The Sword of the Spirit

I am not a soccer player. I don’t know how to dribble and I don’t have a lot of kicking power. This could be because it wasn’t a game we played in SC, or it could simply be that I have no talent when it comes to that sport. Regardless, when we went to the Wilds back in June, we formed a soccer team that Elijah decided should be called “Beacon’s Beacons.” Anyway, it came time for the tournament and that week it was decided that I was the chosen one to play goalie and so far things had gone well. We were undefeated in our practice matches and had made it to the second round of the tournament when we were told that we would be playing one of the best teams there next. So, I did what any smart guy would do; I begged everyone I could to take my spot as goalie because I knew I wasn’t well prepared. To my surprise, absolutely no one wants to play goalie. So I tried to convince myself that we could handle it and so we marched out and we got beat.

The moral of the story here is that we will not be able to walk through life unprepared and be able to preform well when tests come. It may look like a temptation to cheat on a test, it may be being tempted to argue with someone who said something you didn’t like, or it may be getting kicked with a soccer ball. Regardless, if we’re going to preform well, we need to be familiar with what we are doing.

Well, as we look here is Ephesians 6, we will find that Paul is prescribing our last piece of armor, the word of God. Ephesians 6:11-17

Ephesians 6:11–17 NKJV

11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 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. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;

Today, Paul is going to encourage us to look to the Bible as our weapon to fight life’s battles with and what I want us to grasp today is that the Bible is the instrument that God will use to give us victory in our Christian lives.

So, if you’re full of anxiety because you don’t know what the future holds, this message is for you. If you are discouraged because you keep falling to the same sins over and over again, this is for you. If you are depressed because you don’t know if your life has any purpose, this is for you. And if you think you’ve got things all figured out because you’re the man, this is for you. What I mean is that the Bible is for you, all of you, and that we should look to it for wisdom, strength and guidance in our lives as believers.

Now, before we dive in, I want us to ask ourselves where Paul got this idea of bringing in the sword from. Did he look at a roman guard and come up with it, did he find it somewhere else in the Bible, or did he just come up with it out of no where? I believe that Paul found the idea of the sword from Isaiah 49:2

Isaiah 49:1–6 NKJV

1 “Listen, O coastlands, to Me, And take heed, you peoples from afar! The Lord has called Me from the womb; From the matrix of My mother He has made mention of My name. 2 And He has made My mouth like a sharp sword; In the shadow of His hand He has hidden Me, And made Me a polished shaft; In His quiver He has hidden Me.” 3 “And He said to me, ‘You are My servant, O Israel, In whom I will be glorified.’ 4 Then I said, ‘I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and in vain; Yet surely my just reward is with the Lord, And my work with my God.’ ” 5 “And now the Lord says, Who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, To bring Jacob back to Him, So that Israel is gathered to Him (For I shall be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, And My God shall be My strength), 6 Indeed He says, ‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ”

Now, it is in Isaiah 49 that God looks at Israel, a people who were supposed to be a mighty people for God. And as He looks at them, He doesn’t see mighty warriors, but weak sinners and so God promises to raise up a greater Israel, a man who will be a mighty servant of the Lord, who, verse 4-6 tells us, will be used to bring people all over the world to God.

Notice how verse 2 says that God made His mouth like a sword. Meaning that He would come to speak piercing and dividing words. Jesus says something similar in Matthew 10:34-38 which I believe connects Him to Isaiah 49. It reads,

Matthew 10:34–38 NKJV

34 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. 35 For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; 36 and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ 37 He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.

Another thing I want you to notice is how Isaiah 49:4 mentions this servant being formed in the womb and how He poured Himself out for God and then in verse 5-6 it talks about how a great people from all over the world would be given to Him. I believe that is clearly referring to Christ’s virgin conception, Him sacrificial life and death and how God is saving people all over the world through Him. Iain Duguid says, “In order to shine healing light on the nation, the servant would have to be rejected and bruised by His own people. The Spirit’s sword of judgment would pierce Jesus’s own perfect soul to redeem our sinful souls.”

Now, John 1 tells us that Jesus is the Word of God, and throughout the gospels we read of Jesus quoting the Old Testament and in John 5:39 He even says that the whole Bible is all about Him.

