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#267 Fullness resides in Jesus, our head.
Fullness abides to answer all need. Whatever distress awaits us below such plentiful grace the Lord will be stole 267.
It's not, you know.
You never know about that or anything about why.
I have no planning to be on Wednesday.
And I'm ready.
Through that one and finish it and make God breathe ahead and.
We would give you traveling today to the early men that had an hour and a half.
OK, so I need to get now I'm doing that one more time. I don't know.
We will die in a sunrise.
Who ain't now to survive?
In the case of rivers and everything.
We read from Isaiah before we ask the Lord's help. Prophet Isaiah, the 8th chapter and the 13th verse.
Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself, and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread, and he shall be for a sanctuary. He shall be for a sanctuary. Verse 16 Bind up the testimony. Seal the law among my disciples.
Yes, Lord's house, Lord Jesus, we the Son that.
Uh, we know that direction will guide us the right and as head of the body from whom all.
Through ministry, the power of the Spirit flow as we look to Thee.
That thou give us a portion for our souls, that thy word might be as it were bound up amongst us in the heart, valued, walked in.
We ask thy blessing as we would have the precious word of God open.
And we pray that the Spirit of God will guide us this morning to that portion that thou its purpose.
For the blessing of each member of the body that is here this morning.
We pray that we might receive that needed ministry of the Spirit of God.
And Lord Jesus, that thou thyself might.
Be held in our hearts and holy reverence and fear.
And that thou it's be to us for a little sanctuary.
Help us to have hearts ready, willing to walk, and without spring before us, hearts ready to bow to Thy precious word, and we ask Thy blessing. We feel our needs.
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Of that washing of water, of the word, that precious refreshment.
Thy word for our souls.
In all the coldness of the scene that we passed through, that would dull our spiritual affections for thee and for one another.
And would draw our hearts away. May it be, Lord Jesus, that thou drawest close to thee as thine own we ask thy blessing, thy name, Lord Jesus. Amen. Amen.
Turn uh at the whole armor of God in Ephesians 6.
Umm, thinking particularly of the.
Description of the armor, but the whole chapter could be read. No, there's only one reading meeting. Uh, particularly from birth, uh.
Hand on. But for connection the whole chapter could be wrecked. Would that be suitable with the brethren?
Some brother would read the chapter then please.
Ephesians chapter 6.
Children obey their parents in the Lord, but this is right.
Under thy father and mother, which is the first commandment, with promise that it may be well worthy, and thou may us live long on the earth. And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Servants. Be obedient to them that are your masters, according to the flesh.
With fear and trembling in singleness of your heart as unto Christ, not with I service as man pleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart with goodwill, doing service as to the Lord, not to and not to man, knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall be received of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.
And the Masters do the same things unto them, forbearing, threatening, knowing that your Master also is in heaven, neither is there respect of persons with him.
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that he may be able to stand against the Wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world.
Against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins skirt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
And above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery dots of the wicked, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching there unto with all perseverance and supplication for all things.
And for me that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in Barnes, that therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak, but that he also may know my affairs and how I do. The kikis of beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord shall make known to you all things.
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Whom I have said unto you, for the same purpose, that you may know our affairs, and that he may comfort your hearts. But peace be to the brethren, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.
I was thinking in this epistle we have the very highest truth presented by the apostle, uh.
Paul in the first three chapters.
Are blessings in heavenly places in Christ? It couldn't be a richer or wider unfolding of the eternal councils of God and the purposes for our blessing. Uh, we're raised with Christ. Not only raised, but we're seated in heavenly places.
But now in these, the three chapters that follow, 4-5 and six, we have the practical exhortations that are based upon these blessings that are ours in Christ. The conflict is not in order to obtain the blessings, we have them already, but the conflict is in order to enjoy them. Remember when the children of Israel entered the land of Canaan.
There was conflict.
God had promised him those those nations would be their inheritance, but they were involved in a conflict with the the powers, the ungodly powers that prevailed in those in those among those nations. And there's an unseen power that is seeking to hinder our apprehension, our enjoyment of those wondrous.
