Sword of the Spirit EPh 6:17

INTRO:

I have been told by people who concile carry that you have to always do it because the moment your don’t is not moment you will need it. You will come face to face with a robber or a bad guy. Be packing.

Have you ever come face to face with the Devil? I know a young man who came face to face with the Devil.

Show them a life sized model.

The NET Bible First Edition Notes Notes for 6:17

The Greek term translated sword (μάχαιρα, machaira) refers to the Roman gladius, a short sword about 2 ft (60 cm) long, used for close hand-to-hand combat. This is the only clearly offensive weapon in the list of armor mentioned by the author (he does not, for example, mention the lance [Latin pilum]).

1. Train to know your weapon.

Roman solders use to receive rigid training to be proficient and know how to properly use their swords. Christian soldiers also need to have training to know how to use the sword of the Spirit.

The Bible is that sword but you much be able to pick it up and use it.

It is not much good if you don’t know how to wield it.

illustration of not knowing how to use a weapon. My cousin did 2 tours in Afghanistan and 2 in Iraq. He said they did not know how to use the weapons we were giving them.

Read your Bible. The Bible is meant to be bread daily not cake for special occasions.

John Wesley used to read the bible at 4 or 5 in the morning and he read it in 5 langues.

memorize scripture.

Study it and interrupt it, try to understand it by researching and asking questions. digging down into the depths of truth.

John McArther made a joke about this … He said, “it is 95 percent perspiration and 5 percent inspiration.”

Meditate on it. Fill your mind with it. Christian meditation happens in conjunction with the scripture. It is different from Buddhist meditation which is an emptying of yourself …Christian meditation is a filling yourself with truth.

Reading your Bible without meditating on it is like trying to eat without swallowing.

Teach it. You will hold on to what you give away.

A Bible that is falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t - Spurgeon

THe dirtier your Bible the cleaner your heart.

Why did David not want to wear Saul’s armor? Because he was not trained in them.

He was trained on that sling. untimely God gave him the strength though which last point but before we get there. He was not afraid of Goliath even though he was close.

2. Don’t be afraid if the enemy gets close.

used in close hand to hand combat.

what does that tell us about how Satan attacks us? He likes to get in close, but that is OK because the Word of God works in close range.

Kopis (κοπίς). A heavier single-edged cutting sword, usually employed by cavalry.

Spatha or spathíon (σπάθη ή σπαθίον). A straight long sword of the late Antiquity, used by the Roman empire military as a replacement of the shorter gladius. Spatharios was an Eastern Roman title which literally means spatha-bearer.

Rhomphaia (ρομφαία). A long slightly curved blade used by the Thracians, similar to a falx.

Not a lance or a spear.

The word is Makhaira (μάχαιρα). Generic name for a single-edged knife, scalpel or short sword. The latin word for it was Gladius

this is a side arm not a rifle.

You battle Satan with the help of other Christians. Tortuous formation. Used with the Shield of Faith. But God is right there with us in the battle.

Don’t say God is silent when your Bible is closed. Complaining about a silent God with a closed Bible is like the young girl who claims her boyfriend does not text her back but she has her phone turned off.

Billy Graham said, “If you are ifnorant of God’s Word, you will always be ignorant of God’s will.”

you do not battle the devil on your own you do it in God strength. Verse 10 that is why this sword is called the sword of the Sprit not the sword of the Christian.

which transitions us to our next point.

3. A Truly Spiritual Weapon

How is God’s Word the Sword of the Spirit?

It was inspired by God.

2 Peter 1:20–21 CSB

Above all, you know this: No prophecy of Scripture comes from the prophet’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

2 Timothy 3:16 CSB

All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness,

The Holy Spirit illuminates it for us.

John 14:26 CSB

But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.

John 16:13–14 CSB

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak on his own, but he will speak whatever he hears. He will also declare to you what is to come. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.

The Holy Spirit gives it its penitrating power to convict us.

The Bible is the only book who’s author is always present when on reads it.

I would rather have the Holy Spirit than 10,000 Bible and Theology degrees.

Look at these guys on the History Channel. They are 100 times smarter than me. They have PhD’s from major universities and the stuff they come up with is just wild.

Alians did it. Or the Bible can’t be true because we know for archeology that the ancient Jews were poly-theistic. Yeah kind of like the book of Judges and 2nd Kings says.

They interpert the bible in the most crackpot ways. Why? because the do not have the Holy Spirit illuminating them.

Whether you are a baby christian reading it for the 1st time or .... the Spirit has something for you.

The primary purpose of reading the Bible is not to know the Bible but to know God.

The Bible was not given for our information but for our transformation. - D.L. Moody

Many books can inform your but only the Bible can Transform you.

The young man I know who came face to face with the devil is Jesus.

Be packing, always take your sword with you.