The Sword of the Spirit (Part 2 of 3)

The God's word is necessary to come to faith in Christ is God's word help us persevere in our Christian journey today on Truth for Life. Alistair Begg continues a message about the sword of the spirit teach us how to respond to Satan's accusations to remain steady in times of doubt going to read from Matthew chapter 4 and I invite you to follow along as I read I say will read from the 13th verse of chapter 3 then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John to be baptized by John would have prevented him, saying, I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me. But Jesus answered him, let it be so. Now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he consented and when Jesus was baptized immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dog and coming to rest on him, and behold a voice from heaven said this is my beloved son, with whom I am well please. Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil and after fasting for 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry and the tempter came and said to him, if you are the son of God command these stones to become loaves of bread, but he answered it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Then the devil took him to the holy city, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, if you are the son of God, throw yourself down.

For it is written, he will command his angels concerning you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. Jesus said to him again.

It is written, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test. Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, all these I will give you if you will fall down and worship me.

Then Jesus said to him, be gone. Satan, for it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve. Then the devil left him, behold, angels came and were ministering to him. A man let's turn to Ephesians chapter 6 where we have been part now for some time and purposefully, and I believe helpfully it surely would seem to be time well spent to be equipped by the Scriptures for the challenges that we face in living for Jesus and especially if were going to be prepared to take a stand on his promises insofar as those promises are largely disregarded and in many cases completely overturned if they could be by those who have no interest in them and we began this morning to think a little about the second half of verse 17 of Ephesians 6 begins. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God and I said this morning that are clearly incoming to a text like that it actually would be possible to begin an entirely new series within the series on the authority and the veracity of the Scriptures themselves and I don't plan to do that, but it means that the person in my position has to determine how we want to tackle this and if you like how we want to make application of it and so I said I we would think first of all about the absolute necessity of the word of God in the matter of coming to faith and we tried to think this morning about the distinction between the way in which God has given to his general revelation in the light of nature and in the works of creation and providence, and has provided for us this special revelation a in the word of God itself and of course our final and full and saving revelation in the Lord Jesus himself said that once we had done that then we would look a little at the absolute necessity of the word of God when it comes to continuing in the faith, and then a word or two concerning the same thing in the matter of contending for the faith. So let's then think for a little about this matter of how important it is for us to implement the sword of the Spirit. If we are not only to make a beginning. In the Christian life. But if we are to continue to the end I Jesus spoke very clearly to the people of his day saying to them that it was those who endured to the end who would be saved.

And of course the promise of the Bible is the one who begins her work and is will bring it to completion, but not in a vacuum, and therefore the instruction and direction of the Bible. Turns the responsibility to eyes to ensure that we pay attention to these things.

For example, when Paul writes to the Colossians in the early part of his letter to them. He is is speaking to them and he is making reference to what is there is in Christ and then he says to them, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard every letter suggesting there that he is fearful that they are about to fail to continue the language in in the original text does not bear that out. But what it is pointing out to as is the absolute necessity of continuing that it is not sufficient for us to have made some immediate and perhaps even superficial response to the gospel.

The parable of the soils bears that out, doesn't that there were those who cared and made an immediate response and then as quickly as the as the plants grew up.

They faded away and Jesus taught that in order to make clear that there was then only one soil out of the mall about which any of us could be confident if it represented our hearts and that in which there was the blossoming and the fulfilling of the evidence that the seed had been sown in good soil no.

That is true in writing to the Colossians. It's also important when Paul writes to Timothy and he is reminding Timothy of his role as a pastor and he is reminding Timothy that it is important for him to continue to continue in what he has learned and has firmly believed I don't know what the perception is of pastors kind of forgotten what it's like not to be one but I think it wouldn't be surprising if some people thought that somehow or another. If you if you manage to find yourself in this position that you pretty well your your home free from that point, you know, after all, you presume we would never have arrived there for one year that you were just destined to continue all the way to the end.