Blessings secured to us through the work of Christ entirely. We had no part in it undeserving, but uh, God has blessed us so abundantly, so richly. But there is a conflict, the Christian life that is a combat every day. And remember when the children of Israel, uh, passed over the Jordan and were ready to engage in warfare.
Uh, first of all, they stopped at Gilgal. That is brought before us in Joshua chapter 5. A very important place.
Not only did they stop there, but they returned there after every victory or a last after a defeat. Gilgal was very important. It was the place where circumcision was carried out and that speaks of self judgment for the apostle. He unfolds these marvelous blessings to us, but he also warns us that there is.
An attack planned by the enemy of our souls.
Not as I repeat, to, uh, deprive us of the blessings, but to, uh, hinder our enjoyment of them. Satan doesn't want us to enter into our blessings in Christ, to walk in them, to be a testimony. So we need the whole armor of God, which is, uh, so, umm, completely, uh, brought before us in these verses.
It's important to see, realize that Canaan is a picture to us of that which we ought to have and can have an enjoyment of. Now sometimes Canaan is thought of or referred to as that which comes after death, after the Jordan. And certainly we only enter in in a little way to what we have in Christ now and the days coming when we'll no longer know in part and prophecy in part and so on, but has been alluded to. Canaan is that vast pain type is that vast panorama of blessings.
Spiritual blessings that are brought before us in the New Testament and particularly here in the book of Ephesians.
And it's interesting that the real conflict for Israel never began until they crossed the Jordan and went in to possess their inheritance. I realized they had a skirmish with Amalek, a picture of Satan's working on the flesh in the wilderness. It's that Satan seeking to hinder our walk with God through this wilderness world. But the real conflict began after they crossed the Jordan. And I suggest that a believer who seeks to take hold in his soul now.
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Of all that he has in Christ is going to be a special target of the enemy. The enemy does not want us to enjoy our position and our portion in Christ. And that's why the apostle Paul at the end of this epistle, before he closes, he brings before us the armor of God. Our conflict is not physical like Israel's. Their inheritance was earthly and physical.
Was right and proper that they go in and, uh, take out their enemies. In fact, it became a snare and is a snare to them to this very day that they didn't completely annihilate their enemies.
As God had told them to in the Old Testament. But their warfare was physical, or as we sometimes say, carnal. But in 2nd Corinthians 10 it tells us that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. What does that mean? Well, it simply means that we don't have a physical warfare like Israel because our blessings are spiritual and so as a consequence we have a spiritual warfare.
And though it's not physical, and though it's an unseen enemy, it is a very real conflict. It is a very real battle. And if we could just get a glimpse into the unseen world and see what is around us, Satan has a vast host of underlords, demons at his command, and they're there at every hand to seek us to, to seek to keep us from coming into the good.
An enjoyment of our blessings. And so he brings this out and he begins by saying, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. So we have all the power, all the resources we have to take possession in our souls of what is ours in Christ.
We have in verse 12.
That which we wrestle.
Against not flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness or wicked spirits, says in the margin in high places or heavenly places. So this is a formidable force that is operating in the air. Satan is the Prince that will power the air, and we and ourselves are no match for Satan.
Human power is no match for satanic power, but the fact is, we learn in chapter one of that power that has been wrought in Christ.
In Ephesians chapter one and verse.
19 speaks about the exceeding greatness of His power to us who believe according to the working of His power, which He wrought in Christ when He raised him from the dead, set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. So.
We need to focus on where.
God's dear Son is at the present time far above all principality power.
Might and the Lord Jesus could say, All power is given unto me, both in heaven and in earth.
So how wonderful.
To be on the Lord South side, to recognize that we are associated with Him and this power is available to us.
As those who share in risen life with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Remarkable 2 That inverse 11 it says that you may be able to stand against notice this not the power or the force of the devil, but the wild. And I believe that Satan's most effective attacks on the believer are his Wiles, not so much his out and out force. And that's really the way it began in the Garden of Eden. The enemy came not as a dragon, not as a.
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Lion. But what did he come as? He came as the serpent, and the serpent was more subtle than any beast. And he came to Eve and tempted her with his Wiles. And I believe that we need to be perhaps more careful of the Wiles of the devil than the force of the devil. Now it is true. And Peter as a roaring lion, he walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. But we can often, can we not detect the power of the enemy.
