm with you. Verse two of chapter
10. But I beseech you that I may
not be bold when I'm present with that confidence, wherewith
I think to be bold against some which think of us as if we walked
after the flesh. Now Paul's saying, I don't want
to come to you in the boldness of apostolic authority. Now Paul
had some authority. He had some ability to do some
things. Remember there in Acts, it's either Acts chapter 12 or
chapter 13, where that man by the name of Simon Bar Jesus was
opposing him when he was preaching, and Paul struck him blind. He
had some apostolic authority where he could do things. And
you know, I got to think about this. I'm glad nobody else has
that. How would you like it if I had that? You'd probably be
scared to death. You wouldn't cross me, would
you? Now, Paul had a gracious attitude. He said, I don't want
to use that apostolic authority in any way other than edification. That's all I want to do. I don't
want to come in your presence and use this apostolic authority.
Remember in 2 Corinthians 5, when he talked about delivering
that one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit
might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus? Now, I don't
know what all that means, but it doesn't sound good. And I don't want
it happening to me. Now, Paul had this kind of authority,
but he said, I don't want to bring that authority to show
these people the authority I have. The authority I want to bring
is for edification, not for destruction. But I beseech you, verse two,
that I may be bold when I'm present with that confidence, wherewith
I think to be bold against some which think of us as if we walked
according to the flesh. That's the accusation they're
making against us. For though we walk in the flesh,
and we do, don't we? We walk in the flesh. Now, what
does it mean to walk in the flesh? It means to walk in a sinful
body, in sinful human nature. Paul said we walk in the flesh. We realize that. He said, I know.
He said this in Romans 7 to 18 about himself. I know that in
me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. Do you know that about yourself?
That in your flesh dwells no good thing. He said, we walk
after the flesh. We realize that. Though we walk
in the flesh, we don't war after the flesh. Now, we have a war
to fight. You know, we're called upon to
be good soldiers of the Lord Jesus Christ. And indeed, we
have a war, a battle to fight. Though we walk in the flesh,
we do not war after the flesh. We do not conduct this war after
the flesh. Relying. Upon fleshly means and
fleshly wisdom and fleshly thoughts were not guided by the principles
of the natural man, nor do we depend on porn, nor do we depend
for success on what we're doing. In anything that human nature
can enable us to do, we're not warring after the flesh. This
is a supernatural battle. What I'm doing right now, I'm
not depending upon the flesh. I'm not depending upon me being
able to talk you into anything, me trying to move you. I'm not
trying to manipulate you. We're not warring after the flesh. The weapons of our warfare are
not carnal. They're not fleshly. But in verse
four, For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, they're
not fleshly, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. When he says the weapons of our
warfare are not carnal, he says they don't come from any human
source. Now, anything that's born in
the flesh is what? Flesh. There's no good to come
from it, no spiritual good. It doesn't do me any good. It
doesn't do you any good. The weapons of our warfare are
not carnal, they're not fleshly. Hold your finger there and turn
back to 1 Corinthians 2. Paul says in verse 1, And I,
brethren, when I came to you, I came not with excellency of
speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus
Christ, and Him crucified. I didn't care about anything
else. And I was with you in weakness, in fear, in much trembling, conscious
of my own weakness, fearful of misrepresenting God, trembling.
And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of
man's wisdom. I wasn't using plausible human
arguments trying to talk you into my way of thinking. But
in demonstration of the Spirit, Complete dependence upon the
spirit of God to take his truth and apply it to my heart and
your heart. And that's the only way to conduct
this warfare. Complete dependence upon the
spirit of God. And he says, I did this in verse
five, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men,
but in the power of God. Now, Paul is saying, I'm not
relying upon human resources. I'm not relying upon human reason.
I'm not relying on the power of arguments or eloquence, no
plans and modes of operation that are human, no methods of
marketing the gospel. Now, listen to this statement
real carefully. I got this written down just
the way I wanted to say it, so listen real carefully. The success
of the gospel depends on it being presented not as the word of
man, but as the word of God. It's a message not to be proved,
but to be believed and to be bowed to. That is the message
of the gospel. Now, the weapons of our warfare
are not found in the weakness of the flesh, but Paul says they're
mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. And those
strongholds are the fortresses that men hide themselves in.
And there's so many fortresses that men hide themselves in.
