Our point of emphasis today is the latter half of the 17th verse, "The sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God"
Can we pray, Father, let us see in the Word, the Sword of the Spirit and be anointed to use it, in Jesus name we pray and all of God's children said, praise the Lord.
Let's review some of the things we have learned to this point. The helmet of salvation is hope. Paul writes in I-Thes. 5:8, "And for a helmet the hope of our salvation". Listen to this immediately, hope for the believer is not an illusion. Hope is the blessed assurance I have, that good things are going to happen to me based on the Word of God.
I do not hope that God answers prayer. I do not go around saying, I hope, I hope, I hope God hears me. I hope He answers.
I KNOW GOD ANSWERS PRAYER, BASED ON THE WORD OF GOD.
He didn't say He would try to do it. He said, He will do it. I do not hope that God heals, I know God heals based on the promises of God. The Bible says, "By His stripes we are healed." The Bible says, "I am the Lord thy God that heals ALL of your diseases." The Bible says that, "Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever." What He did by the Sea of Galilee, He can do in Garrett today, He can do in Auburn, He can do in Ft. Wayne, He can do in New York or Chicago.
I don't hope there is a God. I know there's a God. Mr. Agnostic, Mr. Atheist if there is no God and man is the master of his faith, then snatch the stars from their courses and snuff the sun with its thermal nuclear power and command the winds and the waves to cease to blow. YOU CANNOT. The truth is you can't take your next breath without God's permission, because He is all powerful and without His permission you would cease to exist.
I don't hope there is a heaven, I know there's a heaven based in the Word of God. Jesus said, "I go to prepare a place for you..that where I am you may be also." A place is a definite location. It is a place where the lame leap for glory, where the deaf hear and the blind see. It is a place where there is no parting and no crying and no dying. It is a place of grand, grand reunions.
One day we are going to a place. When all of God's children get home, when you are going to fellowship on the hills of glory, with your mother and your father and your brothers and your sisters, who have gone on to heaven before us. We are going to a place of rest. We are going to a place of rejoicing. We are going to a place where angels sing. We are going to a place where the streets are of fine gold. I don't hope I'm going there, I KNOW I'M GOING THERE, based on the authority of the Word, I have the blessed assurance that heaven is a breath away.
We also talked about the breastplate of righteousness, which guards your heart. Guards your heart with the peace of God. The moment you accept the Bible as the standard for right and wrong, everybody else's opinion becomes obsolete. And as soon as you get away from the Word of God, everyone's opinion has equal footing.
So therefore, if Satan is putting on a full court press, to get the Bible out of the school, to get it out of the government and even get it out of some churches. I'll tell you what, it will never leave Garrett First Baptist. This is the standard for our conduct.
Today the Sword of the Spirit. There is only one thing you can do with a sword and that's fight. Say that word with me, fight. Now some of you said that like a mouse charging cheese. I want you to say it like your life is on the line, ready--fight. Now that will get the devil's attention. Also make the members of the First Church of the Frozen Chosen disturbed.
The Bible says, "Resist the devil". Remember our word, say it, fight. "Resist the devil and he will flee from you." I Timothy 6:12, Paul says, "Fight the good fight of faith." 2 Timothy 4:7, "I have fought a good fight." Paul says in I-Cor. 9:26, "So fight I, not as one who beats the air" I'm not throwing a series of wild punches hoping I hit the devil. I have the haymaker, cocked and loaded and if the devil gets close enough --- lights out, the victory is mine, in Jesus name.
You learn to fight. You are not a born fighter, you learn to fight. Some of us enjoy it more than others, but principally you have to learn to fight. Paul says, "We are more than conquerors thru Christ the Lord." Say that with me. (Repeat) Church, we are soldiers in the army of the living God. We are at war with the powers and principalities of darkness. Compromise with the world, the flesh and the devil is high treason in the courts of heaven. Jesus said, "He that is not for me, is against me" You might as well make up your mind, you cannot please everyone all of the time. If you please God you will offend the world. If you please the world you will offend God.
As for me and my house, we have chosen to serve God and to offend the world every way possible.