The onslaught of the enemy quicker than we can is wild. And so we need this armor, brethren. We need this power and strength to stand against the wild. The subtlety of the devil.
And that power is not in ourselves. Uh.
Paul the apostle was a very strong character, naturally an insolent, overbearing man, very forceful. But he said in Philippians chapter 4, I can do all things in my own strengths and ability, no.
I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me. So he was a dependent man there in the prison.
We need to be dependent on the Lord. It's only as we are in that, that, umm, spirit of the, of the defendants and, uh, in prayer that we can have the victory in this, uh, battle. So let's be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. There are two forces that are stronger than men. One is uh, Satan's power and the other is God's.
But we do have the resources.
We do have the uh.
The divine nature. We have the word of God, we have the Holy Spirit, and here we are exhorted to put on the whole armor of God.
We don't know when we are going to have an assault of the enemy.
We're never told to fight the enemy, are we? We're told in James to resist the devil and he will flee from you, and here we're told to stand. We're never told to fight because you and I are no match for the enemy. Sometimes we sing the battle is his, the weakest of Saints more than conqueror is. And so here we're to stand in the evil day. And then he's going to list the number of things that we are to take up and these things that are listed as the armor of God.
They are simply taking up and utilizing the resources that we have in Christ so that you and I can stand, uh, against the, against the enemy. So I, I just say that sometimes people talk about fighting off the enemy. That's not what Scripture teaches. We're to stand, but, and we're to stand with the whole armor of God. And I believe that's important. Brethren, I've had opportunity to tour many of the castles and Manor houses of Britain and Europe over the years.
And you often see those suits of armor that the Knights of old war. And those suits of armor cover every part of the body. In fact, the helmet even has often has a little thing that comes down, a little shield that come came down over the eyes. And what would you think of a knight who went out to fight a battle and left part of his armor behind? A knight who decided he wasn't going to wear his helmet?
Or a knight who decided he wasn't going to wear his breastplate. Or a knight who decided he was going to leave his shield behind. Why, he'd say, there's a knight that is vulnerable. The knight might say, well, I've got most of the armor, but you say you've left room for the attack of the enemy, the room for the enemy to get his spear or his dart or his sword in somewhere. No, those nights when they went out to fight, they made sure that they had all that armor intact.
And brethren, I believe that often we fall in the battle and get discouraged because we're using some of the armor of God, but we don't take up the whole armor of God. And so he's going to give us six pieces of the armor here, 5 pieces that are defensive, one piece that is offensive, and then there's a 7th element, which is really not a piece of the armor, but prayer He then brings before us because prayer is the spirit and attitude.
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In which we take up and effectively utilize the armor of the resources that we have in Christ.
And Satan very well knows our weak point. Uh, he's had the 6000 years experience with the natural man.
You look back in the history, uh, and of the Old Testament, you see that, uh, the great, umm, men of God, uh, even failed in what seemed to be their strongest point. Uh, Solomon failed in his wisdom, Job failed in his patience. Umm, there are other examples too. Umm, so Satan knows, uh, our weakness, he knows how to, uh, plan the attack.
Knows how to appeal to the old nature that we have is something that might be a snare to you might not attempt to me. So we need to be on our guard and independence on the Lord. Even Moses, great man of God, he failed in his, uh, pathway down here. So we need to have the word of God, uh, fortifying us and that spirit of uh, daily dependence.
In the old days in the, uh, castles you were talking about on the, the armor was kept in an Armory until needed. But uh, then uh, it's all very well for us to know that we have this armor all kept carefully in the Armory, but the instruction is to put it on. So how do we transfer it from being available in the Armory to actually putting it on?
Well, we need to be aware first of all of what it is. That knight had to know what his armor was, know that that suit of armor that was there in the Armory was his, and that it was available whenever he needed it. But then he had to understand what each piece was for. And I believe that Scripture very carefully explains to us what the resources we have in Christ are.