For instance, how many people are indifferent? Just indifferent,
they don't even think about the things of God. They don't really
care. I'm fine just the way I am. I'm
not really interested. I'm not interested in what you
believe. I'm not interested. How many people have you come
across like that? Quite a number. But you know, when the Lord gets
a hold of somebody, he's able to change all that right now.
And all of a sudden, that person who was totally indifferent sees
that this is the one thing needful. And it's more important to them
than anything else to know Christ and to be found in him. Here's
another refuge men hide in, but we already know. I mean, you
can't give us any information we don't already know. People
are so proud of their knowledge that we already know. But you
know, the Lord is mighty to make you to find out that you don't
know anything, that all your knowledge is vanity and you really
know nothing. Here's another refuge people
hide in. Well, how can we know? We can't really know anything.
We can't know anything for sure. I mean, you can't give me anything
solid. How can we know for sure? We
can know nothing for sure. Are you sure? Are you sure? You see, when God gets a hold
of somebody, they know something for sure. He said, knowing, brethren,
beloved, your election of God for our gospel came not in the
word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in
much assurance. And that's not talking about
assurance of personal salvation. But you're assured that this
is the word of God. This is the truth. This is God's truth. God
is mighty to pull down that stronghold. Now, here's a stronghold that
most people dwell in. This is a fortress. They think
they're safe. Well, I can turn to God when I want to. Whenever
I decide to, I can turn to God. I can straighten things out.
I don't have time right now. I mean, I've got other issues,
but I'm planning one of these days. I'm going to turn to God
and I'm going to get saved. I'm going to be saved. All that
foolish religious talk and news. But you know, The Lord's able
to destroy that stronghold because you find out what our Lord said
in John chapter 6 verse 44. No man can come to me except
the Father which has sent me. Draw him. And I'll raise him
up at the last day. And the Lord makes you see that
this isn't up to you. It's up to Him. Salvation is
not whether or not you'll accept the Lord Jesus, but whether He'll
do something for you. You're totally in His hands.
It's totally up to you. It's up to Him, and you can't
do any. You're totally dependent upon Him. You find out you're
in the hands of the sovereign God, who can save you, or He can pass
you by. And when you find that out, that's
when you start crying for mercy. Lord, have mercy on me. But you
know, the Lord is able to knock down all of these strongholds. Notice what it says in verse
3. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through
God, to the pulling down of strongholds, verse 5, casting down imaginations. That is, reasonings. This is
divine revelation, and all the reasonings and objections men
come up with, God's able to cast them down. Now, we can argue
with somebody until we're blue in the face, and what good will
it do? Absolutely nothing. operates in sovereign, irresistible,
invincible grace. All those reasonings, all those
human reasonings are cast down. You can make objections, but
God, when God shows you, he shows you that all your objections
are vain. The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they're
vain. I love that, don't you? Talk about the wise of this world.
The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. Casting down imaginations. And
look what it says next, and every high thing. Proud thing, self-righteous
thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. And. It brings into captivity
every thought to the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now. Notice what it says. All these
high things are pulled down, these thoughts of pride and self-sufficiency
and self-reliance. You're made to see that you're
nothing but a sinner and your only hope is that the Lord would
do something for you. You're in his hands. It's not
up to you. All these high things that you once hoped in, you see,
are no good. And you're made to see your complete
dependence upon the grace of God. And every thought is brought
into captivity. I love this. Every thought is
brought into captivity to the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, notice he doesn't say you
become totally obedient to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, that's
not what it says, is it? Now, I want to be obedient to
the Lord Jesus Christ and obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ is critical,
but that's not what this passage of scripture says. It says every
thought is brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Now let's talk about the obedience
of Christ for just a moment. The obedience of Christ. He never
sinned. When he walked upon this earth
for 33 years, he never sinned. That's his obedience. But not
only is there the obedience of his life, there's the obedience
of his death. Paul said in Philippians 2, he
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. And what
did he accomplish by his death on the cross? Now, listen to
me. When he bowed his mighty head and said, it is finished,
the salvation of all of God's elect was finished. My salvation was finished. All my sin was put away. His
obedience was given to me and I'm complete in him. Now, every thought is to be brought
into captivity to his obedience. Now. The word thought is a device
of the mind. Every thought, every thought,
OK, the first thing that I think of is the will. The will is part
of the mind. The will is changed. to where
it delights in the obedience of Christ, and it doesn't want
to be found anywhere else. Now, here's what I want. Here's
what my will wants, and it's because I've got a new will,
a will that I didn't have before. You know, Paul did say the will
is present with me. I've got a new will, and this is my will.
