The weapons of our warfare

Let's start reading at verse 10. So we're in Ephesians 6, 14-17. The title that Roger has given us is the weapons of our warfare. Let everybody turn to that. Pat, you up to reading that this morning? I want you to start at verse 10 and we'll read through 17. Go back to what Randy covered a couple weeks ago. In the handouts, Margaret is passing out if you don't have one. I remembered to send it this morning. Yeah, right. Go ahead, Pat, please. Correct.

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord. and in the power of His might, put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day. And having done all to stand, and therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, above all, taking the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

All right, thank you, Pat. You know, as often, the teacher benefits more than the class. I mean, you know, we've all been through this passage many, many times, but there's a lot of meat here. And as you drill down, which we're going to do some today, I think the application becomes increasingly apparent from what the Lord has for us here. And I thank Randy for opening up this whole task of addressing the armor of God that we're all dressed in.

So let's begin verse 14. Stand therefore having girded your waist or loins with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness. Now what I'm going to do today, a couple of things, is I'm going to emphasize key words in this armor. that relate to positional and conditional truth. So we're going to see that repeatedly throughout the lesson. And then secondly, I got a lot of Wiest in here today, because I thought his commentary was really outstanding on this section of the Word of God.

So let's begin. As J. Vernon McGee says, therefore, so what's it therefore? What's it therefore? Reflects on the passages that were previous. So now we've put on the whole armor of God, but why? So Ephesians 6, 11-13, and that's what Pat read. That's why we started in verse 10. So, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. So we got the armor. Now we're going to describe the various components of the armor to follow.

Was this a reflection of God as a soldier, do you think, in many Old Testament passages, mostly from Isaiah cited there? Or, and or, is this defense against the Roman armies of the times? What are the thoughts there? So if we turn to one of these verses in Isaiah, for he put on the righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation on his head. Now, you know, the breastplate is in this verse, the helmet of salvation will follow in later verses. But what are your thoughts here? What's Paul addressing this aspect of the armor about? What's he relating to? Do you think he's relating to Old Testament soldiers? Or do you think he's relating to the times of which he wrote? I don't have an answer for you. I'm just posing that as a question.

Maybe not the biggest Roman center in the universe, but it's pretty big for that part of present-day Turkey that it was in. So what's your point, Tom? guards, extra contingents as needed. Just a place for them to live, in fact, at the same time they're maintaining security. Okay, other thoughts here?

Yeah, I would say it's a word picture that really explains what Because they're seeing this every day. Keep in mind, Margaret leads me into this comment, there's a practical aspect of this that relates to the soldier. There's no question about this armor. This is real-time stuff.

But the spiritual implications are substantial and go far beyond simply the armor. So we've got to keep this kind of reality in mind that the time in which this armor would be placed and also the spiritual significance of it. Okay, let's go ahead. Of interest, what follows is the order in which the armor was put on. I don't want to make undue relevance to that, but I think it is kind of interesting to look at these various components of the armor and how it relates to our spiritual position and condition.

All right, having girded, that means something, a belt or a girdle, something around the waist, below the waist and to the thigh, and your waist or loins with truth. So we're going to gird our waist or loins with truth. So this is below the belt, basically, or the belt below. The reality of this is to tuck in the long and loose flowing robe that people had. The idea is that they had these long robes and to tuck them in with a belt or a girdle was able to allow that robe to not be dangling out and ultimately be subject to potential damage. you know, adverse consequences.

So anyway, there's a practical aspect to this. So here's Wiest, my first of many uses of his commentary. Passing round the loins and by the end of the breastplate, in parenthesis, and later times supporting the sword, okay, It was of special use in keeping other parts in place and in securing the proper soldierly attitude and freedom of movement. So the idea here is this had practical application of this girdle or belt around the loins. Didn't think of it that way, Tom. This is good.

Alright, now we're going to deal with one of these terms that you're going to see repeatedly emphasized in today's lesson. So, we're girding our waist with truth. Alright, there's the spiritual application. And I'm going to move on to really maybe take a position that arguably, and I'm going to put it inarguably, is that this word is used 110 times in the New Testament.