But we need to take those resources in hand, make them good in our own souls and utilize them. For instance, the first piece of the armor that's mentioned is the uh, or the first thing that's mentioned is we're to stand. Therefore, verse 14, having your loins gird about with proof. And so here's the first safeguard. Well, what is the truth? The truth is this book we hold in our hands.
How are we going to stand against the enemy? How are we going to have our loins, which speak of strength, their power in Scripture? How are we going to have them gird? Well, we're going to have to open this book and read our Bibles. We're going to have to be familiar with the truth. I would just suggest in that connection that our loins gird about here. It corresponds to what we have in Peter. I think it's first Peter one where it says gird up the loins of your mind.
And so we need to be familiar, have our minds full of what is the, is the truth of God, The, uh, ones in the days of the Lord Jesus that was told, that were told that they needed to, uh, be, uh, have their, have their loins gird and be as those that wait for the, for their Lord. And so if we're going to go on in the truth, we have to know what the truth is, but it's, it's practically understanding what we have.
And then proc putting it into practice in our daily lives. So it starts with our minds being, uh, protected or taught properly. And then he's gonna go on and list these other things. But as Brother Lawrence said, it was no good for the night to have the armor available and to not put it on and to put it all on.
The act the night could hardly expect to suddenly put any armor too on him.
Sudden onslaught of the enemy. It's important, isn't it, that we have the armor on that we might be able to meet the attack of the enemy. Here it speaks about the the evil day. Well, you know, generally speaking, we live in a dark and evil day.
But is it not true that the enemy may launch a sudden attack in a special way against you or me? And are we prepared for this?
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Well, the important thing is that we have on the whole armor of God.
The loins girt about that's that's the most intimate part of of what he was wearing or what we wear. It's closest to us in the loins of the very core of our strength, naturally speaking.
No, it doesn't take pleasure in the legs of a man that says in, in, uh, believe it's proverbs, but because that's the strongest part of them there it's a case of natural strength. But here it is the loins, the most intimate, uh, piece of clothing, that which is closest to us. And it has to be, uh, gird about. It has to really be firmly bound on. And it's the truth. The truth searches our hearts and conscience, doesn't it? When it's firmly bound on, it searches me first.
And searches out anything there that's not in conformity to the word of God or pleasing to the Lord. It's has the thought of self judgment.
At searching truth of God, the Word of God found firmly about, but it's bound there.
It's not loosely held. It's firmly held, you know, and there was a man in in the Gospel of Mark and he followed the Lord. He said he had a linen cloth cast about his naked body, but it wasn't firmly bound.
Wasn't gird about and you know, it says the young man took it from him. You know, he was there and it was the evil day and the power of the enemy was pressing in and he wanted to follow the Lord. He really wanted to follow the Lord or he wouldn't have been there. But the young man came and they took that garment from it came off him just like that. Why it wasn't bound on, wasn't bound on. It wasn't a picture of the truth really dealing in an intimate way in our souls.
Firmly bound on. We need it. Gird on. Otherwise the battle comes and it's gone. You know what that young man did? He fled. He wanted to follow the Lord, but he fled.
So the first thing is, is that which is most intimate and closest to the heart, the truth of God. It has to work with me and my own soul first before any of the other armor can really be put on.
So the loin skirt about would be the thoughts governed by truth, and then very closely follows the breastplate of righteousness, which is the affections governed by truth. And both are important, aren't they, to have our thoughts and our affections governed and ordered by the truth of God. So often we can bring in our own thoughts on something, or so often we can allow our affections to rule even in.
Matters of.
The things of God, but know both our thoughts and our affections. And you might necessarily think you might think that it should start with the affections, but it's interesting. It's just the opposite, isn't it? It's the the mind first, because that must be in order. There must be an understanding and a holding of the truth of God first, first of all. And that's why in Colossians rightly translated, it's let your.
Or set your mind on things above. It's true, we need to set our affections on things above too, but really the thrust of it is set your mind on things above. The mind must be governed by the truth. There must be an understanding of divine things and then the affections involved as well. Because one without the other is not enough.
That comes out very clearly in the reference we made to Joshua chapter 5. Before the children of Israel engaged in warfare with the nations of Canaan, which was their proper inheritance, they first of all applied.
