Man Camp Session 3: Our Protective Gear - Part 2

1:30More to the image of Christ. So, Lord, I pray that you would comfort those today who need to be comforted and convict those that need to be convicted. And again, just conform all of us more to the image of Christ. We pray this in His name. Amen. Well, there's a number of preachers who have made an impact on my life and ministry, both dead and alive. One of the old dead guys is Martin Lloyd-Jones, who got that book, by the way. Who won that book? Nice. That's a good read.

2:03Martin Lloyd-Jones wrote a very helpful book called Spiritual Depression. And you may not have ever struggled with depression, but it's an excellent book, nevertheless, and I would encourage you to get it, have it, read it. But this is what he said in his book, Spiritual Depression: Quote: The ultimate cause of all spiritual depression is unbelief. For if it were not for unbelief, even the devil could do nothing. Let me just read that again. If it were not for unbelief, even the devil could do nothing.

2:43It is because we listen to the devil instead of listening to God that we go down before him and fall before his attacks. One of the preachers who's still alive and kicking is John Piper. He wrote a, well, this was from a sermon battling unbelief. He preached years ago, back in the 80s. He said this: quote, all sins come from unbelief in the promises of God. All sins come from unbelief in the promises of God. And then later he wrote in his book, Future Grace, The number one aim of Satan is the destruction of faith. The number one aim of Satan is the destruction of faith. And he references the following passage to prove his point. Luke 22, verse 31, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. 1 Thessalonians 3:5, when I could endure it no longer, I also sent to find out about your faith for fear that the tempter might have tempted you and our labor would be in vain. And then 1 Peter 5, 8, be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour, but resist him firm in your faith. And this is what Piper concludes. Quote, it makes sense that the very thing Satan wants to destroy would also be the means of our resisting his efforts. The way to thwart the devil is to strengthen the very thing he's trying most to destroy.

4:38And that's why I believe that Paul commanded us to take up the shield of what? Faith. Now, these six pieces of armor here that we're looking at, I think can be divided into two groups of three. And so I'm glad we had two sessions this morning where they can just kind of nicely be split in half here. We've already looked at the first group, the belt, the breastplate, and the boots. Now we're going to look at the second group, the shield, the helmet, and the sword. Notice verse 16, Paul says, in addition to all, or above all, again, this is not a matter of importance here, because all of these are equally important. I think Paul's thought here, when he said, was in addition to, he's just making a distinction. He talked about the first three pieces of armor. Now he wants us to take up the remaining three pieces. And notice how he says that. In addition to all, taking up the shield of faith, which you'll be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one, and take essentially up the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit. So what's the difference between having, notice he says having, Girded your loins with the truth, and having put on the breast of a blessed plate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel peace, now you're supposed to take up these things.

6:12Well, the first three pieces of armor, I think, are permanently attached to our body. They're always there. Whereas the last three pieces that we're about to look at can be quickly grabbed when we're under attack. It's like a soldier when he's resting in his barracks, he keeps his belt on, he keeps his body armor on, perhaps, and even his boots on, but all of a sudden when the mortar round goes off, right, he jumps to his feet, and what does he do? He grabs his helmet and he grabs his gun and he runs off, right, when he hears the attack. Baseball player, same thing, right? You're in the dugout, you've got your uniform on, you got your cleats on, you got your hat on, but you don't wear your glove, you don't wear your helmet, you don't hold on to your bat, right? But you grab all those things when you're up to bat or you're going out onto the field, right? Same thing with a football player. You're on the sidelines, you've got your uniform on, you got your pads on, but you don't wear your helmet necessarily. You kind of put it over there, and then you go grab it when it's time to go into the game. So I think that's the idea here. What's unique about these next three pieces of armor? So let's look first of all at the shield. He says, in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you Be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Now, there are two kinds of Roman shields. There's a small round shield made of metal that was secured to a soldier's arm by two leather straps and was used in hand-to-hand combat. It's like the one that this brother's got on the back of his sweatshirt, that round shield. Or if you think about Captain America, it's that kind of shield, right? That's that round shield. That's not the shield, I think, that Paul had in mind here. It was the other kind of Roman shield, which was a large, rectangular, door-like shield. It was probably four and a half feet by two and a half feet. And soldiers could crouch down behind that shield and it could protect their entire body. And it had metal edges, which were constructed in such a way that the entire line of soldiers could actually interlock those shields together in front of them and march towards the enemy like a solid wall. Or they could actually put them over their heads, forming a roof called the tortoise formation, because it looked like a turtle shell above them when the arrows would come down on their heads. And so these shields were made with steel or wood frames. They were covered with layers of leather, and they would soak these shields in water before a battle to extinguish the flaming arrows that were shot at them by the enemy. And in ancient warfare, armies would often dip the tips of their arrows into pitch or other flammable substance. And then light them on fire and shoot them at the enemy. And so they were doubly dangerous because not only could they kill you, but they could also set everything on fire around you.

9:10But when these flaming arrows hit the Roman shield, they would be instantly extinguished and they would fall harmlessly to the ground. And so, in the same way, Satan shoots flaming arrows at us in the form of fiery trials and temptations, missiles of greed, and lust and jealousy and pride and materialism and anger and fear and discontent and worry and wicked thoughts and hateful words and doubts and skepticism. Now, obviously, these are not literally flaming arrows, but they take the form of worldly pleasures which appeal to our fleshly desires, which wage war against our soul. 1 Peter 2, verse 11. 1 Peter 2, verse 11 says it this way: Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul. And again, Satan knows we're supposed to study him so that we know him, right? We know our enemy, but guess what? He studies us.

10:27And he knows exactly. Where the chinks are in our armor. And he aims at them with sniper-like precision. He knows the hole, right, where he's going to be able to get in to your life. And it's going to happen in one of three areas. Now, look at 1 John chapter 2, real quick. 1 John chapter 2. Here we have that classic passage about not loving the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. And then John summarizes everything that is in the world into three categories. He says, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the volcano pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the world. This is Satan's arsenal. These are his three primary weapons, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Let's talk about these for a second. Lust of the flesh, we could just call pleasures.