Truth. And I'm going to ultimately, inarguably, say that this is the most important scriptural principle that exists. This is more important than face, grace, and love is truth because all those are wrapped up in truth. Now the Lord doesn't state that. That's my opinion. The truth is what brings everything else to follow.

In the absence of truth, we have you know, an ability to criticize the rest of scripture because if it's not founded in truth we're really looking at a false premise in terms of what we believe going forward. So I'm going to give you a number of verses of these 110 that kind of support this concept. I think it relates to this armor that we wear around our loins. John 114, the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glories of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 14.6, Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me. Boy, that's an argumentative statement, isn't it, to the other world of religiosity.

John 15.26, and when the Helper comes, and this will relate to verses to follow, and when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father that he will testify of me." Now notice, I am the way, the truth, the life, but the Spirit's the truth. He's going to reveal that truth of the Lord Jesus Christ in each and every one of us who believe.

Romans 1.8, for the wrath of God is revealed from the heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. And that relates to the passage here, doesn't it? The wiles of the devil, the principalities and powers of this age.

1st Timothy 2.4, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. And finally, again, keep in mind 110 times truth is used in the New Testament. 3rd John 1-4, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. Hmm. Okay. Everybody okay with truth being something that we're, yeah Randy.

In the last lesson, what are the schemes of Satan? To distort truth. Deceit? Yeah, he's a deceiver. He distorts truth so it all starts right there in the system of cash. So why do you think this truth is related to our loins being girded or ultimately belted? Why is truth below the umbilicus or the waist?

The foundation in a way. Okay. It's our most vulnerable part. Well it's the first part we put on, isn't it? I mean remember there's an order to the armor and I think the order may be overly spiritualized in terms of what a relationship. Put on truth first and ultimately we're girded and belted and secured around the loins. One of the commentators, I forget which one, indicated that the future of the reproductive race is ultimately in the loins, is it not? So in other words, the idea of the building the faith through ultimately the reproduction of believer to believer has some ultimately tangential interpretation.

All right, now we're going to the breastplate, and that's righteousness. Now remember, if we got truth first, then righteousness is a reasonable thing to be put in second place, if you will. Having put on to the aorist middle participle, and I hate to be overly grief-bound here, but importantly, the middle voice indicates the subject is performing an action upon himself, reflexive action, if you will, and or for his own benefit. So the middle voice kind of represents this, it's not active, it's not passive, but there's a kind of a joint participation between the person who in fact is putting this on. It has existing happenstance at one point in time to another, but you're involved in this putting this on to your own benefit or ultimately to the benefit of what follows.

So what's this breastplate of righteousness? And by the way, the breastplate apparently went from the neck all the way down to the thigh. So the breastplate actually even covered the loins. So now truth is in the loins or over the upper thigh and groin area, but now we've got this breastplate of righteousness that oversees that anatomically.

Wiest again, number two. As the soldier covers his breast with a breastplate, to make it secure against the disabling wound, so the Christian is to endure himself with righteousness, so as to make his heart and will proof against the fatal thrust of his spiritual assailants.

Nice. Okay, so the spiritual application is what here? Protection. Protection against, as Randy pointed out, the world and Satan and the wiles of the devil. Alright, then that leads to the next question for the class. Is this righteousness positional or conditional? Well, the righteousness of Christ is in us as part and parcel of being a believer. And it's there if you choose to use it. All right, Tom, I think you're on the right track. Macaulay says it's both, and I think that was where I was going. These are scriptures I simply added to what Macaulay said.

2 Corinthians 5.21, great verse, for he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Okay, that's positional truth, right?

But then, Colossians 3.10, and putting on, by the way, this middle participle, if you will, having put on is the same verb tense in Colossians as it was here in Ephesians. And having put on the new man who's renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him. So this is the conditional aspect.

This putting on is an active aspect of our salvation. Remember, our salvation is I was saved, I'm being saved, and I will be saved. the three tenses, and this is putting it on. This is putting on the position of truth we see in the righteousness we've been made in Him. Wouldn't this be reckoning and understanding who you are in Christ?

Romans 6.11 if you will, right? Reckon yourself. Considering it true, right?

