The Sword of the Spirit (2)

Introduction

[READING - Ephesians 6:14-17]

Ephesians 6:14–17 NASB95

14 Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

[PRAYER]

[GOSPEL CONTEXT] Every word of Scripture (i.e., every word in the Bible) is glorious.

But there are two words in the Bible that when brought together are more glorious than any others.

Those two words are “in Christ.”

We are forgiven of our sins in Christ.

We are safe from the wrath of God in Christ.

All the blessings of salvation are ours in Christ.

We are equipped for every good work in Christ.

We have access to the armor of God in Christ.

In Christ we have access to the belt of truth.

In Christ we have access to the breastplate of righteousness.

In Christ we have access to the Gospel of peace.

In Christ we have access to the shield of faith.

In Christ we have access to the helmet of salvation.

And, as we’re talking about this morning, in Christ we have access to the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

We need to understand the armor of God in connection with being in Christ because we only have access to the armor of God if we are in Christ.

If we are not in Christ, we do not have access to the armor of God.

We have no access to the truth, to righteousness, to peace, to faith, to hope, and no access to the word of God if we are not in Christ.

Now, you may say, “Wait a minute! I have the Bible whether I’m in Christ or not, so how can you say I have to be in Christ to have the word of God?”

You have to be in Christ to wield the sword—the word of God—effectively.

You have to be in Christ to understand this weapon.

You have to be in Christ to take up this weapon in the battle against the evil one, all the spiritual forces of darkness, and their schemes.

So right here at the beginning of the sermon, I want to press you to consider if you are in Christ.

Have you turned from your sin and trusted Jesus in His death and resurrection to save you from the wrath of God?

The Bible says the price for sin is death and Jesus paid that price for you if you trust Him.

The Bible says that we can know that Jesus is the Son of God who has made us right with God because God raised Him from the dead.

If you trust Jesus as your Savior and prove your trust by submitting to Him as your Lord, then you are in Christ.

All the blessings of salvation are yours.

All the armor of God is at your disposal.

And, as we specifically focusing on this morning, if you are in Christ, you will wield the sword of the Spirit effectively.

[TS] This morning I want you to notice...

…the purpose of the sword…

…the origin of the sword…

…the parts of the sword…

…and the authority of the sword.

Major Ideas

#1: The purpose of the sword

[Ephesians 6:17b] “And take… the sword…”

[ILLUS] Awhile back someone gave me a gift card to Amazon. I already have all the books, and I didn’t need anything else, so I decided to buy a knife. This is the knife I bought.

I carried it in my vehicle for awhile just in case I needed to fight a ninja or something, but Mike Hendrix saw it one day and asked me a very important question, “What are you going to do with it?”

I didn’t have a good answer to that question (besides fighting ninjas), but that is an important question nonetheless.

It’s a question about purpose.

God has given us a sword, but what is the purpose of this sword?

[EXP] The sword Paul likely has in mind here in Ephesians 6:17 was the Roman’s soldiers short sword for close quarters combat. It could’ve been about 18 inches long or short enough to basically be a dagger.

But the Roman soldier’s sword had two purposes—defense and offense, protecting oneself from that attacks of the enemy and taking the fight to the enemy.

The sword of the Spirit, the word of God serves defensive and offensive purposes as well.

In Matthew 4, Jesus is led by the Spirit in the wilderness where He is tempted by the devil.

But each time, Jesus defends Himself against the temptation by wielding the sword, by quoting and obeying the word of God.

That’s how the sword of the Spirit is used defensively.

In 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 we see how the sword of the Spirit might be used offensively.

2 Corinthians 10:3–5 NASB95

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, 4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,

The divinely powerful weapons of warfare that Paul mentions in 2 Corinthians 10 would certainly include the sword of the Spirit, the word of God, by which we destroy fortresses of darkness, anti-christian arguments, and sinful opinions of man.

This is the sword of the Spirit on the offensive, talking the fight to the forces of darkness.

[ILLUS] J.R.R. Tolkien is most famous for The Lord of the Rings, but he wrote many other things as well including Farmer Giles of Ham.

Farmer Giles lives in the town of Ham where he is fat and happy until one day a giant trespasses on his land breaking his hedges, trampling his crops, and flattening his mowing grass.

And then the giant flattened farmer Giles favorite cow.

Farmer Giles grabbed his blunderbuss, a short gun with a large bore that shot many lead balls or slugs at once. He poured in a large charge of gunpowder, but because farmer Giles seldom used his blunderbuss, he had no lead balls or slugs. He stuffed his with nails, bits of wire, stone, and bone, bits of a broken pot, and whatever else he had lying around.