11:38This is anything that has to do with our fleshly body in the sense that appeals to our flesh. It's that maybe it's sensual pleasure, it's desiring ease or comfort, anything that affects our body. So we're talking about things like sexual immorality, talking about laziness, talking about gluttony. That's the lust of the flesh category. And then there's lust of the eyes. We can call that possessions. This is the things that we can see, that our eyes see and want. So this is the desire for profit or material things. And this manifests itself in things like overworking, perhaps, or gambling, or getting into all sorts of debt. And then there's the pride of life. The pride of life, which you could just call the position or the prestige or the popularity or the power. If you're looking for P-words, right? Pleasures, possessions, position. This is the desire for approval. This is the desire for acceptance. This is wanting to be respected by your fellow man, being regarded as a success. You want to be in control. You want to have power.

12:47This manifests itself, the pride of life, and kind of we worry about how we look. We give in to peer pressure, right? Sometimes we react in prideful ways when we feel disrespected by perhaps our wife or our children or other people at work, for example. So all that to say, these three things are the things that Satan has used since the beginning of time to get people to rebel against God and to sin. In fact, it's what he used in Genesis chapter 3 in the very first temptation. Genesis chapter 3.

13:30You know the exchange between the serpent and Eve. And it says this in verse 6. When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that's the lust of the flesh, and that it was a delight to the eyes, it looked good, that's the lust of the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, that's the pride of life, she took from its fruit and ate, and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

14:04Question is, why did Adam and Eve fail to stand firm against Satan's initial attack on mankind? I think it's very simple. They failed to believe God. What is Satan? How did Satan start the conversation? Indeed, has God said, you shall not eat from any tree of the garden? Did God really say that? So Satan, I think, is always telling us the exact opposite of what God has said in his word, or even just slightly skewed or distorted version of it. He wants to convince us that God is not good, that he's holding out on us, that we're missing out on something.

14:58And every one of Satan's temptations. Is an attempt to get us to doubt or distrust or disbelieve God's word. Then essentially, when we're tempted, you need to replay that conversation in the garden because what Satan's asking you, did God really say that? And we must never doubt God's word, even when Satan makes his way look better and sound better than God's way. And every time we give into temptation, what we're doing is we're believing Satan over God. And consequently, we are calling God a liar.

15:38See how Satan does that, the old switcheroo? He's the liar. But he gets us to think that God is the liar. 1 John 5:10, the one who does not believe God has made him a liar. Again, Satan is the liar, the father of all lies. And so every fiery arrow that Satan launches against you is a lie. In fact, it might be helpful if the next time you're tempted to do something that you know you shouldn't do, tell yourself, I'm being lied to right now.

16:15I'm about to get ripped off. I'm being conned right now. I was telling our church when I taught through James 1 about deception and that's Satan. Satan's number one mode of tempting us. It's through deception. To remember that every temptation is a deception. Let's stop calling it temptation. Let's just call it what it is. It's deception. That you're getting conned, you're getting played, you're getting lied to. And so we need to have that conversation with us up front to remind ourselves that, yeah, if we go along with us, we're getting ripped off. I don't know about you, I hate getting ripped off. Nothing irritates me more than when I, in good faith, move forward with some decision or do something or make a purchase, and then I realize after the fact I got ripped off. I hate that. Well, guess what? Satan is the ultimate rip-off artist, the ultimate con artist, who's trying to rip you off every day of your life.

17:24John 10, 10, the thief comes only to steal and to kill and destroy, but I came that you may have life and have it abundantly. Isn't it interesting how Satan flips that around in this world's mindset? That God is the one that comes to steal and to kill and destroy all your fun. But I've come that you might have life and have fun and abundance. Well, these fiery darts or trials or temptations that Satan constantly bombards us with are extinguished by. Our shield of faith. Now, this is not referring to the faith, like the Christian faith. It's not talking about like doctrine. It's not talking about our salvation, but I think it's just talking about basic belief or trust or confidence in who God is and what He has said in His Word. It's the Hebrews 11:1 kind of faith. Now, faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 11:6, and without faith, it's impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he's a rewarder of those who seek him. So, bottom line, you want a simple definition of faith? Faith is taking God at his word. Or maybe put it another way: faith is trusting in the faithfulness of God. In other words, that God always does what he says.

18:55And we need to be absolutely convinced that God will do exactly what he said he will do. When God says something, he means it and he does it. And if he says it's good, guess what? It's good. And if he says it's bad, guess what? It's bad. What are some things that God has said in his word? Numbers 32, 23. Be sure your sin will find you out. Be sure your sin will find you out. That was one of my mom's favorite verses. She used to quote to me when I was. Little kid, because I was a sneaky little guy, and I was always trying to do things behind her back. And God just always had a way of me getting caught. And it's like my mom loved to tell me that. Be sure your sin will find you out. I'm thankful for a godly mom who instilled that principle in my mind that you might think you got away with it, but you didn't. Psalm 84:11. I love this. The Lord gives grace and glory. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.

20:02I guarantee you, there's some things in your life, not bad things, good things that you wish you had. You wish you could experience. And sometimes you wonder, why does that guy get that? Why does he get to enjoy that? Why does he get to go there and whatever, achieve that or experience that? Guess what? Apparently, the reason why he can and you can't is because it's not good for you. Because the Bible says, no good thing does God withhold from those who walk uprightly. And if you're living a holy, righteous life, and for whatever reason he's withholding that for you, it's because he knows it wouldn't be good for you. Even if you don't understand, you're like, I don't think so. I would really like that. I think it would be really good for me, God. He's like, no, it wouldn't. Trust me. Galatians 6, 7, whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. Do you believe that? I mean, are you absolutely convinced of that?

20:57The point is, faith is holding on. To God's promises and heeding his threats. Hebrews 11 is that hall of faith, as we call it, where we already read those verses from. But I love the example of Moses. In Hebrews chapter 11, verse 24, it says, By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to endure ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.

21:32Considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. Does anything sound familiar about those three verses? Moses passed up the position, right? He had grown up and he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. That's the pride of life. And choosing rather to endure ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. That's the lust of the flesh. And then verse 26, consider the reproach of Christ greater than the riches, or excuse me, greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. That's the possessions. He passed them all up.