And then the third, just of many potential examples here, back in Ephesians chapter 4, but speaking the truth in love we may grow up in all things unto him who is the head Christ. So that's the growing process, the growing up in all things unto him. So in a sense that's positionally based. But this righteousness, the breastplate, is something that's conditional in terms of our faith and how that's enacted in our day-to-day life.

So remember, this is armor against the wiles of the devil. And by the way, keep in mind, principalities and powers relates to this cosmos, this universe we live in. The devil's the devil, but this is not Rodney Dangerfield's view of the devil. This is ultimately the fact that this whole earthly existence is separated from our citizenship in heavenly places.

So this armor relates to the day-to-day battle that we go through by faith. So, question of the class. Everybody's kind of quiet here this morning, except for Margaret. And I can tease her, I won't get strung up when I get home. So in our day-to-day lives, how is this armor manifested? When you were reviewing this with your wife, just as a kind of dummy run, just to make sure things were going to go right. Or do you even do that? We should talk privately after class, all right? Randy, you don't have to leave now. No, Margaret doesn't see this until right now. She's seeing it for the first time. Anyway, go ahead with your point, anyway. Other thoughts? Come on, people speak up.

How does this armor manifest itself in a day-to-day existence that we have here? upon the aspects of our salvation, the truth and our righteousness. So as we realize that appropriate by faith and stand in the whole, the whole key part of this is worth. This isn't an aggressive battle, it's a defensive battle. We're standing on what we already have. Well, Roger, you'd lead me to kind of state what I did earlier, but build on that, is that these key words that I'm identifying is really this stepwise approach, and that's why truth is first. Truth is our first armor, and then from there we positionally and conditionally relate to the righteousness we've been created in Him. So, and then we're going to see how other things, faith and the Spirit, I mean, we're going to build on that as we go forward. So do you think of yourself on a day-to-day basis wearing this armor? We're being called to. I know we are. So we just facetiously put this on, though, but understanding what the application is.

Right, Randy? Maybe you can go overboard, and you can say, well, I don't have, oops, I forgot my helmet today. I lost my breastplate. You can make it so focused on the analogy here that you can lose it. If you count upon, you know, that I'm in Christ, and I have Christ. The analogy to different pieces of armor is to help us understand it, not to make that, well, I lost my breastplate today or whatever. It's not Halloween. Anyway, remember why we're studying Ephesians. Why are we studying Ephesians?

To grow in Greece. Right, and what's that based on? Unlimited trees. Is it positional or conditional? we gotta start positionally before our condition ultimately lives up to that position by faith. Right? Okay, let's go ahead. Next verse. Verse 15. Having shod your feet with a preparation of the gospel of peace. Alright? So what we're going to emphasize here is the gospel of peace.

Nothing fancy about shodding your feet. This is simply binding your feet. And in Roman times, what I read was that the shoes were studded with sharp nails. So the idea of digging yourself in. How do you like that on the football field or the soccer field? It might slow you down a little bit, but also would help your tread. In Old Testament times, the boots were of brass. Again, the analogy to Isaiah, the soldiers in Isaiah brought forward too. That's something else to keep in mind.

1 Samuel 17.6, and he had bronze armor on his legs and a bronze gel in between his shoulders. That's just a verse that reflects the Old Testament armor. With the preparation of the gospel of peace.

Preparation, the Greek term is shown there, was used in the classical Greek to establish a firm foundation. So, preparation was not just, I think I'll prepare for the exam tomorrow, you know, you get an 80, you're doing okay. We're talking about here establishing yourself. Again, the idea of the boots having nails in them that really anchor you into a very, very firm spot, that's what this Greek term means.

And for us, that's being in Christ. The gospel of peace may not relate to the preparation, but the preparation relates to our positional truth that ultimately leads to the gospel of peace. So what about this gospel of peace? Are we going to bring, don't you, I don't know, maybe I'm out on a limb here a little bit. All these people praying for peace in the world. Are we praying for peace in the world? Is that scriptural? I'm sorry? Spiritual peace. And where does that spiritual peace exist?

In God. Well, right, but does it relate to the world around us? No. We have peace with God and we have the peace of God, both, right? So the gospel of peace relates to a personal application and it may relate to those in fact to whom we espouse that peace through the armor of God. Tom. Probably the key scripture there is, therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God. There you go. Peace with Jesus Christ. Peace with, right. Alright. So, is this gospel of peace bringing the unsaved principalities and powers of the Lord, or is it more than this? Well, weest, number three.

