Offensive Attack
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Offensive Attack
Offensive Attack
Over the last 3 weeks we have been talking about spiritual warfare.
How it is real.
How our battle in this world is not against flesh and blood but of the forces of the evil one.
We will all experience spiritual warfare at many points in our life.
Every time temptation comes at you, those flaming arrow that we talked about last week— that is spiritual warfare.
You are not fighting against people— but the devil and his evil plans.
YET! You must put your trust/ your faith into someone--
That someone is God who you draw your strength from.
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
It is not on you and your worthless righteousness— which is nothing to God.
You cannot do anything to make yourself look better to God.
So we know that this war is waging on around us, now what must we do?
Well we being to equip ourselves with the Armor of God.
Its not armor of Zach— that armor would be worthless—
But it is God’s armor.
It was worn before by the divine warrior Jesus— as he encounter temptations from Satan— he was never sinned— so that he could go to the cross and die the death that we deserved.
And that armor which was spoken about in Isaiah, wore by Christ, and given to us— as battle tested— so we can wear it and be protected.
So the last two pieces of the armor of God are the helmet and sword.
Now before we jump into these two:
Let’s just recap the other pieces.
We have the belt of truth
the breastplate of righteousness
the shoes of the gospel of peace
the shield of faith
and for the last two:
The helmet of salvation
and the sword of the Spirit.
This is the conclusion to our series Supernatural— and as we are finishing this up, I would like to draw our eyes back to verse 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 firm.
Take up the whole armor of God— to withstand the evil day— so you can stand firm.
Satan is going to keep coming at you all day every day.
if we are not suiting up for battle everyday we are going out ill-prepared for the unseen battles— and we are getting our butts kicked daily.
This must become part of our daily routine to put on the armor of God.
The passage we are going to be looking at in Eph 6:17-18
Here is what is says:
and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,
We are going to put the final pieces of armor on tonight.
The helmet of salvation.
This is where we are going to start.
The helmet in any day would is to protect your head.
Roman helmets would have been made of metal and most helmets would have been able to resist sword, axe, arrow from piercing your head.
It only makes sense that once we have equipped all of the other body parts that our head also gets covers.
Head shots are typically fatal.
Getting hit here, typically will not lead to life.
So again it makes sense that we would take on this helmet for protection from Satan.
but what is the helmet comprised of?
We have this belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace and then you have the shield of faith.
And now we are to take the helmet of salvation.
but here is the most important question.
Salvation of what? Of Who?
I love that the armor of God gives us this visual picture of how we are equipping ourselves.
but as we have already talked about— the armor has very little to do with us.
yes we must put it on spiritually but all of the characteristics of the armor of God is being related back to Christ.
You see:
Christ is your protection
Christ is your protection
If you recall back in week 2 of this series we talked about how Jesus wore the armor first and we looked at the book of Isaiah.
So we of course are going back there.
He put on righteousness as a breastplate,
and a helmet of salvation on his head;
he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,
and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak.
You see Christ had to put on this armor.
As He is the only one who is righteous.
and Salvation is what HE brings.
Now that is what Isaiah was getting at here, and here is why Paul is telling us to also put on the breast plate of righteousness and the helmet of salvation.
The believer, the one who believes in Jesus, put them on to do righteousness and to receive salvation.
Christ’s salvation is the ultimate assurance of protection.
The helmet of salvation is part of this defensive armor, designed for our protection and safety.
know this can also be taken as a gift of salvation from the penalty of sin.
The penalty of sin that was bought and paid for by the blood of Jesus.
But what if it goes even further?
But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.
That on that day when Jesus comes to bring us home- The hope of salvation that we will be finally delivered from the very presence of sin.
AND IF WE DO NOT HAVE THIS HOPE- we can be easily wounded and attacked.
YET when we have this hope, OH what a hope indeed that this battle that is unseen will be done and we are told to not just put on a helmet for war but a helmet of victory.
You know who wears victory helmets?
THE WINNERS!