22:15And what we have to understand is that Satan offers these same three things to us on a daily basis, and every day we need to choose to pass them up. You say, how? Same way, Moses. Did it say by what? Faith, Moses did this. By faith, Moses did this. By faith, Moses did this. And again, God had promised Moses a future hope and reward, and he believed God. He trusted God. He obeyed God. And I think the bottom line in the battle against Satan and temptation is: who are you going to believe? That's really what it comes down to. Bottom line, who are you going to believe? Are you going to believe God? Are you going to believe Satan?

23:06Satan tells us, yeah, I know the Bible says you're not supposed to have sex outside of marriage, but trust me, man, it will be fun. It'll be awesome. You'll have a great time. Satan tells us, I know the Bible says you're not supposed to get divorced, but you're in a miserable marriage. God wants you to be happy. He'll forgive you. Satan tells us, hey, I know the Bible says you're not supposed to be dishonest, but everyone fudges a little bit on their expense account. They file their taxes. You can come tax. Hey, the government's ripping you off anyway. They're not going to miss it.

23:52See, in order for us to stand firm against Satan, we need to choose to believe God no matter what Satan or the world. Or our flesh is telling us to believe. Piper, in his book, Future Grace, says this. He says, the battle against sin is a battle against unbelief. That's a profound statement. The battle against sin is a battle against unbelief. And then he uses the example of lust, sexual immorality. He says, Suppose I'm tempted to lust. Some sexual image comes into my mind and beckons me to pursue it. The way this temptation gets its power is by persuading me to believe that I will be happier if I follow it. The power of all temptation is the prospect that it will make me happier.

24:55However, the Word of God cuts through the fog of Satan's lies and shows me where true and lasting happiness is to be found. And so the Word helps me stop trusting in the potential of sin to make me happy. That's a great line. The word helps me stop trusting in the potential of sin to make me happy. Instead, the word entices me to trust in God's promises. So, how about a battle plan? How do we take up the shield of faith? Let me give you some bullet points here, some practical steps here. Number one, just remember that God is a shield to those who trust Him. God is a shield to those who trust Him. 2 Samuel 22:31, the word of the Lord proves true, He is a shield for all those who take refuge in Him. Proverbs 30, verse 5: Every word of God proves true. He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Great verses. So, as long as you trust God, your shield is up. But when you fail to believe God and not take Him at His Word, your shield comes down. So, again, you shield up, right? I believe what your word says. I believe it. And your word says that a man reaps what he sows. And so, if I do this, I know what's going to come from that. And so, I'm not going to do it. Shield up.

26:40You say, well, I know the Bible says that a man reaps what he sows, but maybe I can just do this a little bit. I'll just dabble in it a little bit and then pray for crop failure. You ever heard that expression? There's all these people sowing seeds to their flesh, and then they get done with it, and they feel convicted, and they pray, Lord, please forgive me. Would you cause those crops to fail? Because I just sowed a lot of seeds to my flesh. When we think that way, guess what? Shield down.

27:10So, God is a shield to those who trust Him. Number two, never forget that Satan is a liar and a deceiver. Satan is a liar and a deceiver. There's an old Puritan paperback called Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices. Anyone read that? Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices? I think it was Thomas, I can't remember the Puritan's name who wrote it. But it's a brilliant, he uses a brilliant analogy about Satan that he presents the bait and he hides the hook.

27:49He presents the bait and hides the hook. I mean, that's basically what you do if you're a fisherman, right? You're trying to deceive a bunch of fish. You're trying to trick fish into hitting on something that's not real, right? And the hooks are disguised, whether it's you bait the hook, right? And they don't see the hook, or they're camouflaged on the lure, but that thing goes by, right? And it's hiding or presenting the bait, but hiding the hook.

28:24Think about that. Remember that when you're being tempted. That no matter how good. That it may look, there's a hook in there somewhere. I just can't see it right now. All I see is the big, juicy worm, right, that I want to chomp down on, but I know there's a hook in there. And the moment I bite on that temptation, I'm going to feel the pain and I'm going to regret it, and I'm going to wish I hadn't taken the bait. So never forget that Satan is a liar and a deceiver. Number three, always take God at His Word. Always take God at His Word. The Bible says that God does not lie, He cannot lie.

29:06And every time we choose to sin, we exchange some truth of God for a lie. Isn't that what it says, Romans chapter 1:25? That they exchange the truth of God for a lie. So we need to learn to live by faith and not by sight. 2 Corinthians 1:24, in your faith you are standing firm. 1 John 5:4, this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. So take God. Always, always, always take God at his word. Number four, cherish and claim the magnificent promises of God. Cherish and claim the magnificent promises of God. 2 Peter chapter 1, verse 2, grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, seeing that his divine power has granted us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of his word. Who called us by his own glory and excellence, for by these he has granted to us his precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. How do we escape the corruption that is in the world, the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the boastful pride of life? It's through claiming, right, cherishing and claiming the magnificent promises of God. Number, what do we got? One, two, three, four, five. Stay closely connected to other believers. Stay closely connected to other, I might add, strong believers, not just any old believers, right? Stay closely connected to strong believers.

30:46And again, the shield that Paul described here was intended to be used alongside others. And as long as the soldiers would remain attached together in that tortoise formation, for example, they were undefeatable. They were impenetrable. And in the same way, our faith is intended to function together with other Christians. We need to stick together. We need to have interlocking relationships, if you will, with one another, with other members of the body of Christ. There's no such thing as personal demons. Or private battles in the body of Christ.

31:35You may say, well, I've got some personal demons. I've got some private battles. Well, the only reason why they're personal and the only reason why they're private is because you haven't told anybody about them. And as long as a temptation and a sin that you're struggling with is secret, it has power over you. It has power. It controls you. But the moment you confess it, obviously to the Lord, but in this context, confess it to another guy, it loses its power because it's not a secret anymore.

