Sword Of The Spirit: The Bible Is Just Another Book Series

THE ARMOR OF GOD AND THE LIES OF THE ENEMY

Sword of the Spirit: The Bible is Just Another Book

Ephesians 6:10-18

#armorofGod

INTRODUCTION

We gather to read this passage for the 11th time in as many weeks. Hear now the Word of God. Hear the Word of God written by the Apostle Paul as he was in chains and was inspired by the Holy Spirit to encourage Christians by the Roman soldier standing in front of him. Hear the Word of God that commands you to be strong and to stand against schemes and to win the spiritual wrestling that happens in our lives. Hear the Word of God that commands us to withstand the evil in our days and to stand firm. Hear the Word of God that wants us to persevere even as we have a spiritual enemy shooting flaming arrows of doubt and discouragement at us. Hear now the Word of the Lord:

READ EPHESIANS 6:10-18 (ESV)

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 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. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, 18 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…”

SERIES REMINDER

Today, we finish with a series of messages about a word picture of a Roman soldier that the Apostle Paul uses in Ephesians 6: The Armor of God. I hope and pray that the last 10 weeks have been intensely relevant to your life.

ROMAN SOLDIER FIGHTING TECHNIQUE… youtube.com/watch?v=jnoiTX0xZ0Y [3:45]

We need to get a particular image in our minds today for the passage to make sense to us. When we think of a soldier, we most likely think of a person in fatigues, military boots, perhaps body armor of some kind, a military-style helmet and an M-16 even though the M4A1 started being the standard in 2010 and that will soon be replaced by the XM7 starting this year (2023). If you don’t know what I just said, its ok, I don’t either, I am just trying to sound informative and cool. We picture a squad of soldiers moving cautiously with their guns raised and searching for enemies and protecting each other. When we say, “soldier” or “army” those are common images we may conjur up because that is normal for our day.

Those images were not common in Paul’s day when he wrote Ephesians. Not to bust any of your time travel dreams, but Roman soldiers did not have guns. They carried shields and spears and swords… specifically what was called the gladius hispanicus which was their normal sword. The Apostle Paul’s image in his mind of a soldier is an armor-clad man with a shield that went from his head to his feet and with a particular type of sword. His reference for soldier had this man moving forward bashing with his shield and striking out with his sword. I was going to demonstrate on one of the elders this morning, but maybe stabbing someone in church is bad. So, here is a video to demonstrate the image of a Roman soldier we need to have in our mind.

The people who made this are Russian so it takes a minute to get used to their accent, but the images and what they show you are historically accurate.

SHOW VIDEO [youtube.com/watch?v=jnoiTX0xZ0Y] [3:45]

TRANSITION

So now that we have the right image in our mind, let’s talk a little bit about the sword that Paul envisions and was common in his day.

THE SWORD

The word translated as 'sword' in Ephesians 6:17 is the word for the kind of sword I described, the gladius hispanicus and the kind you saw in the video. There were other words for other types of swords used by soldiers, but those were not the words used in verse 17. The word used is similar to our word ‘machete.’ Paul has in mind the standard issue common sword given to Roman soldiers. It was anywhere from 6 to 18 inches and was carried in a scabbard and the soldier's side attached to the belt. It was used for stabbing offense mostly.