I want to simply be found in Christ. I want to have His obedience
as my obedience. His obedience. is my sin payment,
and I don't want anything else. I don't want to have I don't
want to stand before God in any other way other than in the obedience
of the Lord Jesus Christ. My will has been brought into
captivity to the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, hope
finds all of its hope in the obedience of Christ. Now, here's
my hope that his obedience, his law keeping is my righteousness
before God. Here's my hope. that when he
said it is finished, all my sin was put away, and all that God
requires of me, I have in the Lord Jesus Christ. The emotions. I tell you what, all my emotions,
here's what makes me happy. Here's what makes me happy. That
Jesus Christ's obedience is my obedience. That makes me happy,
that makes me glad. And I despise anything contrary
to that. This is where all my hope is.
It's in the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. We love His
obedience and we hate that which is contrary to it. All of our
aspirations, all of our goals, all our desires are subservient
to the obedience of Christ. And this is all I want. I want
to be found in Him. This is my goal. This is my desire. You think of all your desires?
Here's the one desire that I have. It's to be found in Christ so
that when Christ comes back and God comes looking for me, All
I'm going to be is in the Lord Jesus Christ, covered in his
obedience, the obedience of his life as my righteousness before
God, the obedience of his death as my sin payment before God. Now, here's my motive for obedience
to him. Here's my motive to live for
him, to live for his honor, to live for his glory, to preach
his word. Here's my motive, his obedience.
His obedience. Every thought is to be brought
into captivity to the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
any thought contrary to his obedience is to be cast out. Now, this
is a jail I like being in, don't you? I like being brought into
captivity by the mighty power of God to the obedience of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Casting down every high thing
and bringing every thought into captivity. to the obedience of
the Lord Jesus Christ, verse six, and having in a readiness
to revenge all disobedience. What is disobedience? Anything
contrary to the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
disobedience. And we want revenge on that until
our obedience, which is having every thought being brought into
conformity to the obedience of Christ, is fulfilled. Now, what
do you think of when you think of the obedience of Christ? Well,
that's my obedience. The obedience of his life and
the obedience of his death. Now, all speaks of a warfare
and we have a warfare. We have a warfare. I've got a
warfare. You know what? Who my biggest enemy is? My flesh. My sinful flesh. David said, my sin is ever before
me. I've got a warfare with my flesh.
I've got a warfare with the men of this world who hate the gospel.
Have a warfare with the devil, and this is a warfare that every
believer is called upon to fight. The flesh lusts against the spirit.
The spirit lusts against the flesh. These are contrary one
to the other so that you can't do the things that you would.
We have a warfare, don't we? A very difficult warfare. But he says the weapons of our
warfare are not carnal. Now, what are the weapons of
our warfare? Would you turn with me to Ephesians
chapter 6? Somebody read this last week. Ephesians chapter 6, verse 10. Finally, my brethren, be strong
in the Lord and in the power of his might. Oh, I want to do
that, don't you? I want to be strong in the Lord
and in the power of His might. He says in verse 11, put on the
whole armor of God. Now, whatever God's armor is,
I want to put on every piece, don't you? Put on the whole armor
of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the
devil. Now, the devil, Satan, Lucifer,
the son of the morning, the God of this world, the prince of
this world, he doesn't have any access to the names that are
in the Lamb's Book of Life. He does not know positively who
God's elect are. And whenever he hears or sees
someone believing the gospel. Seemingly resting in Christ.
He's going to do everything he can to drive you from that. Now,
if he knew infallibly you were one of the elect, he wouldn't
mess with it. Why should he? There wouldn't
be any purpose. But he has wiles and deceit that he wants to keep
people from looking to Christ, resting in Christ. He's going
to inject so many thoughts, so many temptations, so many different
things. We read of the wiles of the devil. In order for you and I to stand
up before the wiles of the devil, we have to have on the whole
armor of God. And look what he says in verse
12. For we wrestle not. I read somewhere where somebody
said that would be a good summary of most people's religion. We
wrestle not. And indeed, that's so. Regarding
those professors who don't really possess the Lord Jesus Christ.