The knife of circumcision to themselves. And that's very important, brethren, in our lives. It speaks of self judgment, of course, and we all have much to judge in our own.
Uh, lives and death, that old nature, which uh, we will have to the end of the journey does not improve. It never changes. It's supposed to God and the word of God. And we live in a, a day of so-called liberty and freeness where a man is, uh, allowed to, uh, to follow his inclinations. Uh, and uh, it leads to.
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Departure from God.
And.
The advantage of the enemy, so the loins gird about with truth is the personal walk. The apostle first of all, deals with our personal state here before testimony comes in. And if I'm not walking, uh, in obedience and, uh, in conformity to the word of God, I'm not going to have a testimony. Uh, so it's first of all our, our lives and, uh, that, uh, keeping the old nature in the place of death where, uh, where God has put it in the cross.
The truth applied Gertibaugh results in righteousness in the walk, and so there's an order in the armor.
The truth has to be applied 1St and uh known and held in real way, and then the result is righteousness in the walk, the breastplate of righteousness.
The righteousness here, Steve, is not divine righteousness which we possess through the work of Christ. Uh, but it is the practical thought here.
Our daily.
Umm, encounters with the world, are they honest and upright? We live in a, a wicked and dishonest world, but our, our dealings with our fellow man on a righteous basis. The world is very quick to discern what is not, uh, a Christian conduct. They Some people say it doesn't matter what the world says. Well, it does matter what the world says. And if my walk is not upright.
And commendable, umm, to the conscience. This deals with the conscience here. If I have a bad conscience, umm, I'm wounded in a wounded man can't hold a sword. So the breastplate of righteousness is having a, a conscience, voidable offense toward God and man. And it's the practical thought here in my, in my daily walk. Is that right, Jim? Yes. And it's possible, isn't it, to live righteously even in the world in which we live.
Because it tells us in Titus that grace teaches us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly when in this present age. Because we might sit here and someone might say, well, it's OK to talk about practical righteousness, it's OK to talk about a good conscience, and so on. But some of those who are older don't understand what we who are younger go through.
Well, perhaps some of us who are older don't, because the world is morally and spiritually darkening every hour. But the apostle Paul told Titus that he could live in this way at the present time. That is, the present age is where we are, whether it was in the days of Paul or Titus, whether it was in the days of our grandfathers, whether it was in the days of the older brethren, or whether it's right here close to the end of 2009.
We can still live righteously in this present age, and the apostle Paul desired to maintain a good conscience before God and man.
A conscience void of offense. And that's really what gave Paul power in his ministry and his walk for the Lord.
Was a good conscience and so we want to seek by the grace of God to walk uprightly, to live righteously. David said lead me in the land of uprightness. Help me to live righteously in spite of all the weakness and ruin and the sin and the moral darkness. That's about it. The resources that we have that Paul lays out here, these resources are available for you and for me.
It was an evil day and Paul's day. It's an evil day today, but the resources are still the same and still available for you and me.
That really takes up that next part of the armor, the shoes, feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. And there's a couple of verses in Isaiah 32, I think that illustrate the thought in what our brother's been bringing out. Isaiah 32 verse one, Behold, a king shall reign and righteousness. So we know that's when the Lord comes and sets up the Kingdom soon as power and His glory in the coming day.
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And down a little later in the chapter.
Verse 16 Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field, and the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever. And that's a principle in Scripture that the result of righteousness is peace. And so there's an order, the truth bound firmly upon us, the practical walk of righteousness that flows from the truth applied.
And that practical walk of righteousness.
Then gives a settled peace and quietness and assurance in the soul of the Saint of God that the world looks on and they have no conception of how one can walk through this scene, through trials and whatever it might be in peace.
And it speaks louder many times than anything could be spoken in a word of the gospel when they see that practical, uh, peace and, uh, calmness and the life of one who has a clear conscience because of a walk of righteousness, because of the truth of life. And it's a testimony that goes out in a powerful way to this world, feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
It's the same peace that the Lord left with his disciples, wasn't it?