John 5:39 NKJV

39 You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.

So since this is the case, I believe that Jesus knows a thing or two about the Scriptures, and because of that, I want us to take a minute to consider what He wants us to know about them.

It Is For Our Spiritual Growth

In John 17:17, Jesus prays to the Father and says,

John 17:17 NKJV

17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.

And so, here we learn that the Bible is the instrument that God will use to make us more like Christ. But how might He do that?

It shows us our sinfulness

Hebrews 4:12 NKJV

12 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, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Did you catch that? The Bible reaches in and exposes things about you that no one else knows, it exposes your pet sins, your pride, your lusts, and even the sins that you’ve grown so comfortable with that you’ve totally forgotten about. But the Scriptures aren’t simply there to expose the sinfulness of our hearts as though we are supposed to beat ourselves up and simply try to do more. Instead, it reveals the truth of who we are as sinners and then, it lifts our crying eyes to look to Jesus who loves sinners and gave Himself for them.

It points us to Christ

As I said a moment ago, Jesus tells us that all of the Scriptures point to Him. John 5:39

John 5:39 NKJV

39 You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.

So, the Bible both exposes our sin and points us to Christ.

Lets look at 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 to see an example of how this happens.

1 Corinthians 6:9–11 NKJV

9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

You see, the church at Corinth was full of sin. And in verse 9-10, he begins listing sins that would exclude all of us from the kingdom of God. Our hearts should stop for a second here, we should be nervous. But he doesn’t stop. He doesn’t say, “What’s the matter with you people?” He doesn’t say, “Well, you’ve messed up too much” or “How could you possibly be saved and live like this!” Instead, he doesn’t point to them at all. He points them to Jesus. If you want to grow, go deeper into the heart of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And if you’ve grown tired of it, if you’ve gotten to where you think the gospel is just beginners info and that mature Christians don’t need it, then you need it more than anyone you know.

Not only is it effective for our spiritual growth, but:

It is for Spiritual Warfare

War has evolved tremendously over the last two thousand years. Today, they can launch missiles, use long range rifles, jets and more. As a matter of fact, a drone pilot can sit in an office here in the US and be dropping bombs on a location across the world. War today is, in some places, detached. But in Paul’s time that wasn’t the case. Actually, the word he used for sword is used to describe a short sword. These were used for up close fighting. Man to man, eye to eye, life for life. What Paul is communicating to us is that our spiritual warfare is up close and personal so we better be serious, alert and ready or we will be beaten by our enemy.

If we are going to war, we need a weapon, and here Paul tells us what we have. The word of God. Do you know how to use it? How do we learn? Well, when we look at the life of Jesus, we see a master at work. In Matthew 4:1-11, we can see it:

Matthew 4:1–11 NKJV

1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. 3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” 4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ” 5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ” 7 Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ” 8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ” 11 Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

It is here that Jesus is attacked by Satan who comes tempting Him to sin. But every time Satan tempts Him, Jesus responds with Scripture from Deuteronomy. Now how do we usually respond to temptation? We might usually think to ourselves, “What if I get caught? My friends wouldn’t like that.” Or, “How would my family feel if they knew!” But that’s not the kind of fighting that will win wars, that is bringing water balloons to sword fights! We don’t need to use the thoughts of men, but the word of God.

Are you anxious? Is the enemy plaguing your mind with doubts and fears? Isaiah 41:10 says

Isaiah 41:10 NKJV

10 Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’

Are you struggling with anger? Proverbs 29:11

Proverbs 29:11 NKJV

11 A fool vents all his feelings, But a wise man holds them back.

Are you struggling with lust? 1 Corinthians 6:18-20

1 Corinthians 6:18–20 NKJV

18 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

You see, the Bible has answers for the struggles that you are facing, you just need to become familiar with it. So, I want to give you three things about you and your Bible.

You cannot know what you’ve never learned.

A soldier wouldn’t wait until he’s being shot at to learn how to use his gun. So why would we wait until we’re facing temptation? We need to be in our Bibles regularly.

Ask the Author for help in understanding His word.

Find people to walk with as you grow in your knowledge of the word.

Acts 17:10–12 NKJV

10 Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11 These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. 12 Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men.