Exponsors say that preparedness the mental alacrity with which we are inspired by the gospel with its message of peace with God, is to be to us the protection and equipment which the sandals that cover the feet are to the soldier. With this we shall be helped to face the foe with courage and with promptitude. That word alacrity may miss the mark for a bunch of us, but it does mean eagerness. So you are being equipped mentally, not just physically in this analogy.

Alright, so the gospel of peace is both positional and conditional. Again, remember we looked at that a few minutes ago. This is positional and conditional. This is not bringing the entire world system to salvation. It could. I mean, you know, God would have all to come to him and to be saved. But this, I think, reflects a position of truth that is increasingly conditional on the way we approach the foe and all that he's doing to modify our salvation.

Romans 10.15, and how shall they preach unless they are sent? You know, the scripture we often quote. For as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things, who bring glad tidings of good things. I'm not sure why that's there twice. But nevertheless, the idea here is we reflect that peace in our lives. so that armor is manifested in having our feet shod or bound or shooed ultimately relates to a message that the world system around us sees. Any thoughts beyond what we've covered here?

All right, verse 16. Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one." How many people are thinking that they're being protected from the fiery darts of the wicked one? I don't think about that very often, but nevertheless, scripture brings our attention to that truth.

Let's go ahead and look at this. Above all, taking the shield of faith. Now faith is going to be the third term I'm going to emphasize here. I guess maybe the fourth. We've dealt with truth, righteousness, and if you will, the gospel of peace. And now faith. What is taking the shield of faith? What does that mean? Again, active participle. You're doing this. Well, Constable says the Roman soldier's shield was wood-covered and with leather to make it flame-retardant. Kind of interesting.

Although we can be dressed with all this armor, do we just stand there against the attack? So this suggests that we maybe will play a more proactive role at times. I mean, I think, you know, why above all, by the way, back to the verse, what did it say? Above all, taking the shield of faith. Well, the active participle here means action on our part, and here our faith makes position become condition, so the faith is our active part.

You know, we can be clothed with the armor all we want, but if we don't, by faith, utilize the protection we have against the wiles of the devil and the principalities and powers, we're going nowhere. Can people think of a good scriptural example in terms of the growth and grace we've all gone through or are going through?

What did Paul state in Romans 6? Have you been crucified with Christ? buried with him with baptism unto death, risen with him in newness of life. And what was Romans 7 all about? Returning to legal principles, wasn't it? And you're teaching Galatians now, and I think Roger will be dealing with that more this morning and next week. But the idea of what happened after O wretched man that I am in Romans 7? And what followed that in Romans 8? There was therefore no condemnation of Christ Jesus. And then the walk of Paul really started to change that because he has a spirit-led life. And what was that spirit-led life based on? It's based on his faith, believing God for what he revealed.

So in a sense here, the active role we play in utilizing the armor is by faith and believing what it's going to accomplish on our behalf. And it says, with which you are going to be able, this is future middle deponent. Remember, middle deponent indicative, of course it's factual, but it means it's going to occur in the future, but we're involved in that, to quench or extinguish all these fiery darts of the liquid one. Now keep in mind, fiery darts, the idea that this was a leather vest, ultimately to be protecting them, meant that the darts themselves, the fire that was connected to them, wouldn't be harming them through but I'll just say it and be over with. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. I didn't catch the tune, but nevertheless, the truth of the gospel is clearly there. Okay, good. No condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Alright, now I'm going to quote Macaulay, and then I'm going to quote Weiss for a fourth time. So Macaulay says, the shield was usually two feet by four feet and afforded protection for the whole body. That's a big shield. Two feet by four feet. Big. And two soldiers often stood side by side with their shields forming a solid wall of defense. In one account of a battle, a soldier reported 220 darts sticking in his shield. Big shield.