The Lord Jesus walked through this world in a perfect calm and a perfect peace amidst all kinds of difficulties who face, so to speak, more conflict and opposition than the Lord Jesus Himself. But he calmly walked through this world, and at the end he said, My peace I leave with you not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
And you and I, as Brother Steve said, can walk through this world with that same peace. Is this a world of turmoil? Indeed it is. And men's hearts are failing them for fear. But some of us were talking earlier about what's going on in the world about us, and we need to be aware. We're not isolationists. And I think it's good to have discernment of the times and be aware of what's going on about us. But we don't need to be overwhelmed. Aware, but not overwhelmed.
And so we can walk through this world concerned, prayerfully concerned. Yes, we're to pray for those in power and so on, but we can walk through this world in perfect peace. And then when conflicts come amongst the Lord's people too, as they often do, again, we don't want to be indifferent. And often matters have to be taken up and discussed and judged for the Lord's glory and so on. But brethren, we again, we don't need to be overwhelmed.
We can walk through this world with our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel, gospel of peace. And you know, it's, you notice, it's the feet shod here. I would just suggest that shoes in Scripture also speak of separation. We're part of this world or we're, we're in this world. We're in it physically, but we're not of it. We're part of it in the sense that we're here physically and we need to operate, but we're not of this world.
We need to walk through this world in separation, and that's what's going to give us peace in our souls. You talk to a believer who's getting all involved with the conflicts of this world and trying to straighten things out. Do you find they have peace in their souls for their walk? No, because they're becoming entangled with the affairs of this life. And Paul told Timothy that a soldier doesn't do that. And so you and I can only walk through this world.
With the peace of God ruling in our hearts and the measure in which we have our feet shod, how beautiful are thy feet with shoes? It's separation. And Asher was told by shoes shall be as iron. That's power and brass. That's endurance. You and I can walk through a world of complete turmoil and unrest in that sense.
We don't have shoes on and our lock is guided by the conditions rather than by where we want to go. So if I wanted to walk down the end of the lane here, if I had shoes on and I go where I need to go. But if I didn't have shoes on, I'd try and find a path that was got on the grass and look here and there and try and find another way to get down there and maybe never get there.
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Uh, I need to, uh, it's a thing of habit, isn't it? Uh, our hearts have to be prepared halfway in our.
It's very important to have a fee protected in the pathway. I was thinking too about the breastplate of righteousness.
Umm, proverbs.
Chapter 4.
Proverbs or.
Uh, verse three, keep thy heart and all diligence throughout of it are the issues of life.
Proverbs 4 and verse 23 Sorry, keep thy heart with all diligence rather than the issues of life. Our department is really, uh, heart and capsules. And I mean in a natural and we think of our hearts as a the affection that it's perhaps a different thought in Scripture.
Like, uh, our hearts need to be protected by righteousness. Umm.
Let's see, affections are more, uh, concerned with our loins. It was mentioned that loins are seed of strength and also of umm.
Fruitfulness. It has the three thoughts in the Scripture bowels of mercy.
The loins vertical with truth all went up to Jerusalem or not to go there and Agabus had Paul's girdle fans were bound with it. Paul should have been wearing the girdle and we and we talked a lot about Paul when we should have gone up to Jerusalem or not. We know that it is heart was right so to speak, but his affections for Israel because it wasn't bound up properly. He went back to Jerusalem. The Lord all the rule and all that but.
How important it is we have all of these.
Umm, all of this protection because it runs well armored, we don't have shoes on, and where are we going to go?
In the, on the borders of the high priests garments, so that we will remember, there were two things when he entered into the sanctuary. There was the golden bells and there was the pomegranates and there was an equal number of each each one. And uh, the pomegranates didn't make any noise, but the golden bells did equal number of each one. That is our conduct, uh.
Should be in keeping with the divine life that we have. I think there's a verse in Philippians that might help us in that regard. Philippians 2 speaks of them holding forth the word of life. That's our spoken testimony. I think that would connect with the sword of the Spirit. But there is also the thought of umm.
Among whom ye shine as light in the world. You just look at that verse in this.
Philippians, Chapter 2.
Verse 16. Holding forth the Word of life.
Uh, we're going back to UH-15, that you may be blameless and harmless. The sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation. