The Sword of the Spirit

Introduction:

A few months ago, Asher had to take a Hunter’s safety course before being able to buy his hunting license this year.

The main part of this course consisted of safety with a firearm and how to properly use them.

There was a stat that was given that was something like hunter related accidents went down about 70 or 80% when a safety course was available.

They said in that video that whenever you pull the trigger you are responsible for the bullet as it flies through the air.

It is important that if we decide to carry a weapon that we are very familiar with it.

It is also the same in many states concerning a concealed carry permit.

Many states require that a person has a certain amount of training to get a permit to carry a concealed weapon.

This is extremely helpful for people that have minimal experience with firearms.

How many of you would agree that it is important that you should be very familiar with a weapon before you try to use it?

I read an article this week that says that a sniper in the military spent their first like 7 weeks just with their weapon.

They get so familiar with it that they can tear it apart and put it back together blindfolded.

They need to know it inside and out—how it functions at its very best.

As we move to the end of the Armor of God found in Ephesians 6, we read about the last piece of armor that Paul mentions which is the “Sword of the Spirit” in Ephesians 6:17 the Bible says, “Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

This is where we make the transition from fighting from the defensive to moving to the offense.

Baseball is an interesting sport because unless your team is batting you cannot score a run.

If your team never had the chance to go on offense, if all you did was played on defense, the best you could ever do is to end in a tie.

To win the game, you need to get the bat in your hand and swing.

How many of you would agree that we can memorize scripture, but when Satan comes at us we need to use it.

When the enemy comes at you, because he will, there are 1 of 3 things you will do:

You will do nothing

You will pick up your own sword

You will pick up the Sword of the Spirit

Open to Matthew 4:1-11

Point 1: You will do nothing

As I was praying about this week’s service and my sermon, I was trying to use a different passage for my sermon but the Lord kept leading me back to this passage so I had to use it.

As we read about this account of Jesus being tempted by the devil, the main thing we should notice is the fact that He did not just sit back and allow His enemy to tempt Him, but He fought back. He went on the offense by using the Sword of the Spirit which Paul says is the Word of God.

If all we ever do is to put on the full armor of God but we never go on the offense to fight back, we will ever only just remain hanging on.

I mention this so many times because I think this is a dangerous place to be spiritually—to be just hanging on.

How are you doing today?

“Brother, I’m just hanging on.”

“I’m just barely making it.”

What happens is the enemy came at you, you might not have even known it at this point, and you speak these words over yourself to the point of eventually believing it.

You end up becoming what you speak over yourself.

Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

This happens because we fall into the temptation of the tempter that convinces us to believe something that is contrary to the Word of God which is the Bible.

The Bible is the words that God spoke. They came from Him an He is NOT capable of lying.

If Satan comes at you and you are just always defending yourself, you will never experience a season of peace and rest.

About the only thing that would make me upset while coaching baseball is when a boy would not swing the bat.

The only way to win a baseball game is to go on offense and score runs.

The only way to score runs, other than getting walked, is to hit the ball.

This is super deep and takes a rocket scientist to figure out—the only way to hit the ball is to swing the bat.

I would especially get upset with our boys if they struck out looking at the pitch.

I would tell them, “You cannot ever hit the ball unless you swing.”

It does not matter if we have the Word memorized, if we do not use it.

If Jesus would have not fought back with scripture then we probably would not have verse 11 that says that the devil left Him.

If you are constantly under attack from the enemy, maybe you need to begin to fight back with the Word of God.

If you are always on the defense against him you will eventually get tired and fall.

Stand up and fight back with the Word of God.

“Not today Satan. What I am hearing in my head is not from God because He calls me His child and that He purposely created me and spoke life into me. You are the father of lies and my Father cannot lie, so I am taking every thought captive and making it obedient to the Lord.”

You will eventually find those battles not coming back again, but your enemy will try to at some point find another area of your life to attack you. Keep in the Word and stay close to the Lord.

Point 2: You will pick up your own sword

One of the most dangerous things that we can do, next to doing nothing, when the day of evil comes is to pick up our own sword.

I have said this so many times in the past, but sometimes we need to hear things over and over to get it.

The first thing that we need to do to win these battles that will come our way is to know who we are fighting against. We need to know who our enemy is.

In Ephesians 6:12 Paul says, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

We will never win these spiritual battles fighting with the weapons of this world.

In 2 Corinthians 10:3-4 Paul tells the believers in Corinth, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.”

If you do not first understand who you are fighting against you will never win because you will try to fight spiritual battles with physical power. We will be picking up our own sword and trying to beat the enemy in our own strength and we will fail.

David was on the run from Saul because Saul was trying to kill him.

David had the chance to kill Saul, but chose to not through Saul’s spears back at him.

I believe that he realized that his battle was deeper than fighting against Saul.

The Bible says that an evil spirit came upon Saul.

David was not fighting Saul, but the devil who was trying to take out the Lord's anointed one.

Do you remember what Peter did when Jesus was getting arrested?

He drew out his sword and cut off one of the high priest's servants ear off.

Jesus rebuked him and said, in Matthew 26:52-53 ““Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?”

Then, in John 18:36, Jesus said to Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.””

If we try to fight spiritual battles on our own, with our own sword, from the flesh, we will lose 100% of the time.

When doubt and fear come into your mind, don’t just try to fight it off and tell yourself to not allow it to happen, but fight with the Word of God.

The more that we get familiar with the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God (What God speaks), we will begin to use it because we feel feel more comfortable with it.

Those soldiers in the military that I mentioned earlier, get so familiar with their own person weapon that they know how it feels when they hold it and how the tripper pulls when they are ready to fire it.

Anyone in here who has shot a gun knows that when you get used to a certain rifle you know how far the trigger will squeeze before it goes off and how much it will kick when the bullet is fired.

My dad gave me a Winchester .270 rifle model 70, when I was 12 years old.

Every time I take it out to shoot I am familiar with it and feel way more comfortable with it than any other gun.

In 1 Samuel 17, David refused to use Saul’s armor and sword when Saul put it on him to fight Goliath.

After David tried it on he ended up taking it off because he said that he was unfamiliar with it.

He ended up using what he was familiar with and told Goliath, “You come at me with a sword, spear, and javelin. I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty.

When we fight against the enemy with the Word of God we come in the name of the Lord.

When we use the Word of God we chose to step out of the way and to allow God to fight for us.

Point 3: You will pick up the Sword of the Spirit

When the day of evil comes, rather than not doing anything or trying to use your own sword, if you pick up the Sword of the Spirit you will begin to win spiritual battles that you have felt that you lost in the past.

When Jesus was tempter by the devil He used the Word of God against him and the Bible says that he left Jesus.

We need to be more familiar with the Word of God so that when the devil comes to tempt us we will not stand around and do nothing, we will not try to use try to use our own sword by fighting him on our own, but we will say like David said to Goliath, “I come at you in the name of the Lord.”

When we use the Word to fight against Satan he trembles because he knows where those words originated from.

He doesn’t fear Tom Alderson, Ralph D’Antonio, Rick Thomas, or any other man, but he fears the Lord.

When we use the Word against him we are speaking the words that God spoke because the Bible, the Word of God, is from the mouth of God.

Hebrews 4:12 says that the Bible “For the word of God is living and active; sharper than any 2 edged sword.

Conclusion:

When the day of evil comes, because it will, don’t just do nothing and refuse to pick up your own sword.

When the day of evil comes fight the enemy, as Jesus did, with the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.