Or bad shot. And we said, the fiery darts refer to arrows tipped with toe, pitch, or such material set on fire before they were discharged. And the wicked is pineros, or the pernicious one. Satan, who is not content to perish in his own destruction, but seeks to drag everyone else down with him to the utter ruin, will be his in the future eternity. The fiery arrows represent the temptations with which he assails the saints." Again, I don't mean to bore you with Lise, but I think in terms of the armor of God, he really is right on, and I couldn't have stated it any better. Notice all, not just some of the fiery darts. We're talking about protecting ourselves against all. 1 John 5, verse 4, so whatever is born of God overcomes the world. Perfectly appropriate here. And this is the victory that has overcome the world. And what's that?

Our faith. So I like the point that the only quote offensive thing we have is our faith. if you call it offensive. And you could actually argue that's almost a rest, a faith rest. So it doesn't really come out offensive. It comes out... Oh well, but it's still the offense that's the difference. There you go. But I think your point's good, Roger.

The only thing I'm thinking is, what are our responsibilities? If we can put on the armor, but if we're not living out the attributes of the armor, but that's... That's we responding by faith in what God has revealed. I guess I was just arguing the fact that we often think of faith as a position of rest. If we're resting in what we have in Christ, we call that faith. There's a synonym for that. That seems to be a resting position, counting upon what we have. If we say I have to actively do that, I can see that in a sense.

Where did Paul fall short in Romans 7? He was trying to live the Christian life on his own merits. That's why I give that as just maybe one example of how ultimately faith and acting based on the Word of God and what he's revealed really changed his life. You could be found in positional truth in terms of being co-crucified, buried and risen with him in newness of life, but until the Spirit leads that life by faith, Anyway, maybe making too much of this, but I do think that partly it's offensive, but partly it's arrest.

All right, this morning, verse 17, last verse of the four we're covering, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and we're going to emphasize two words here, salvation and spirit. Why should we adore this verse?

Straightforward and simple. Without me, you can do nothing. That's talking about the life of Christ in each one of us. Okay, I'm thinking along that line, but a little bit differently. What's in this verse that's critical for us today? I'll let you ponder that. We're going to come back to it. Take means to welcome or appropriate, aorist, middle, dependent again. But this is imperative, that means do it.

So it's an additional kind of emphasis placed on how we respond to this taking the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit. So weest, number five. These saints were saved in the sense that they were justified. The salvation spoken of here must therefore be salvation from the power of sin in the present life, salvation from the onslaughts of Satan. As to the expression the sword of the spirit, Vincent says the word of God serves both for attack and parry the thrust of the enemy. Thus Christ used it in his temptation. Matthew 4, 4, 7, and 10. It is the sword of the Spirit because the Spirit of God gives it and inspires it. Let's turn to Matthew chapter 4.

Ordinarily I don't have people turning to other scripture in the Bible just simply because that takes time to do, but the handout was getting too long and I decided not to put this there. Randy, would you read Matthew? You got it or not? No, but let me pull it up real quick. What verse?

Matthew 4. We're going to read 4 through 10. Matthew 4, 4 through 10. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth. I'm sorry, Randy. Start at 3. I'm sorry. And the tempter came and said to him, If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

Then the devil took him into the holy city and had him stand 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. On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not stride your foot against Satan. Jesus said to him, On the other hand, it is written, You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.

But here 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 things I will give you if you fall down and worship me. Then Jesus said to him, Go, Satan. For it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.

OK, I added this section in parenthesis for two reasons. One is this is the wiles of the devil, isn't it? And Christ's temptation is better, I think, interpreted as Christ's testing to prove who he really was. But all that aside, what's the second reason I mention this? What are key words in verses 4, 7, and 10? Randy? What's a key component of... I saw you close your Bible. I didn't close it, I just went back to the beginning.

So, anybody, what's written? It is written. It is written. So Christ turned to documented scripture in terms of the position he took before the devil to not give in to the testing or temptation that the devil gave him. Tom? Three key phrases. It is written. It is up. And let's see, therefore you can go ahead under this strength. I know that's not a scripture quote on that part three, but you are girded, you are equipped, now you can go and apply what you just picked up. Okay. Alright, so my next question to the group is why is the helmet connected to salvation? So is it possible that it is our will to be increasingly transformed and conformed to his image? It all takes place in the brain, so why not? I think so.