32:13And so the point is that we're called by God to fight together. And we're commanded to help one another and to receive help as well. Galatians 6:2 talks about if you see a brother overtaken at a fall, you are spiritual, are to restore him in a spirit of gentleness, looking to yourself, lest you too be tempted. And then it goes on to talk about bearing one another's burdens. Hebrews 10, 24 says that we are to stimulate one another, right? Encourage one another, stimulate one another to love and good deeds. We're not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. I love Ecclesiastes. This is one of those little passages that just might get breezed over. Is in many ways, I think, one of the best men's ministry verses or foundational verses, fundamental verses for men's ministry. Ecclesiastes chapter 4, verse 8. There was a certain man without a dependent, having neither a son nor a brother, yet there was no end to all his labor. Instead of his eyes, instead, indeed, excuse me, his eyes were not satisfied with riches, and he never asked, and for whom am I laboring and depriving myself of pleasure? This too is vanity, and it is a grievous task. So, you know, Solomon kind of did that. He just kind of walked around and observed life, and he'd look down, he'd see ants doing their thing, and he'd write about them. Oh, consider the ant, you sluggard. Check those guys out, man. They're hard workers. Well, apparently, he observed the lone wolf, which all of us have the heart of a lone wolf as men, right? We know what that we're talking about, the guy that kind of just kind of goes, stays by himself, does his own thing. It's kind of the lone ranger, the lone wolf.

34:01Excuse me, you're like, who is that guy? What's his story? He just kind of keeps a distance, keeps a safe distance, kind of keeps himself at arm's length from other men. And so Solomon observed that guy and said, that's not a good thing. He says, two are better than one because they have good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion, but woe to the one who falls when there is. Not another to lift him up.

34:32Furthermore, if two lie down together, they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone? And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A quarter of three strands is not quickly torn apart. This is the whole band of brothers concept, right? That we need one another. And so we need to view ourselves in light of this spiritual warfare that we're not just this lone soldier out on the battlefield kind of fighting all by ourselves. No, we are a huge army standing our ground together back to back, side by side, right? And we're like, bring it. You know, we're just all, you know, fighting together against a common enemy.

35:18Again, Jay Adams, so helpful, so practical, so in your kitchen-like. That was Jay Adams, man. He just was very blunt in the way he said things. And this is what he wrote in his book, Winning the War Within. This is the chapter, Call for Reinforcements. Ready for this? If you find yourself in the thick of the battle, losing your fight with the flesh, call for reinforcements. Don't wait until you've lost the battle. Call for others to stand beside you and help you. Fighting the Lord's battles is the business of the whole church. God orders you in love to move into the fray alongside any brother whom you discover being overcome by the enemy. Due to foolish pride, there are Christians today who lose battles with the flesh, not because there's no help available, but because they will not avail themselves of it. God has commanded others to help you, and he commands you to receive such help. To fail to avail yourself of these provisions and to haughtily maintain that you would rather fight by using your own resources alone is in effect to say that Christ did not know what he was doing when he set up his church. The only other explanation is that you think you're an exception above needing help from others, so that Christ's provisions, which are so important for other Christians, are unnecessary for you. Either way, the problem is pride. Are you having troubles in your marriage? Are you losing a battle with lust, with lying, with thievery, with anger, or bitterness, with discouragement? Do the forces of evil seem to be storming the kitadel of your soul in some other way? Then call for reinforcements. Don't wait. You need additional forces right now.

36:58And so I'm just saying, guys, that this little getaway may be the perfect opportunity for you to call in a reinforcement. That you've come here this weekend and you are really battling against a particular sinner, a particular temptation, and, man, you are getting beat up on. You keep blowing it big time in this one particular area in your life, and nobody else knows but you. And I'm just saying. You confessing that sin to another guy here this weekend not could be, I'll go out on a limb and say will be the game changer. It will be the game changer. Because now you have accountability. Now you have encouragement. Now you have support. Now you have somebody to call when you're feeling tempted. And like my dear former elder friend at our church, who one time when my wife was out of town and my kids were somewhere and I was at the house all by myself for a few days and I simply texted him. I said, all the men have gone off to war.

38:15Pray for me. And he knew what I was referring to because we had had lots of conversations over lunch and breakfast about sexual purity and what happened to David. All the men had gone off to war. It was springtime. All the men had gone off to war and David was left at home all by himself. And idle time, idle hands, no accountability. The devil is going to go to work. And so, again, you need somebody. You need a go-to guy. Somebody that you can just say, hey, man, pray for me right now. I'm really, Satan's coming on strong right now. The fiery darts are flying.

38:51And I need you to pray for me. I need some prayer. You know, I don't know if I'm not a gamer. My boys love to play video games, but all I. Know there's this thing called an airdrop, right? And you call in support, man. You're getting barraged by the enemy, and you call in for air support, right? Cover me. And that's what you need. You need to be able to get on the phone and call in for air support. You need to call in. When you get in a pickle, you better have somebody, like Ecclesiastes says, that when you fall, somebody that you can cry out to. But if you fall and there's nobody in your life, guess what? You're a goner.

39:30Again, pray. This is the last one: prayer, right? All these pieces of armor you put on through prayer. So pray that God would help you trust His promises. Romans 15:13. Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace and believing so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. So just pray things like this. Again, sample prayer. God, thank you for the many precious and magnificent promises that you've given me in your word. Help me to never question them and never allow, but Lord, that these promises would extinguish these flaming darts that are coming at me, trying to get me to believe these lies. Help me to stand firm against Satan's attacks. So that's the shield of faith. Now let's look at the helmet. The helmet of salvation.

40:27A Roman soldier wore a A helmet that was made out of a thick leather piece or maybe metal. It was bronze or iron. It was padded inside with sponge or felt, and it had these cheek pieces that would come down to protect its face. And even as the Spartan helmet has that plume on the top, and it was just a different color, maybe to show a different rank so they could tell one another apart on the battlefield. But the main purpose of the helmet, it wasn't just a showpiece. Hey, look at me. Don't I look nice today, right? With my, you know, I've got a red plume, and oh, you only have a blue plume, right? No, that wasn't about that. It was all for protection, to keep your head safe from injury or from falling debris and against enemy weapons. And in the middle of a raging battle, the sky would be filled with arrows and spears that were being thrown, and the cavalry would be riding around hacking and chopping with their swords and axes and trying to decapitate people, take their head off.