Those who are victorious.
It shows us— it reminds us that the battle is already won!
Victory has already been claimed.
But here’s the deal.
Maybe this salvation— this hope that is found in Jesus— maybe you have not experienced this yet.
Maybe you are searching for something— and everything else just comes up empty, and empty and empty.
And maybe that is how you feel right now is just empty.
and you keep getting attacked over and over again.
and you keep getting knocked down.
and this enemy is surrounding you and you feel hopeless.
you are at the bottom of the pit looking up looking for something, anything, anyone!
Salvation is found in Christ.
Hope is found in Christ
Love is found in Christ.
Love is what compelled this rescue plan with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit- God allowed it, Jesus to come to earth to live a perfect life to be your substitute.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
You needed someone or something to pay this price with blood,
and before Jesus it was a perfect lamb.
But through our perfect lamb- the way the truth and the life, the resurrection and the life— Jesus freely shed his blood so that your sins would be covered once and for all!
and you now have this open channel of communication with God
You see salvation is who all who believe in Christ.
And when you have this salvation you are protected/ you are in the flock as a sheep who looks to the shepherd to guide and direct your path.
YOU CAN’T DO IT ALONE— IT is impossible for you to pull yourself up at out of the pit— It is only possible when you give your life to Jesus!
HE OFFERS THE PROTECTION BECAUSE HE IS THE SALVATION THAT YOU TAKE AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH.
O Lord, my Lord, the strength of my salvation,
you have covered my head in the day of battle.
Allow Christ to protect you.
Come to the Father who shields you from the attack of the enemy.
I pray that you turn your life over to Jesus today.
Its as simple as saying, Jesus— I have messed up, i am guilty, please forgive me, my life is yours, I believe in you, I put my trust in you and you alone for only you have the power to save. I’m yours.
If you prayed that i want you to reach out and let me know, let your breakout leader know, let your friends know, your parents! Everyone!
Because you are now in God’s family! Tell someone!
Now if you have already accepted Jesus as your Lord and savior we still put on the helmet of salvation.
Here is why; i love this quote from John Stott
The Message of Ephesians 3. The Armour of God (Verses 13–20)
But whether our head piece is that measure of salvation which we have already received (forgiveness, deliverance from Satan’s bondage, and adoption into God’s family) or the confident expectation of full salvation on the last day (including resurrection glory and Christ-likeness in heaven), there is no doubt that God’s saving power is our only defence against the enemy of our souls.
No matter where you are at in your walk with the Lord the helmet of salvation is critical for your walk.
That is just the helmet of salvation!
This concludes the armor that is designed for protection and defense.
Let talk about our weapon!
YOU READY TO ATTACK SOMETHING!!!!
HERE WE GO!
God’s Word is your Offense
God’s Word is your Offense
The second part of this passage in verse 17 says:
“and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
ALRIGHT NOW WE HAVE A WEAPON!
However it is not your word or my word that is the weapon yet it is God’s word.
And speech has often been compared to a sword all through out the Bible
Sometimes it is in reference to the wicked.
My soul is in the midst of lions;
I lie down amid fiery beasts—
the children of man, whose teeth are spears and arrows,
whose tongues are sharp swords.
OR
who whet their tongues like swords,
who aim bitter words like arrows,
The wicked us speech to cut down/ or wound others.
Yet God’s word is not to cut down but to build up and it is not to wound but protect.
God’s word can breath judgement.
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
and
This is why I have used the prophets
to cut them down;
I have killed them with the words from my mouth.
My judgment strikes like lightning.
It is also separates truth from falsities.
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
This is the final piece of armor!
And it is a sword which is God’s word.
God’s word as Heb says is living and active
This weapon is used to strike back against the powers that attack.
There is a story of Jesus when he was lead by the Spirit for a time of fasting in the wilderness or desert.
and Jesus was out there for forty days and nights.
and then LOOK HERE COME SATAN LOOKING TO RUMBLE!