Now keep in mind, there would be people that say we have a choice. have many times objected to that term, a choice that the self-righteous man can make a choice of good or evil. And what would a self-righteous person make a choice for good for? I can think of two reasons. All right, so it's kind of the self-righteousness getting credit. In a sense, before God saying, I'm doing good things. Okay, that's one. What would be the second reason doing good by the unsaved self-righteous person would be?

Stay out of trouble. Well, how about avoiding the consequences? The consequences of doing bad, right? I mean, think about this. All sin is taken care of at the cross. But the consequences of some sin is very different than the consequences of other. How about our vanity and pride? We get away with that a lot, don't we? But adultery you don't get away with. There are consequences of that. I'm just giving that as crude examples of various ways of falling short of the glory of God.

So that's what we're dealing with here. The helmet is our will being increasingly transformed and conformed to His image. 1 Thessalonians 5.8. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith, and again we're not emphasizing breastplate of faith here, and love, and as a helmet of the hope of salvation.

So how do you interpret hope here? I thought hope was something that we're thinking of in the future, that we're hopeful to get, like our eternal presence with the Lord. How do you interpret hope? is fact. Absolute certainty. It's like God is in the past, the present, and the future and knows all about it all at the same time. In God we trust.

Okay, Carol, what about the hope of the world? It's for peace on earth, right? But what's that hope based on? It's wishful thinking, isn't it? But scripture gives us a much more firm interpretation of that hope because it's assured. It's a certainty. It's like our faith in Hebrews 11.

Romans 5.5. Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us. Now we're to the Spirit. Notice how our offensive is manifested. Again, our offensive, Roger may argue, our offensive I'm putting here is faith. And this is by the Spirit of God.

And the sword, by the way, the sword of the Spirit, remember, the sword was two-edged. It's true. Historically, the sword utilized was two-edged, and Hebrews has something to say about the two-edged sword, doesn't it? For the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, again, our will being conformed, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And the important thing there is, it's not just words on a printed page, it's the Holy Spirit ready to convict you and grow you in grace. Why is the Holy Spirit the most difficult concept for us to understand?

I mean, God, the eternal creator of heaven and earth, Christ, the ultimate, the implementer of that creation. If you think about the father, we all can relate, we all have fathers, we know them, And we know about having sons. Most of us. Some of us. We see there are sons.

The Spirit is something we can't get our hands on. Would you go as far as to say it's mythical? What allows us to put trust in the Word of God that claims the Spirit is really real and alive and well? He's told us that. Well, but the triune God, right, is documented in multiple places in scripture.

The Christ promising the helper, right, ultimately, the comforter, ultimately. And we see evidences from some of the verses we've covered here that ultimately the Spirit is really part of the life that's lived by faith. When you look at that point in time, it was Christ who sent the Spirit as our comforter. And that was a real turning point for how people were able to relate. They could see and feel and touch Christ.

Now he's sending a comforter, but in a physical sense he's intangible, but he's eternal and still at work. just on a different plane. And what would you say that Christ's major rationale for the Spirit was, despite the fact that He's eternal? I mean, what was Christ's promise of the Spirit for us today? He would guide us into all truth. All the truth. Right, and ultimately He would reveal me, right? And He shall give you an idea of what's going to happen.

Things to come. Okay, so how would you describe the spirit, actually I might even pause and say how would you describe it to a believer, a new believer who's drinking milk and really hasn't gotten into this in detail, but to an unsaved world where the spirit sounds like, you know, some scientific... Probably its own stuff. Yeah, it really does, doesn't it?

Anyway, the spirit here is the sword of the spirit that ultimately is going to create the outcome that relates to this aspect of the armor. And remember, it's the sword. The sword is potentially offensive, meaning we don't have the sword just simply tucked into our garment. We, in fact, use the sword to protect ourselves against the enemy. And that's spirit-led, and that's by faith. So why should we adore this verse? Well, I'll conclude it for myself. It may not be something you would conclude.

Because the sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. And that's why we turn back to Matthew 4 and those verses there in terms of Christ's response to the temptations of the devil. The Word of God is essential for our understanding, our salvation, and our growth in grace. and we can't leave the Word behind. We're here at Holly Hills and people are globally in Christian atmospheres or churches or even sometimes alone, but the Word is really what provides the truth and the information we need to grow in grace. So, my question or statement is not this our source of all truth, the Word of God. I mean, if there was no Word of God, we wouldn't, in fact, be where we're at today. So, a lot of information today that relates historically, but importantly and more so spiritually to each and every one of the lives that we have in this room, in this body. Thoughts beyond class? Yeah, Gail.