41:32And so the helmet was the main thing that kept the soldier alive. And so Paul draws from that analogy and he says, Take up the helmet of salvation. Now, I don't think Paul was referring to salvation in general because he would have put that first. Like, hey, put on your helmet of salvation. Salvation. That would have been the first item he mentioned in this list of six pieces of armor. Because you don't get saved fifth, you get saved first, right? So I don't think he's talking about our salvation. We wouldn't have been able to put on any of these previous pieces of armor unless you're saved. So that's assumed. So I think Paul had in mind something other than our initial salvation here. So again, when we think about and talk about salvation, we need to remember that there is a three-dimensional aspect of the doctrine of salvation.

42:38There's a past aspect, and we call that justification. This is the freedom from the penalty of sin. There's a present aspect, we call that what? Sanctification, right? This is the freedom from the power of sin. And then there's a future aspect, we call that what? Glorification, right? This is freedom from the presence of sin. And so we've been saved, we're being saved, and we will be saved. I think that Paul is referring to that future aspect of salvation.

43:14Romans chapter 5 is an example of this, much more than, having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, that's justification, right? Having been reconciled much more, we shall be saved by his life. And then, of course, Romans 8:28 and 29: For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brethren, and these whom he predestined, he also called, and these whom he called, he also justified, and these whom he justified, he will also what? Glorify.

44:00So I think this is what Paul has in mind here is that this is looking to our spiritual destiny, which is secure, rather than our present state, which can seem uncertain at times. And so the future dimension of salvation should be a powerful force in our lives. Knowing that our victory is guaranteed and our destiny is secure, should provide us with hope in the war against Satan and sin. Because whenever we slip up or suffer a setback in our lives as Christians, we need to remember that this is not total. This is not complete. This is not final.

44:48Things won't always be this way. Through Christ's death and resurrection, we will ultimately triumph over the forces of evil. Will be freed from the struggle with sin. We will spend eternity with God in heaven, as the song says, saved to sin no more. What a glorious day that will be. And so the fact that we're going to heaven someday where we will be able to enjoy perfect peace and rest in the presence of God forever gives us great hope in the battle against Satan.

45:32I mean, look at Ephesians 5, verse 25. We know this well as husbands, right? We're to love our wives, just as Christ also loved the church, gave himself up for her, so that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that he may present to himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she would be holy and blameless. This is the hope. This is, you know, this is not just talking about a husband's role as the spiritual leader of his wife. That is inherent in that, obviously. But he goes on, Paul goes on to say, hey, I'm actually talking about, I'm making reference to Christ in the church.

46:16We had a guy, a new guy in our church recently get married. And it was just a small, intimate wedding. Not a whole lot of people came. Not many people knew him yet. But he wanted to get married at our church. And they're just a sweet couple, and they got saved out of a really Crazy background, and they just love the Lord, and they sit in the front row of the church every Sunday, and they're just like sucking in the Word of God, and they just can't get enough of it. So, anyway, they got married a couple weeks ago, and I walked in to the wedding, and he came up and he shook my head and said, Hey, Pastor, thank you so much for coming. I said, Man, I wouldn't have missed it. This is such a pleasure to be here. Thanks for inviting us. He says, Man, I'm going to cry the whole time. And I said, Oh, it's all right, man. That would be appropriate. And so, we went and sat down, my wife and I. And typically, you know how it goes, right? Everybody comes in, they start, people start coming in for the wedding, the wedding party, and then as soon as the bride appears in the back, everybody stands up, right, to honor the bride. And we all turn around and we watch the bride as she walks down the aisle. Well, this wedding, I did something I've never done before. I said, I'm not going to watch for when the bride comes around the corner so I know when to stand up. I'm just going to keep my eyes on my buddy, the groom, and I'm going to see if he's going to cry. Because I know when I see tears coming down his cheeks, I'll know he's laid eyes on his bride. And so, sure enough, I just was sitting there watching him, and all of a sudden, here came the tears, and at the very same moment, everybody stood up and turned around. And here comes the bride. I never even looked at her. I kept looking at him the whole time. And as I was watching him watch his bride come down the aisle, tears filling his eyes, tears started filling my eyes because I thought, this is why marriage is the perfect picture of Christ in the church. And I just imagine that was Jesus, and that's Jesus, and we're the bride. And when we come to that, come home to heaven, right? And that marriage supper of the Lamb, that's going to be Jesus, just, you know, tears coming, just with joy, overjoyed to finally have his bride with him in heaven. And so, again, we should think about this hope that we have in heaven. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 8.

48:54But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. This is not a, oh, I hope I'm saved. I hope I make it to heaven. No, this is the hope. This is the confidence, the assurance that I know I will be saved someday. Even though I just biffed it big time last week or blew it big time, I am going to heaven where I will sin. I'll never have to sin again.

49:27Paul refers to this. This hope as a blessed hope, Titus chapter 2, verse 11: For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires, and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age. Well, how are we going to do that? Well, you do it, verse 13, by looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.

49:57So, again, the assurance of our salvation is crucial for us to stand firm against Satan. And Satan, where does he attack? Right here. He attacks the mind and he plants seeds of doubt. He tries to make us insecure about our relationship with Christ because if he can make us insecure, he can make us ineffective. I mean, I've had people come into my office over the years, and they're like Pastor, and they're sweet, humble, godly people. And they're like, Pastor, I don't think I'm saved. I'm doubting my salvation. And I've known these people for years, and I've watched them follow Christ faithfully, and I've seen tons of fruit, you know, the evidence of God's grace in their life. And I just say to them, listen, if you're not saved, I'm not saved.

50:54But just to remind them, but the point is, when we mess up, sometimes it makes us think that, well, maybe. We're not saved. We get discouraged. We get disillusioned or we're tempted to lose heart and give up hope of ever being saved or getting to heaven. We think we committed the unpardonable sin or something. And I said, those times we've got to remember that our salvation is secure in Christ. We may lose some battles, but we can't lose our salvation.

51:25We will eventually win the war because it's already been fought and won by Jesus Christ. And someday we'll have the privilege of standing there with Him in heaven at His side, celebrating our final victory over the great enemy of our souls. And so we need to keep this future hope in the forefront of our minds so that we can have courage and strength to keep on fighting, even though we grow tired and weary and feel like quitting. Listen, God knew we would feel that way. That's why there's verses like Galatians 6:9 in the Bible. Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.

