Sermon Tone Analysis

*The Armor of God, Part Two*

/Ephesians 6:13-17/

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Chip Ingram has written a book entitled /The Invisible War./

He writes about a time when he was pastoring in Santa Cruz.

He was walking down Pacific Avenue, a popular place for people to go who are just enjoying the evening.

Ingram tells that there are several bars on Pacific Avenue, and as he was walking down the street, he saw a couple of pretty big, muscular guys in T-shirts being confronted by the much smaller guy who was working as the bouncer for that bar.

The bouncer had called for the police to help with these guys, bigger and stronger than he was, who were drunk and getting more and more agitated by the minute.

Ingram said he didn’t want to get too close, but he was curious as to what was going to happen.

Just a couple of minutes went by before a police cruiser pulled up to the curb with its lights flashing.

Out stepped an officer ready to take charge of this situation before it got out of hand.

The problem was that the officer was a four-foot-eleven woman, much smaller than any of the guys standing there arguing with each other.

How was she going to handle this?

The petite female officer went straight up to the troublemakers and asked, “Gentlemen, do we have a problem here?”

The two guys started in on her, but she immediately interrupted them.

She pointed to her badge and said, “Excuse me.

I’m authorized by Santa Cruz County to enforce the law.

I’d like both of you over against the car right now.

Do you understand?”

They hesitated, and then she put her hand on her revolver.

Ingram said that he had “never seen two burly drunk guys get sober so fast.”

They got up against the car, legs spread, arms behind their backs.

Then Ingram asks, “Why on earth did two enormous bullies submit to a very small woman?

In any other situation, that confrontation could have been disastrous.

But this situation had nothing to do with size and strength.

The police officer had authority, and the guys on steroids didn’t.”

Here’s what you and I need to pull from that story for our lives today.

We are up against an enemy stronger and more numerous than we are, but we have all the resources and authority of heaven itself behind us.

We’ve spent some time exploring what the Bible says about our spiritual warfare and the weapons and armor we are to use.

Since this is a spiritual battle, we must have spiritual weapons.

We must not fall into the pit of thinking that our own ingenuity or intelligence will help us to somehow work our ways through it.

Most Bible scholars believe that Paul was in prison as he was writing this, and that he had been observing a Roman soldier standing there perhaps guarding him.

He drew some parallels between what that soldier wore, and the provisions God has made for us in this spiritual battle.

These various pieces as described by Paul constitute standard issue battle gear for the Christian.

And while all of them are effective protection and weapons in hand-to-hand combat, none of them is effective piled up in a corner.

None of them would help the soldier very much if all he did was think about putting them on.

So Paul tells us that we are to put on

The Belt of *Truth*

The Breastplate of *Righteousness*

The Gospel of *Peace*

The Shield of *Faith*

The Helmet of *Salvation*

The Sword of the *Spirit*

Every one of these areas—truth, righteousness, peace, faith, our salvation, and the Word of God—is a primary area where Satan attacks.

Last week we explored the first three of these; today we turn to the rest of the various pieces of armor.

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*The Shield of Faith, v. 16*

The first three pieces of armor—belt, breastplate and shoes—were worn all the time, even when the soldier might be sitting or relaxing.

The phrase /“In addition to all this”/ in verse sixteen refers to the last three pieces—shield, helmet and sword—were always kept nearby to be ready at a moment’s notice.

Paul says, /“take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.”/

There were two primary kinds of shields used by the Roman soldier.

One was a small round shield, maybe two feet in diameter.

It was light enough to be carried and used in hand-to-hand combat.

But the one that Paul refers to here in verse sixteen was perhaps two and a half feet wide and about four feet tall.

In fact, the word used here originally mean the stone that was rolled across the opening to a tomb.

It referred to a door.

A typical Roman was a good bit smaller than the average male today, so he could crouch down behind it when he needed to and be completely covered.

But it gets better.

We’ll talk about this again next time from a different perspective, but we need to touch on it just a bit today.

These larger shields, the one to which Paul was referring here, were designed to be linked together, so that a soldier’s shield was most effective when the soldiers were beside each other, close enough together that they helped protect one another.

The parallel is almost too obvious to even comment on.

The faith we have in God certainly is a personal thing, but it affects others as well.

Our faith and trust in Almighty God feeds off of the convictions and personal trust of others.

Notice next that Paul tells us that with the shield of faith we will be able to /“extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.”/

The tips of arrows many times were wrapped in cloth and soaked in pitch.

It was set on fire just before it was shot at the enemy.

When the arrow hit its mark, the pitch would splatter for several feet, setting on fire anything it touched.

Not only would it burn the soldiers, but in their panic they might even drop their shields, leaving them even more exposed.

When the enemy has a strategy, the best thing is to have a counter-strategy.

Here’s what the Romans would do.

In many cases, these shields were metal, in which case they would not catch fire.

But sometimes they were covered with leather, which had been soaked in water before the battle.

When they were struck with a flaming arrow, the water in the leather would /extinguish/ the flames!

That’s why the verse reads as it does: /“take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.”/

That’s what Paul was talking about here.

Satan’s arrows are set ablaze by the evil fires of hell, and they most often take the form of temptations, fear, angry, pride, lust, doubt, discouragement.

And they come as suddenly as an arrow flies through the air.

When Satan shoots his fiery missiles at us, we need to make sure that we are protected.

What Paul is telling us here is that our faith—our trust—in God can protect us from those fiery arrows, as long as we are hidden safely behind it.

Listen, folks!

We can trust God! Proverbs 30 contains these astounding words: /“Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him”/ (v.

5).

Psalm 33:20 reminds us /“We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.”/

God becomes our shield when by faith in Him and trust in His Word, we hide ourselves behind Him and believe that every word He has ever uttered is completely and absolutely true.

So when Satan fires his fiery arrows at us—and sometimes they come with such ferocity and frequency that they would almost seem to darken the sky—we can be safely protected when we have hidden ourselves in God.

Here’s an example of how our shield of faith protects us: Satan or one of his minions whispers to us, “You’ve really messed up this time.

God couldn’t possibly love you now!”

But the shield of faith causes us to reply: “But God says in Romans 5:8, /‘But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’/”

The enemy says “Look at all your problems.”

Faith says, “Oh, but look at the promises of God.”

The enemy says, “You’ve wasted your life.”

Faith says, “God isn’t finished with me yet.”

The enemy wants us to focus on the negative and the depressing, and if we do not take up the shield of faith, we will do exactly that, and we will be negative and we will be depressed.

But the shield of faith protects us from those fiery arrows, so that we are able to say, “Lord, I don’t always understand what’s going on, and I can’t always see You working in my life, and I don’t always hear Your voice.

But I know you are bigger and stronger than any problem I have.

I know you are true and eternal and loving.

And I will not believe these lies from the pits of hell!”

 

*The Helmet of Salvation, v. 17*

Here’s what Paul wrote in verse seventeen: /“Take the helmet of salvation.”/

Paul used similar language in 1 Thessalonians 5:8, when he said, /“But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.”/

The Roman soldier’s helmet was made from either brass or iron.

That wouldn’t be very comfortable, so many times the soldier would line his helmet with sponge or some type of cloth.

The helmet extended down along the back of the neck, and there were two pieces that hung down along the sides of the soldier’s face.