But what we know about pastoral ministry will be seen in the last 50 years in America. Scenes of sorry collapse of those who wielded the sword, but apparently did not wielded to their own benefit those who instructed others, and who presumably began to think that if the instruction was given, then the obedience was obvious only to reveal to themselves. Sadly, and to those who knew them best. This was not the case.

Timothy had an amazing background.

He had a godly grannie and godly mom. Some of us have enjoyed that.

And yet Paul does not say do know you had a wonderful start in your family life is been so strong. There's no reason for me to really write to you at all the notices I want you to make sure that you continue in what you have learned and have firmly believe in other words, to mix the metaphors he wants to make sure that Timothy himself is firmly grounded on the foundation of the word of God on the truth of God's word again in Jesus in his parables. The man who hears my word and fails to put it into practice is the man who built his house on the sand and when the winds came and the waves came, it does not fly one who hears my words and puts them into practice is like a man who built his house on a raw and when the winds and the waves can and it stood firm.

The whole matter of continuance. Note this then is the place of the word of God.

The sword of the Spirit in the life of the believer is not the entirety of its application, but it is this and there are certain things that ought to be obvious to us and one would be this that the sword of the Spirit actually fits every hand that the sword of the Spirit is not something that you get when you're a certain age or when you've qualified through a certain course, but the sword of the Spirit, if you like communes with your birthright. The sword of the Spirit is entrusted to the one who is been enlisted in the Christian army and who has been putting on Christ and who is closed with the armor and therefore into that hand is place the sword is the same sword for children the work amongst children is of such vital importance in every generation, and what we are what what are we doing when we sit with those children and we open the Bible to the where putting the sword into their tiny hands were teaching them to say all the BID alley. That's the book for me. I take my stand on the word of God. The BID alley putting the sword in their hands. What is necessary for those who are making their way navigating their way through the middle stages of life. Perhaps facing bereavement, perhaps divorce, perhaps dissatisfaction, what is the great need sword of the Spirit into our hands. And when we get old and wizened and cold and gray and even more settled in our ways than we are now. It will be the same knee to have the sword in our hands the word of God. The grass withers, flower falls word of the Lord endures forever. Peter proclaimed that to them, delete, and he said, and this is a word which by the gospel was preached to you, so were not talking about some dry doll legalistic account with talk about the vibrancy and the vitality and the life-giving power of the gospel and Jesus himself. Of course, declared that heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. They think about that for a moment living in our world. One of the great preoccupations of our time as we going to have to save the planet and is very good for us to look after things in and not put straws in the ocean and and I don't fiddle around with things is not is not good is not very helpful but but from the lips of the creator hears the news heaven and earth will pass away, but his words will not pass away. We await a new heaven and a new earth in which dwells righteousness, and in the progress that we're making to that destination. We lay hold upon the sword so it is suited to every hand and it is suited to every time we think about this letter.

There are books that have been written that were good in their day, especially books about eschatology I love. I always like telling about the books that were written, you know, in the early part of the 20th century, defining definitively the date of the return of Jesus and the and leave the usually sold well for a while mean the fellow inventive logarithms who has a college named after him in Edinburgh. Patient had that for inventing longer that his demeanor is been a nuisance to most people but anyway I he he used his logarithm logarithms to predict the date of the return of Jesus in on a sentence somewhere around you know 1943. Of course the book sold fairly well up until 43, but since then has been regarded as largely irrelevant. Which of course is a fair response. Books of science have been superseded. Genetic technology has superseded think in areas of discipline in many of our lives.

Other things that are of interest now, but they're buried in the past because they have no pressing relevance for today. The staggering thing I want to think one of the profound things about the Bible about the sword of the Spirit is that it is timeless so that it is the word from the mouth of God that sustained Adam and Eve in the garden. It's the word from the mouth of God that saw the children of Israel through the wilderness.

It's from the mouth of God that the citizens of Israel and David's day lived and moved on so we can go all the way through history right up until the present time suited to every hand suited to every time and suited to every type and what I mean by that is, every type of person.