52:07And it's this joy, right? Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master. Hebrews chapter 12. It was that joy that drove Jesus, fixing your eyes on Jesus, right? As you're, you know, what are you trying to lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles you, and let us run with. Endurance the race that is set before us, fixing your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him who has endured such hostility by sinners against themselves, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. And then you say, Well, what is he talking about? Growing weary and losing heart in what? You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin.

53:01John MacArthur, quoting from the previous copy of, I'm assuming the book that you have here, How to Meet the Enemy, he said, This, knowing there is an end to spiritual warfare provides motivation for persevering in battle. We will not have to fight the world, the flesh, and the devil forever. Living without hope would be like running a race without a finish line. Think about that. Living without hope would be like running a race without a finish line.

53:31It's encouraging to know that our conflict with Satan won't last forever. It will all be over soon enough. I actually use this mentality when I go to F-45. It's a new gym in our little studio in our community. And so I've started to go to F-45. And F-45 stands for functional exercises and hit training. And then 45 is 45 minutes. You go there for 45 minutes. You can do anything for 45 minutes. And then oftentimes we'll say, okay, you do this exercise for 35 seconds or 45 seconds. Well, that's very helpful for me. Because if they say, get down and just do push-ups forever, just do as many as you can, I'm like, oh, great, that doesn't sound fun. No, you do 30 seconds of push-ups. I'm like, I can do that. Get down there and I am peeking at the clock sometimes. When is this going to end? 30 seconds longer than I thought, right? But the point is, right, you give a time frame, it's helpful. And so the hope of eventual and eternal deliverance keeps us from retreating or surrendering.

54:352 Corinthians chapter 4, Paul talks about all the different things that he had to endure. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. We are afflicted in every way, not crushed, perplexed, but not despairing, persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed. And he goes on to talk about all sorts of different struggles. And then he says, verse 16, therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

55:22So, you may be going through rough stuff right now, guys. Maybe it's your marriage, maybe it's your family. Maybe it's something with your kids. Maybe it's your finances, your vocation. Maybe something physical. Just got diagnosed with something. Or maybe it's just spiritually. You're just dragging right now. You're in a spiritual funk right now. Listen, don't lose sight of the finish line. You're almost home. You're almost home. Don't give up. And so we need to have our mind set on the hope of our ultimate salvation, our glorification. So, battle plan. Battle plan, real quick here. How do we put on the helmet of salvation? How do we put on the helmet of salvation? Number one, renew your mind. Renew your mind. Romans chapter 12, right? Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. 2 Corinthians chapter 10 talks about how the battle, ultimately, the spiritual battle we're talking about this weekend is ultimately played out where?

56:35In your mind. Helmet. See the connection, right? 1 Corinthians chapter 10, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations, that's thoughts. Every lofty thing that raises itself up against the knowledge of God, we're taking every thought capped. To the obedience of Christ. So, our minds are the battlefields, guys, and the outcome of those battles determine the course of our lives. So, we need to let the Word of God wash over and wash out anything that's contrary to His Word. Worldly thoughts, worldly ideas, worldly philosophies, worldly opinions, worldly perspectives need to be replaced with biblical truth. So, renew your mind, number one. Number two, be confident in your salvation, be confident in your salvation. Don't doubt your salvation. I don't know about you, but when I put a helmet on, it makes me more confident. Like, if I'm just kind of out there doing something, whatever it is, bike riding, skiing, right, you know, you're kind of crazy, but when you put a helmet on, then you can get really crazy. You're like, hey, I got a helmet on. What could happen, right? I got the most important part of my body protected here. I'm good. Send it, right?

57:59So, this is where we get down to the doctrine of eternal security and ultimately the sovereignty of God in salvation. And if you did nothing to save yourself, you can't do anything to lose your salvation. I just opened up a can of worms there, but work on that. Drill down on that. Number three, think about heaven all the time. Think about heaven all the time. There's so many verses we don't have time to look at, but heavenly-mindedness leads to holiness.

58:28Number four, remember how the world. War ends. Remember how the war ends? We know who wins. I don't understand the guys, honestly. I'm just going to be honest. I don't understand these guys in our church that when they get to some event and I say, hey, did you watch? Hey, la la la la. I don't want to hear it. I got a DVR. I want to watch it. I'm like, bro, I can tell you, I can save you two hours of your life. I can tell you who won and who lost. But, I mean, you think about that. I mean, I don't get sitting down. If I already know the outcome of the game, I am not going to watch it. Well, why would I care? I mean, what are you going to do? Sit there on, you know, you're just like, your team's down by like 60 points and it's the fourth quarter. But you know, somebody told you at work that they won. They came back. So you're not like totally depressed on your couch, gorging in popcorn and cheating, whatever you eat, you know, pizza, because you're like so depressed, your team's just getting destroyed. You're just like munching away, going, well, I know how this ends. They're coming back. I don't know how it's going to happen, but they're going to win. So I'm good, right? You don't stress out. You don't freak out. You don't get upset, angry, depressed. Throw stuff at your TV, right? No, you know who wins. Most relaxed game you could ever watch.

59:51And remember, help is on the way. Your redemption is drawing nigh. Again, you think about a soldier that's trapped behind enemy lines. Finally, being rescued after days and months of fighting enemy attacks. That's us. We're that POW, if you will, that gets finally gets rescued. And rather than receiving a medal of honor, our helmet will be replaced with a crown of glory. So we need to long for Christ's return. Thomas Brooks said, I guess it was Thomas Brooks, I quoted this earlier, Precious Remedies Against Satan's devices. He said, till then, Satan will be thumping you and spreading snares to entangle you. Therefore, you should always be crying out, Come, Lord Jesus.

1:00:38Every time you get thumped by Satan, come, Lord Jesus. Which is a prayer, by the way, Revelation 22, verse 20, with all prayer. How do we put this on? Again, a sample prayer might be, Thank you, God, that based on what Jesus did for me on the cross, I can live with the blessed hope that one day I will be transformed into his glorious image. I'll spend eternity with you in heaven. I pray, Jesus, that you would return today. Today. And if not, if that's not your will for you to come today, then increase my hope through the Holy Spirit that you've left me with to encourage and comfort me until you return. Putting this on through prayer.

