Stand - Sword Of The Spirit Series

Stand: The Sword of the Spirit

Ephesians 6:10-17

Pastor Jefferson M. Williams

5-26-2024

My New Bible

I became a Christian in 1990 and, soon afterward, my brother bought me a NIV Study Bible with my name on it.

I treasured that Bible. I bought a case so I could carry it around. I put it on my desk where people could see it.

There was just one problem. I didn’t read it. It was a huge book with many strange names and things I didn’t understand.

At that same time, I started listening to Christian music and artists like Steven Curtis Chapman, Michael W. Smith, Rich Mullins, Twila Paris, and Michael Card whose music was full of Scripture.

About six months into my Christian journey, I decided to read the Bible to understand God better and how to walk as Jesus did.

For months, I sat on the deck of my North Carolina chalet (which Maxine says was a shack) with a guitar and highlighter and read book after book, making notes of life events and things that God spoke to me. A lot of the notes are places where I found lyrics that I loved that came straight out of the Bible.

Eventually, I finished the Bible and have been reading/ listening to it ever since.

Review

We are learning that we are all in a spiritual battle that we cannot see. The Christian life is not a playground but a battlefield.

Paul is finishing his letter to the Ephesian church and wants to warn them to be armed and ready for attacks of the evil one.

He was probably chained to a Roman guard and started staring at his armor and thought, “That would make a perfect word picture for what I’m trying to communicate!”

“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Eph 6:14-17)

We’ve studied the belt of truth and learned that truth is the foundation of our Christian journey.

We’ve studied the breastplate of righteousness and learned that God calls us to live our faith with a hunger for holiness shining the light of Jesus into a dark and dying world.

We’ve studied the shoes of peace and learned we can have peace with God, the peace of God, peace with others, and that we can share that peace with others.

I love this lyric from Rich Mullins’ song, “Let Mercy Lead.”

“Let mercy lead / and in every footstep that you leave / there’ll be a drop of grace.”

We studied the shield of faith and learned that we can trust God who is faithful to keep His promises to lead and protect us from the flaming arrows of satan.

Last week, we studied the helmet of salvation and learned that we can have assurance of our salvation and that protects our thoughts from satan’s lies.

If you weren’t here last week, you can always listen to or watch the sermon on our YouTube page, website, or FaceBook.

Turn to Ephesians 6.

Sword of the Spirit

As usual, Paul goes to the Old Testament and the picture of God’s Messianic servant:

“He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me, he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver.” (Isaiah 49:2)

With this in mind, Paul finishes the list of armor with these words:

Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

The belt, breastplate, and shoes were always worn. But the shield, helmet, and sword must be “taken up.”

?The Roman soldier wore a broad sword on the right side of his belt. It was three to four feet long and was used to cut off opponents’ heads. He also had a 6 to 18-inch-long dagger used in hand-to-hand combat.

These were made of iron and were double-edged. A soldier would make sure they both were sharp and ready for battle.

The writer of Hebrews makes this connection as well:

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

Notice that it is the “sword of the Spirit.” This is not a spirit or our spirit, but the Holy Spirit of God, the third Person of the Trinity.

The Spirit is the source of the sword. The Spirit doesn’t work independently of the Word of God.