The Sword of the Spirit is the Word of God and when satan attacks you, counter-attack with the Word of God. When Satan roars against you with fear -- fear of the past, fear of the present, fear of the future, fear of the unknown, fear of death and dying -- run him thru with the Word of God. "God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of self determination." BE BOLD. BE STRONG. For the Lord our God is with you.
Satan will come and say to you that you have sinned too deeply to be saved. Remind him that the Word says, "If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleans us from all unrighteousness." The Bible says, "Whosoever will, let him come." And whosoever will means you and you and you and you and you, Jesus Christ is the Savior and whatever your circumstances, how ever despicable you may feel --
JESUS LOVES YOU AND HE WILL SAVE YOU BY HIS GRACE.
In the wilderness Jesus used the sword. He repeated "it is written." Three times satan attacked and three times Jesus said "It is written." He didn't say, "I'm thinking positively about it" NO. He said, "It is written." The ACLU doesn't believe the Bible but Satan does. When Jesus quoted Scripture, Satan also quoted scripture, but he twisted it. Satan will quote scripture to you and twist it to get you to destroy yourself and if he twisted the scripture with Jesus, he'll certainly try to twist it with you.
Paul commands the church to study to show yourself approved, a workman, a craftsman who needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth. Many people can divide the Bible, but they can't get it back together again.
The last picture we have of Jesus in the Book of Revelation, in Rev. 2:16 Jesus is saying, "Repent or else, I will come quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth" That's the spoken word. And then the very last picture we have of Him in scripture, Rev. 19, John said, "I saw the heavens open and He that sat upon a white horse was called faithful and true and in righteousness doth He judge and make war. And out of His mouth goeth a sharp 2 edged sword with which He will smite the nations and He shall rule the world with a rod of iron."
The Sword is the Word. The Word is alive. It is Powerful. It will change you. It is sharper that any two edged sword. It divides light from darkness. It divides truth from error. It divides sheep from goats. It divides the saved from the lost. The Word is the Bread of life. All the books by all the authors in the world will not change you, but Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God and the Bread of Life, He will change you.
The Word of God is a vein of Gold, put here by God the Father, leading us to the unsearchable riches of Christ. It is a Book that is the owners manual for the soul. Next time satan roars against you, quote the Word. For this text conquerors the demons of hell. It conquerors death. It conquerors powers and principalities. It is the answer for every problem you have or ever will have.
READ IT, LOVE IT, LIVE IT, OBEY IT.
Your spiritual, emotional, physical life depends upon your swordsmanship, spiritually. The sword has two functions. First it is a weapon of attack and I've covered that. Secondly, it is a weapon of defense for the whole body. While the helmet only protects the head and the breastplate only protects the chest, the sword can protect you from the ground to over your head.
Every time the enemy comes against you, you can ward off his attack with the sword. In hand to hand combat, when you can smell Goliath's breath, when an ounce of fear or an instances procrastination will get you killed, you can defend yourself with confidence.
Paul said, "be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might" The Bible says, "Nothing is impossible to them that believe." The Bible says, "I can do all things thru Christ, which strengthens me." Every time that satan attacks you, high, low, wide, you can defend yourself with the power and the authority of the Word of God.
In closing. Our absolute obedience is to the Word of God. Not a man, not a denomination, not a president, not a government, but only the Word. I want to say it again. Our absolute obedience is to the Word of God. So I pose this question. Is it ever wrong to disobey the government and the answer is, yes. When the government condones what God condemns, you have a commitment to abide by the Word of God.
Let me give you a biblical illustration. Peter was commanded not to preach the gospel again, in the name of Jesus. And he said, "We ought to obey God and not man." And he preached again, yes, he went to jail, but it is better to be in jail with God's blessing, than to be in a church preaching a false doctrine and another gospel that is not pleasing to God.
We must, and I repeat we must give our absolute obedience to the Word of God. Satan will come and say to you that you have sinned too deeply to be saved. Remind him that the Word says, "If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleans us from all unrighteousness." The Bible says, "Whosoever will, let him come." And whosoever will means you and you and you and you and you, Jesus Christ is the Savior and whatever your circumstances, how ever despicable you may feel -- JESUS LOVES YOU AND HE WILL SAVE YOU BY HIS GRACE.