1:01:19Well, then, lastly, and quickly here is the sword. The sword. Probably the one piece of armor we're most familiar with. The sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. We know that throughout Scripture, God's Word is likened to lots of things. To food, to a lamp, to a fire, to a hammer, to seed, to a mirror. My favorite analogy is the sword. Hebrews 4:12. 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, both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. The only other time that God's word is likened to a sword is right here. When Paul got to this last piece of armor, and he explained it specifically. He explained exactly what the sword represented.

1:02:28No other piece of armor did he say, oh, by the way, this is what I'm talking about. He just kind of said these things, and we're supposed to figure them out with the help of the rest of Scripture, right? Well, this one, he says, there's no confusion here. I want you to know exactly what I'm talking about. The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. So, of all the pieces of armor he's mentioned, none is more clear than this one. Why? Because there is none more crucial than this one to our victory than the Sword. Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. And this is no ordinary sword, obviously. It's the most powerful weapon in the universe, and the devil and demons are no match for our sword.

1:03:15It's a supernaturally forged, double-edged blade in which the dual, unparalleled powers of God's Spirit and God's Word converge to make the one yielding it invincible. I often pray that on Sunday mornings before church with our elders, God, thank you for the two divine weapons that you have provided us with this morning, that we are not here to depend on our own intelligence, our own eloquence, our own abilities. But, Lord, you have given us your spirit and your word. And they come together and they're unstoppable.

1:03:54And so, as long as God's word remains firmly in our grip, we will be able to withstand the severest, most savage spiritual attacks. So, what was Paul referring to here? The soldier's main weapon that he carried with him into battle. And this was not the Roman broadsword, the big one that they would kind of flail around on the battlefield hoping to inflict some damage. I've got one of these here. It looks like a Willie Wallace sword craft. I don't know. Who's this? Somebody brought that along. Who's that?

1:04:30Oh, back there, thank you, man. You brought that discussion. You know, you lead the sword, you get away with the men. The guys on the weekend, you got to bring a sword, right? Some guys brought up, brought guns, you brought a sword. It's all right. So, what was Paul talking about? It was a small, double-edged sword about 6 to 19 inches in length, the Machira sword, and it was designed for hand-to-hand combat and enabled a soldier to fight with great accuracy and precision. It was this sword right here. That's what he was talking about.

1:05:04My guys gave me this. After I got done preaching this series this summer, they commandeered the pulpit one Sunday and said, Pastor, we got a gift for you. And they brought this up and gave it to me. I love this. This is so cool. I've always wanted one of these. My boys, we took our family to Disney World. Don't judge me. Sorry. Took our families to Disney World last summer to go see the Star Wars thing, and they got their lightsabers, and they can play with their little lightsabers all day long. I'll take this any day.

1:05:38This would split their lightsaber in half, right? But this is what he was talking about. This is the Macyra. And so Paul likens it here to the sword of the Spirit. That God has given us a spiritual sword for us to use in our battle against Satan. And it's the Spirit in. Inspired Word of God. And I think it's important, don't miss this, that it's the sword of the Spirit. Why? Because the Spirit, God's Spirit, is responsible for God's Word. He inspired it to start with, and He illuminates it. He's the one responsible for making God's Word understandable and usable.

1:06:23And then again, he says, again, he explains specifically what he's talking about. We could talk a lot about the doctrine of the Word of God there, the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Literally, that word, when it says, which is the Word of God, it's the Greek word Rhema, not logos, which is the word that we typically use, general word used for the whole word of God. This is the Rhema word, which refers to a saying or utterance or a spoken word. In other words, this is a specific verse. It's a particular portion of Scripture that the Holy Spirit brings to our attention that best applies to our current situation. We need direction, boom.

1:07:06We need to resist temptation, boom. And so what Paul had in mind here, I think, was perfectly modeled by our Lord Jesus Christ and his skillful use of the word to defeat the devil when he was tempted in the wilderness. And you know, he was tempted three times, it says there in that context, and he responded to all three temptations in exactly the same. Same way it is written. He quoted a verse. Matthew 4:4 was the first verse he quoted, Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word, that's rhema, the same word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

1:07:48And the point is, listen, God's word is useless in the fight against Satan unless we know the word. But not only, we don't just need to know the word, we need to know how to apply it to particular situations and particular problems and temptations in our lives. Listen, some of you have been going to church your whole life and you have tons of verses memorized. You've got the badges and you've got the trophies to prove it.

1:08:19But you're still being defeated by Satan on a regular basis. Why is that? You can't seem to ward off even the most basic attack. It's not that you don't have a sword, it's that you just don't know how to use it skillfully. And I think the key to overcoming temptation is learning how to handle God's word with precision, like Jesus. We need to be able to use the verse, the verse, or verses that are most applicable to the need of that moment. And this means we need to know specific verses, passages, and how they apply to specific situations and temptations.

1:09:00If we're to stand firm against Satan, we must have a skillful working knowledge of Scripture. We need to know God's Word so well that it becomes part of us. So, what's the battle plan? Real quick, how do we take up the sword of the Spirit? How can we get a better grasp of God's truth and tighten our grip on it so we can fight like we can fight like a valiant for truth guy that I'm going to read about in just a second? Number one, remember the word and the spirit are inseparable. Remember, the word and the spirit are inseparable.

1:09:41Being filled with the Holy Spirit is synonymous with being filled with the word of God. Ephesians 5, Colossians 3, compare those two texts and the results of being filled with the Spirit and being filled, letting the Word of Christ richly dwell within you. In other words, we need to stay in step with the Spirit. When we get out of step with the Spirit, we do things that we know the Spirit would not have us do. It grieves the Holy Spirit. It quenches the Holy Spirit. And so, if we're not walking with the Spirit and we're grieving the Spirit, we're quenching the Spirit, we shouldn't expect Him to illuminate the Word of God to us or empower us or enable us to make use of it in our battle against Satan. Romans 8:13 says that we can't conquer or mortify sin in our life without the enabling power of the Holy Spirit. So, remember, the Word and the Spirit are inseparable, they go together. Secondly, read and listen to the word. Read and listen to the word all the time. Just be reading the word. I just got a new app that came out. It's called Dwell. Anyone seen that? They've been doing a lot of advertising. Some guys up in the Dallas area came up with this app and they said, hey, there's a lot of apps that you can read the Bible on, but there was really a gap in the software. There was not any really good listening options. And so they came up with this whole idea that in the beginning, before there was actual copies of the scriptures, and it was, you know, the canon was closed and we had a Bible, that people listened to the Word of God. That's how the Word of God was shared and spread. People sat and listened and read. The letter of the Ephesians was read to them. And they sat there in church and listened to it. And so their whole philosophy is, hey, let's listen to the Word of God. I would commend that app to you, by the way. I got it. It's been really helpful. Just hit a passage and just listen to it in the background while you're working out or whatever you're doing, mowing the yard, driving back and forth to work, sitting in your cubicle, whatever. Just be listening. Let the Word of God be washing over you.