This is one of the great joys of standing appears I get to see you all a lot to look at you and I and I see more than you even know and not always to my benefit, but nevertheless I do see and and it really it is. If it is a fascinating array of people and and we are all here saying yes this sword, this word is placed into our hands young and old, and so on and so and summers are peculiarly educated, and others, others not so much. Some of us have a certain amount of culture that we like to make mention of others, others not so some of us have size 14 brains and some of us hardly have a brain et al. and yet it is the same sort you know of any other book like this, we see the wonder of it is that it is in the same time suited to every circumstance to every circumstance there is not an event in life, for which the Bible is insufficient. Now we could go for a long time.

The ceiling sank, and for, of course, consider this and consider that the reason we read from Matthew four was in order to make the point that in the life of Jesus in the face of temptation. Following his baptism. What is he do but wield the sword of the Spirit in response to the accusations and the temptations of the evil one. He quotes the Bible but an interesting thing to do. The tempter came and said if you're the son of God, and he answered it's written quoting interestingly and he doesn't quote you know he does not like get you know shaving verse versus shaving mirror versus which just proves that he really knew the Old Testament some others would be hard-pressed to say it is written in response to specific circumstances because we don't know our Bibles well enough to know what verse from which to quote to be able to answer the accusations and temptations that come our way. I see that for your encouragement you had that and for mine to what or what I what I strange say it is that we who claim to love this book spends as little time and it know so little of it are prepared to dig down deep into it are prepared to accept a few superficial quotes that have been hanging around since we were 14 and will receive the car for Bible memorization that we give up on a shelf somewhere in our study is biographical information that you don't need but nevertheless he starts by quoting Deuteronomy 8 and then the devil masterfully decides well if you can call the Bible called the Bible to recently surprised by this, the devil knows the Bible knows it better than many a silly Christian is what is he doing well. He misstates the Bible.

He quotes it and he twists it. That's always his way so he says, quoting from Psalm 91. Here's the thing. If this of this and this and and Jesus says no, you're absolutely wrong there and let me say something else to it is written, you shall not put the Lord your God to the text, and 1/3 time he comes back and Jesus is once again to be gone. Satan or it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.

So if Jesus dealt with the temptation of the devil by quoting the Bible we are on a pretty good track.

If we determine that we will operate on that same basis. When I read this third response of Jesus, it makes me smile because as a child I was often plagued by fears in the night and I had some quite remarkable dreams, all of which have now been forgotten but but then when I would go through and trouble my mother and father in the night and tell them this. The thing is coming for me and said it's getting me uncertain and whatever it was you nor they would tell me to say she tell me to say. Begone, Satan is not supposed to say hello. What possible good is that this involved triumph because we know when you keep coming through here in a but after all these years I still say and take up the sword of the Spirit to tell him Don, with that stuff to me you go back to hell where you belong. Begone, Satan, but the way in which we respond is not on the strength of personality or some other think it is in confidence in the Bible itself three times and three times it is written. It therefore follows straightforwardly that we shouldn't ever attempt to defeat the devil except by this sword and that's why the sword is been given is not being given for ornamentation but for battle. When you wear a kilt as a Scotsman, if you choose to, you have a little ski and do that goes inside yourself. You may have seen it and it is actually a dagger and it is there. As as needed. Like if you can open an envelope or something very, very significant very important and it is there in order that it might be used but in actual fact it can be used because it's blunt and it doesn't work and it's there for style. The sword of the Spirit is given to ours, not for ornamentation know for style not to walk around with it is provided for battle. Alastair Bragg is explaining for us. Why we have been given the sword of the Spirit the word of God. Your listing to Truth for Life as Alastair just mentioned, the devil is a fierce opponent we ought never tried to defeat him without using the sword of the Spirit, and since he's our enemy.

It's to our advantage to know more about him know more about how he operates. That's why we are recommending a book titled our ancient foe Satan's history activity and ultimate demise.

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