He is all like hey! Jesus see those stones over there— those are some nice stones— you know what would be better if you turned them into bread....
And Jesus is like NAH
Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God!- Deut 8:3
NOT TODAY SATAN!
Satan then tries again— he ain’t no quitter
He comes back but this time Satan takes him to a high place and says go ahead Jesus jump and God will send angels to protect him.
If I were Jesus, it would have been a simple nah bro.
But Jesus says Do not test the Lord your God.- Psalm 91:11-12
Strike two SATAN! NOT TODAY!
Then Satan tell him look Jesus bow to me and you can avoid the cross and the pain that comes with it, I will give you everything.
Probably the most tempting for Jesus but Jesus still answers back.
Worship the Lord your God and serve only him- Deut 6:16
Every time Jesus was meet with temptation— he didn’t try to muscle up satan, or zap him or lighting bolt him.
Every time temptation come from the evil one, Jesus responded with God’s word.
You see God’s word is powerful.
We are giving God word to not strike down others to boast about ourselves or for us to get the glory… nah!
But we are given God’s word as our sword to strike back with truth when we are tempted.
to strike truth when the church is attacked by false teaching.
to strike truth when the world around is speaking lies.
To strike truth with the Gospel that has the power to save and free us from sin!
We must remember that we are fight spiritual forces.
Our use of the sword of the Spirit has to reflect this or else we may find ourselves using this power for evil and the weapon becomes one of darkness and division.
So how do equip ourselves.
I know I sound like a broken record but you have to have God’s word in your mind, in your heart and in your soul.
You have study it.
If Paul believed that our battle was against flesh and blood he would have said get a sharp sword and go to work.
But he did not he believed our great threat was forces unseen, was the evil one.
How do you fight the evil one— by drawing onto the Lord for strength
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
You draw strength from God’s word.
You read it, you study it, you memorize it, so when those flaming arrows come towards you not only do you have the shield of faith— faith that you put in someone— that someone is God.
But you have something to fight back with— to attack with truth all the lies that come towards you.
It is safe to say that these to pieces of armor are so important to put on each and every day.
But how do we put all of this one?
Where do we buy this from?
You of course get it from God as it is of course not a physical armor we put on.
Yet we put it on my asking God to equip us with and how do we do that?
By praying.
Our last point:
Keep alert while you pray
Keep alert while you pray
praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,
Now some commentaries would say that prayer is part of the armor of God.
Prayer is not part of the armor of God yet it is the means of how we equip ourselves with the armor of God.
Pray that the Holy Spirit will equip you with the armor of God so you can go out and take out the enemy.
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
The Holy Spirit is on our side and He is our helper in our weakness.
He goes before us and searches us.
Now back to Eph 6:18
I find it interesting that the would all is mentioned four times and prayer is mentioned 4 times as well.
Now it is easy to see the alls but we probably only see prayer mentioned twice, but that is what supplication means it means prayer.
So what Paul is truly saying is that:
At all times be praying.
pray without ceasing,
Paul goes on And with any prayer that you say
Any request that you make
and of course pray for the saints— those who have faith as well.
Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.
So pray at all times
and keep alert
As Paul mentions this phrase keep alert, I can’t help but to think back to the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus was praying just before we was going to be handed over to the officials— and he was asking his disciples to pray and be alert.
Jesus was telling them to pray at one of the most critical times in Jesus’ life he wasn’t tell them to sharpen theirs swords as a battle was coming but to pray.
In whatever situation we are in the good, the bad the ugly, are we praying?
The Message of Ephesians 3. The Armour of God (Verses 13–20)
Equipping ourselves with God’s armour is not a mechanical operation; it is itself an expression of our dependence on God, in other words of prayer.
Be alert the enemy can attack at any time--
stand firm
draw your strength from God.
Consistently seek God
By opening up his Word and by praying in the spirit so that you can put on the full armor of God.
It is by His strength that we can trust Him to extinguish the flaming arrows...
there is a battle waging on— are you ready?
Let’s pray