We wrestle not no battle going on, but that's not the case with
believers. We wrestle not against flesh
and blood. You know, men. Are not our enemy. We wrestle not against flesh
and blood. But against principalities against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness in high places. That's what we're wrestling
against. And I need the Lord for this.
This is a this is a fight that I can't possibly win. Do you
have any idea how easy it would be for the devil to turn you
inside out? He's had a lot of experience
and he wouldn't have any trouble with me. He wouldn't have any
trouble with you. How I need the Lord Jesus Christ
to help me and how I need his grace to put on the whole armor
of God. Now, what is this whole armor
of God? Wherefore, he says in verse 13,
taken to you the whole armor of God that you may be able to
withstand in the evil day. And having done all to stand. Now, here's the first piece of
armor. He says in verse 14, and this
is what's got to come first, if you want to understand what
kind of armor that I must wear. He says, stand, therefore, having
your loins gird about with truth. Now, here's the first piece of
armor. Here's our underwear. Here's what comes closest to
us. The truth. The truth. You shall know the
truth, and the truth shall make you free. The truth concerning
who God is, in His holiness, in His sovereignty, in His absolute
justice, in His grace, in His way of saving sinners by His
grace. The truth. The truth concerning
myself. That in and of myself, I'm nothing
but sin, totally dependent upon His grace. The truth concerning
salvation, that Christ is salvation. Now, here's the first piece of
armor I need. Here's my underwear. The truth.
Christ Jesus said, I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. Christ Jesus is the truth. John said the law was given by
Moses. He's talking about the Ten Commandments.
He's talking about the moral law, the ceremonial law. He's
talking about the Pentateuch. The law was given by Moses. And the law is true. Who would
deny that? God wrote it. The law was given by Moses, but
grace and truth. came by Jesus Christ. And the
truth has something to do with grace, doesn't it? Grace and
truth came by Jesus Christ. So the first piece of armor that
I want, my underwear, what I girt my loins with, is the truth. He says in verse 14, Stand therefore,
having your loins girt about with truth. And here's the second
piece of armor. This is what protects the heart,
the vital organs, having on the breastplate of righteousness. Now, we already know from this
morning what this is a reference to. There's only one righteousness. This is not talking about you
living right. This is not talking about you having a righteous,
you know, you reckon there's some sins in your righteousness
that the enemy can get through? No, this breastplate he's talking
about is the righteousness and merits of the Lord Jesus Christ.
His righteousness as my righteousness before God. Now, that's what
protects me. His righteousness. And I have such joy and confidence
and security in having His righteousness. That means I have all God requires.
I'm not worried about being turned down on Judgment Day if I have
His righteousness. I'm looking to Him and His righteousness
only. That's my breastplate. And that's
what protects me. Thank God for this breastplate.
It protects my heart. It protects my lungs. It protects
all my organs. the breastplate of the righteousness
and merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why Paul said,
oh, that I may win Christ and be found in Him, not having my
own righteousness. Have you ever learned what that
means? I don't want to have anything to do with the righteousness
that has my hand in it. I want to have the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Have my righteousness before
God. What a breastplate! The righteousness! of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
then he says in verse 15, he talks about our shoes. Have your
feet shod with the preparation, that word preparation is actually
the foundation of the gospel of peace. Your feet, your shoes, your walk
in life is founded on the gospel of peace. Peace. Don't you love the way
the word sounds? Peace. Having made peace by the blood
of His cross. That's what Colossians 1.20 says.
The Lord said, These things have I spoken unto you, that in me
you might have peace. In the world, you'll have tribulation,
but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. Peace. The peace of God being
justified by faith, we have peace with God. Now, here's my peace.
He is my peace. God is at peace with me. All that God requires of me.
He doesn't have a reason to be mad at me. I'm perfect in Christ
Jesus. That is my peace. And it makes
me peaceful towards God and peaceful toward His providence. Oh, in
our walk through this life, our feet is to be shed in the preparation
of the foundation of the gospel of peace. The question religious people
ask, have you made your peace with God? No, I haven't. Jesus Christ the Lord made my
peace with God. And I have peace. A peace that passes all understanding. Now that's my shoes. The gospel
of peace. And then he says in verse 16,
above all, above all, taking the shield of faith, Now, this
is the one movable part. You can protect your head with
this shield. You can protect your feet with this shield. You
can protect your heart with this shield. That's why it's so important,
above all things, take the shield of faith. Now, what is faith? I couldn't ask a more important
question. What is faith? In 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse
12, here's what I believe is the best definition of faith
that I know of in the Bible. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed. And I'm persuaded, I'm convinced
that he is able to keep that which I've committed to him against
that day. Now here's what faith is made
of. It's made of these three things. Knowledge. You can't
believe what you don't know. Isn't that so? It's impossible
to believe what you don't know. You've got to begin here, knowledge. But understand this about knowledge.