I would go back again to Romans 5.5, just about there, where it says, that hope does not disappoint.

I put in there every time I read it or come across the word hope, just confidence. I would put that in that the word of God gives me confidence. It strengthens my trust, my faith in Him. It doesn't disappoint me when I go back to the word of God. It strengthens me. I'm not disappointed. I'm not cast down. I'm lifted up in fact. When I return to the word each time, instead of trusting in my own rationale or whatever, somebody else's rationale, it's the word of God always. And the Spirit brings that to my mind in whatever situation. To extend that a little bit further, I think that's the application and you're experiencing that.

That's wonderful. You know, many theologians know the Bible front to end, but it's an intellectual knowledge. The lack of disappointment from the word of God is in fact to be built up spiritually and to be encouraged spiritually. Yes, Patty. It's very like the idea of Hebrews where it's living. The word of God is alive, it's a living word. It's not just something that was written. In our lives it applies daily. God gives us comfort. God gives us direction. So many things.

And again, back to what Roger said, hope is a certainty. Roger? I was just saying that along that the word of God is sharp and the nature is sordid, and it reaches down to talk about the marrow, the innermost parts of our being. It seems like it's talking about something we don't actually have a view on. It's the innermost part of who we are. It's the real you. Down to the points in tomorrow.

It's the discernment of our thoughts and intents. It can sort that out. It can correct our thoughts and our intents. It can help us to think correctly. We may be thinking in one way and focus on God's Word. Meditating on His Word. That can be changed.

Going back to the gospel account of Christ's temptations, I think is something that we can kind of put on in terms of our day-to-day walk, is that our sin nature can only be tempted to fall short of God's glory. So that's who we are in the flesh. And remember, Christ was without sin. And I think to think about our lives in the new creation we are in Christ Jesus is being tested. We have the armor. We're now being tested in that armor to prove who we really are. And that's not simply our will to make right choices. That's really a life that shows up that goes beyond the circumstances.

I mean, that sounds kind of glib, but it really is what the truth of the applied Word of God really is. Any other thoughts, final thoughts? Roy, did you want to say something? I was just thinking about how the Holy Spirit, revealed through His own action, reveals to us truth.

And the Old Testament, God sent the Holy Spirit to empower men to do tasks. and could be taken away as well. Now he is the seal of the ultimate salvation, the down payment if you will, who takes, how should I say this, the impetus of the father is to make Christ so important to us that He overshadows everything else. And how does He do that? He gave us the Holy Spirit to reveal Christ to us through the written words, through the creation of the world, through everything that communicates from God His Word, in other words. What a wonderful thing to live in that reality, that that is real, that that is true, that in each of us The Holy Spirit now dwells revealing Christ and building us up in Him so that the Father's will is accomplished. The Father wants to show the Son to be approved and to be glorified in eternity to receive all the praise of men. And it's the Holy Spirit who does that. And the son's involved in it. He says, I'm going back to the father to send you the spirit. All of them together are active right now. That's real in each one of us.

I kind of think of it as a car that needs gas and the ignition to run, or the table lamp, where in fact it's been created by the manufacturer, sits on the table, but unless it's plugged in, it doesn't shine light. I mean so the electricity is the spirit in our lives and ultimately provides that light of the Lord Jesus Christ in our lives.

I think it's appropriate at the end of Ephesians here that he says that this is God's armor. This is God's armor. Yes. It's not armor, it's God's armor that he's given to us. Thanks Roy. Tom you had a comment and we'll end here. This will be pretty quick. I could have counted on Tom for that. Thanks very much. Tom, closest in prayer, would you please? Dear Heavenly Father, for this presentation, your word is easily applied if we trust and rest in your Holy Spirit to make things clear to us moment by moment. Rest in what He has to say to us, what to do, how to do it, and by your grace, we will grow in you, not by our self effort. To you be the glory in Jesus' name, amen.