1:11:39And don't just randomly read the Bible. Systematically work your way through it, mark it up so you can really, you know, really, really study it. We just lost, lost, we didn't lose him. We know where he is. He's in heaven. One of our founding elders at Lakeside Bible Church. Been there since I got there. I've never known life and ministry in Texas without George Hepner. He's just a dear man of God who was just diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was gone in like three months. And I went over to his house before he passed away, and he had his Bible out on his coffee table, and I picked it up and I just opened it up, and there was just writing everywhere. Like in the front cover, you know, on the back cover, inside, on every page, there were some markings that he had just over the years studying the Word of God. He knew the Word of God. So read and listen to the Word of God. Number three, meditate on the Word of God. Meditate on the Word of God. I think the main reason why so many of us who are regularly exposed to Scripture and even are convicted by Scripture never change is we don't take time to really think through specific ways that we need to change as a result of what we have read or heard. And meditation is the bridge between knowing what the Bible says and living it out in your life.

1:13:10Again, you've heard it, it's the cow chewing on his cud, right? It's the tea bag soaking in the water, pulling out all the flavor. So meditate on the Word of God. Number four, memorize the Word of God. Memorize the Word of God. John Bunyan said this. Will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this book. You might want to write that in front of your Bible. How shall a young man keep his way pure? Psalm 119, right? By keeping it according to his word. So memorize verses about sin in general, temptation in general, but also memorize as verses about specific sins and temptations that you struggle with. Come up with your five most wanted lists. You have a five most wanted list? Like your five biggest sins? I just shared these with our guys and our Ironmen a couple Friday mornings ago. And they're all like, oh, the pastor's being really vulnerable and transparent this morning. We're like, hey, we all, let's, I'm a sinner like you, you're a sinner. We're all sinners, right? So what's your five biggest sins? What are the top five things that you struggle with that you wish God would sanctify you and take these away? What are they? And then turn those in. That becomes a prayer list, number one, but it also becomes a Bible study list where you target each one of those sins with specific verses. Something as simple as taking your Bible and going to the back of the Bible. There's a thing called a concordance back there. You ever went that was about? Right? Find pride, find lust, find greed, find materialism. Look up a few verses. Pick the one you like the best that's most encouraging, most convicting, and memorize that verse.

1:14:51So that you can counter Satan's lies with God's truth. And really what you're doing, when you're memorizing verses, it's like you're stopping. Stockpiling weapons and ammo that the Spirit can access in moments of temptation. If you've got nothing in there, if you're not storing away scripture, hiding scripture in your heart, the moment of temptation comes and the spirit goes in to reach into the arsenal and there's like nothing there. He opens it up, there's nothing there. You got nothing, man.

1:15:23Again, the more verses we memorize, the larger our arsenal. And no matter what weapons the enemy uses against us, we always have something bigger. We always have something better to defend ourselves with. And so as we load our minds and fill our hearts and saturate our lives with scripture, our blood, as Spurgeon said, becomes bibliomed. And no matter where the enemy cuts us, we bleed the Bible. Love this story. We'll just end with this this morning.

1:16:01Pilgrim's Progress. Love it. If you haven't read it, get it. Read it. Christian is on his journey from the city of destruction to the celestial city. And he meets all sorts of people along the way. Interesting characters, all representing certain things in the Christian life. And he comes across a guy named Valiant for Truth. There stood a man with his sword. Sword drawn and his face all bloody. I like that guy already. Then said Mr. Greatheart, what art thou? The man made answer, saying, I am one whose name is Valiant for Truth. I am a pilgrim and I am coming, or two mad, and I am going to the celestial city. Now, as I was in my way, there were three men did beset me. In other words, I got jumped by three guys.

1:16:56And they were wildhead, inconsiderate, and pragmatic. They drew upon me, and I also drew upon them. So they pulled their sword. They drew their swords. And so we fell to it. In other words, we got down to business, and we started fighting. One against three, for the space of about three hours. They have left upon me, as you see, some of the marks of their valor, and have also carried away with them some of mine. And Greatheart says, Well, those weren't very good odds, three against one.

1:17:31Tis true, Valiant said, but little and more are nothing to him that has the truth on his side. Greatheart said, Why did you not cry out? That some might have come in to help you, to support you. Valiant said, I did to my king, who I knew could hear and afford invisible help, and that was sufficient for me. Then said Greatheart to Mr. Valiant for Truth, Thou hast worthily behaved. Thyself. Let me see thy sword. So he showed it to him. And when he had taken it in his hand, he looked thereupon on it and he said, Ha, it's a right Jerusalem blade.

1:18:13Valiant said, It is so. Let a man have one of these blades with a hand to wield it and skill to use it, and he may venture upon an angel with it. He need not fear its holding, if he can but tell how to lay on. Its edges will never blunt. It will cut flesh and bones and soul and spirit and all. Greatheart says, but you fought a great while. I wonder, were you not tired? Didn't you grow weary?

1:18:40And Valiant said, I fought till my sword did cleave to my hand, and when they were joined together, as if a sword grew out of my arm, and when the blood ran through my fingers, then I fought with most courage. What a cool image, right? That that sword became one with his arm. And this book, gentlemen, needs to become one with us. We need to become one with this book so that we can fight against Satan. Let's pray. Father, thank you for Valiant for truth. Thank you for Paul. Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you for the sword, the helmet, the shield, these things that you've given us so that we could defend ourselves.

1:19:30Against the attacks of our enemy. Lord, help us learn how to put these things into practice in our lives for your glory. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.