Then he went off to face the giant.

He met the giant as the giant was coming over a hill distracted by the brightness of the moon. The giant never saw farmer Giles, but farmer Giles was so startled by the giant’s size that he pulled the trigger of his blunderbuss without thinking and without aim. All the bits of pot, wire, stone, bone, and nails flew out, and by sheer luck headed toward the giant’s face.

A piece of a pot went into his eye.

A large nail stuck in his nose.

The giant wasn’t seriously hurt, but he decided to walk no further in that direction.

He grabbed two sheep for supper and went home.

The people of Ham celebrated farmer Giles as a hero for getting rid of the giant, so it was only natural that they turned to him when a dragon approached their town.

At first, farmer Giles made all sorts of excuses.

He was too busy with his farming.

He lacked adequate armor to fight a dragon.

He didn’t have the right weapon. What good would a blunderbuss do against a dragon?

But then farmer Giles was given a magical sword named Caudimordax or more commonly Tailbiter.

This sword gave farmer Giles a feeling of pride and encouragement despite his other limitations.

With his sword, he went looking for the dragon.

He found the dragon in town, but as farmer Giles prepared for battle he dropped Tailbiter.

The dragon said, “Haven’t you dropped something?” And when farmer Gile went to pick up the sword, the dragon swooped in for the kill.

But the dragon was not faster than Tailbiter. It leaped forward with a flash, straight at the dragon’s eyes. Then it struck the dragon on its right wing.

Farmer Giles managed to defend himself and his town from the dragon on that day thanks to Tailbiter.

And thanks to Tailbiter, farmer Giles even took the fight to the dragon by hunting him down in his cave.

[APP] I’ll not tell you how the story ends, but in this story you see the purpose of the sword of the Spirit—defense and offense.

With the sword of the Spirit we defend ourselves against the temptations of that ancient dragon, Satan, the devil.

And with the sword of the Spirit we attack his strongholds.

This is the purpose of the sword of the Spirit.

[TS] …

#2: The origin of the sword

[Ephesians 6:17b] “And take… the sword of the Spirit…”

[EXP] This is the sword of the Spirit. This is the sword, the word of God, that has come to us by way of the Holy Spirit, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

In 2 Peter 1:20-21, the Apostle Peter writes…

2 Peter 1:20–21 NASB95

20 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, 21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

In 2 Timothy 3:16a, the Apostle Paul writes…

2 Timothy 3:16 NASB95

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;

Or as one translation has it…

2 Timothy 3:16 NIV84

16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,

Because this sword is of the Spirit (i.e., this word is from God), it is…

…infallible—it cannot deceive us or lead us into error; it is completely trustworthy and will always accomplish its purpose.

…inerrant—it contains no errors of any sort in the original autographs (i.e., the original writings).

…eternal—1 Peter 1:24-25 says…

1 Peter 1:24–25 NASB95

24 For, “All flesh is like grass, And all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, And the flower falls off, 25 But the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word which was preached to you.

…sufficient—the whole of 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says…

2 Timothy 3:16–17 NASB95

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

…piercing (i.e., convicting)—Hebrews 4:12 says…

Hebrews 4:12 NASB95

12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

[ILLUS] Emile Cailliet was a French philosopher who felt that he never read a book that really understood him, so he set out to write one.

He gathered notes and quotations, but when he sat down to write, he was quickly disappointed. He realized his book would not help him because it was coming from him and as such it had no special insight or power for him.

But it was then that his wife handed him a Bible—one she had picked up that day from a local chapel.

Emile read all through the day and into the night mainly from the Gospels, and then it dawned on him, “This is the book that understands me!”

He said the God of whom the Gospels spoke became alive to Him, and that night He prayed to Him, and the God spoken of in the book answered back.

[APP] Because this sword, this word, is of the Spirit, it answers back. Through it God speaks to us. It understands us and pierces us. It reads us as we read it.

This sword pierces the darkness of our own hearts even as we wield it to battle the forces of darkness in the heavenly realms.

[TS] We’ve seen the purpose of this sword, the origin of this sword, and now…

#3: The parts of the sword

[Ephesians 6:17b] “And take… the sword of the Spirit, which is the word...”

[ILLUS] We may think of a sword as just a long sharp piece of metal, but the sword of the Roman soldier—the gladius—was made up of different parts. If you’ll look up at the screens you’ll see a diagram of a gladius from reliks.com with its parts numbered.

1. The Capulus—the swords hilt, which could’ve been very simple but was often ornate in the case of Roman officers and dignitaries

2. Obviabis—the swords pommel, which acted as a counter-weight to balance the weapon and also prevented the soldiers hand from sliding off the grip

3. Pelpate or Tenaci—the handle or grip of the sword, which was often made of bone or wood

4. Guard—which was between the grip and the blade, protecting the soldiers hand as an enemies blade slid down the his own blade toward his hand

5. Gladius lamina—the swords blade, which varied in style

6. Ferro—the point or tip of the gladius blade, which was used for piercing

7. Ore Gladii—the edge of the blade on the gladius, which was capable of holding a very sharp edge

[EXP] I highlight all this because the term used for “word” here in Ephesians 6:17 is not the usual word “logos,” which would encompass God’s word in its entirety, but the word “rhema,” which means a saying from the entirety of God’s word, a particular verse or passage or portion of God’s written revelation.

James Montgomery Boice said, “John 3:16 is a rhēma. Romans 3:23 is a rhēma, and so on for all the other specific portions of the written ‘Word of God.’”

He said, “Its important to see this… because according to Paul’s teaching we are to overcome Satan by the particular words or portions of Scripture.”

In other words, we are to overcome Satan by the particular parts that make up the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God.

[ILLUS] Think back once again to the temptation of Jesus in Matthew 4. Jesus defeated every temptation of Satan by quoting and obeying specific portions or parts of God’s Word—those specific portions or parts that directly countered the temptations of Satan.

When Satan tempted Jesus to prove His divine identity by miraculously making bread, Jesus answered with a rhema—a specific part of God’s word…

Matthew 4:4 NASB95

4 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.’ ”

That’s Deuteronomy 8:3.

When Satan tempted Jesus to prove His divine identity by testing God, Jesus answered with a rhema—a specific part of God’s word…

Matthew 4:7 NASB95

7 Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”

That’s Deuteronomy 6:16.

When Satan tempted Jesus with all the kingdoms of the world if Jesus would just worship Satan, Jesus answered with a rhema—a specific part of God’s word…

Matthew 4:10 NASB95

10 Then Jesus said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’ ”

That’s Deuteronomy 6:13.

[APP] Of course, to respond to the temptations of Satan with a particular verse or passage from the Bible, you have to be well-versed in the Bible.

You will need to hear the Bible.

You need to hear the Bible taught and preached.

You will need to read the Bible.

W.A. Criswell said, “Whenever people read the Bible you will have a revival.”

You will need to meditate or think on the Bible.

Many of my heroes are dead puritans who were famous for thinking on a part of God’s word until it seemed almost nothing else could be thought.

We need to take up that practice.

You will need to memorize the Bible.

Memorizing is a great help to meditating.

You will need to study the Bible.

Boice said, “For a sword to do me any good, I must take it up and use it. So also with the words of God. They are wonderful words, but to be useful to you they must become yours. You must learn them. This is what David was talking about when he said, ‘I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you,’ (Ps. 119:11). Only the words that we know will be useful to us.”

[TS] …

#4: The authority of the sword

[Ephesians 6:17b] “And take… the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

[EXP] Because this word is the word of God, it holds the highest authority.

Satan has to bow to this word because, as the word of God, it has authority over him.

Satan’s schemes are undone by this word, because as the word of God, it has authority over them.

[ILLUS] D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote about the great reformer, Martin Luther, saying, “Luther was held in darkness by the devil, though he was a monk. He was trying to save himself by works. He was fasting, sweating, and praying; and yet he was miserable and unhappy, and in bondage. Superstitious Roman Catholic teaching held him captive. But he was delivered by the word of Scripture—“the just shall live by faith.”

“From that moment he began to understand this Word as he had never understood it before, and the better he understood it the more he saw the errors taught by Rome. He saw the error of her practice, and so became more intent on the reformation of the church. He proceeded to do all in terms of exposition of the Scriptures.

“The great doctors in the Roman church stood against him. He sometimes had to stand alone and meet them in close combat, and invariably he took his stand upon the Scripture.

“He maintained that the church is not above the Scriptures. The standard by which you judge even the church, he said, is the Scripture. And though he was one man, at first standing alone, he was able to fight the papal system and twelve centuries of tradition.

“He did so by taking up ‘the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.’”

[APP] This word of God is the highest authority in this church, in this nation, in our families, and in our hearts…

[TS] …

Conclusion

…so trust Christ so that you will be in Christ.

Then, in Christ, take up this armor of God and specifically this sword of the Spirit, the word of God.

Know it.

Love it.

Practice it.

Defend yourself against the attacks of the evil one by wielding this sword.

And by wielding this sword, tear down every stronghold that sets itself up against God.

[PRAYER]