It isn't just bare, speculative, academic knowledge. He didn't
say, I know what I believe. He said, I know whom I have believed. And what we believe is determined
by who we believe. I know whom I believe, so we
begin with knowledge. And here's the second aspect
of faith. I'm persuaded. I really believe. I'm persuaded. I'm convinced
that He is able. I really believe that Jesus Christ
is able to save me with no help from me. Do you believe that? He is able. You believe He's able to save
you? You believe He's able to save you? That's what faith is. It's believing in His ability
to save you. I believe. I believe He's able
to save me. And it's all in His ability.
He's almighty. He's able to save me, but we're
not finished. We have the knowledge. I know
whom I have believed." And then we have the belief and the persuasion,
I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed
unto Him. Now this is, you don't have faith
until you have this. There is a committal. Now what
is the commitment? If you believe in works in any
way, you fail to commit. If you look anywhere other than
Him alone, you fail to commit. Here's an illustration I've used
many times, but I know that plane will get me to where I'm going.
I believe it will. I have some understanding of
the laws of aerodynamics. I know what makes the plane lift
up. I believe it will get me there. But I commit when I get
on the plane. And I trust that plane to get
me there, and I don't flap my wings to try to help it. I just
sit there and wait for the plane to get me there. That is faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, above all things. Take the
shield of faith, and that's the only thing that will quench all
the fiery darts of the wicked. And then he says in verse 17,
and take the helmet of salvation. Now, the helmet's to protect
the head. Salvation is of the Lord. Have you and I learned that?
We've learned all we need to learn. Salvation, acceptance
before God, being saved from my sin, of the Lord, every aspect
of salvation. Election is of the Lord. Justification
is of the Lord. Redemption is of the Lord. Regeneration
is of the Lord. The new birth being preserved
is of the Lord. That means it's all Him. He does
it all. Now, put that on your head. That
will protect you from error, won't it? Salvation is of the
Lord. For a helmet. Salvation. And here's the only
weapon Offense that we use. He speaks of the sword of the
spirit. Which is the word of God. The sword of the spirit, now
the. Best example of using the sword
of the spirit is the Lord when the devil is tempting him. Remember
how he answered every one of the Lord's or how the Lord answered
every one of Satan's temptations. How did he begin each answer?
It is written. Now, the Lord could have just
blown him away. He could have obliterated him.
There's all kinds of things. But what did he do when he met
the temptations of Satan? It is written. That's all that's needed. The
authority is the word of God, not because so and so said so,
but because God's word says so. It is written. Now, this is the
sword, the gospel message. This is why Paul said, Timothy,
preach the Word. Does the Word declare this? Then
preach it. Preach it. This is the sword
of the Spirit. This is the only thing we use
for offense. The Word of God. The sword of
the Spirit, which is the Word of God. And then the last thing
he mentions in verse 18 is praying. Always, with all prayer and supplication. Now, what is a supplication?
That's a word we don't use very often. It simply means a wanting,
a need. What do you need? Ask the Lord
for it. Whatever it is you need, ask
the Lord for it. With all prayer and supplication
in the Spirit and watching thereunto. Watching for this answer to prayer
with all perseverance and supplication for all saints and pray for me
that utterance may be given unto me. And I'm saying you pray 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'm an
ambassador in bonds that therein I may speak boldly as I ought
to speak. Now, these weapons. Are not heart,
but they're mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. I think of what Paul said to
Timothy. Now, therefore, my son Timothy endure hardness. As a
good soldier of Jesus Christ. Don't you want to be that a good
soldier of Jesus Christ, no man that worth entangled himself
with the affairs of this life. that he may please him who hath
chosen him to be a soldier. I know this, his soldiers must
wear this armor. May God give us all grace to
put on the whole armor of God. Let's pray.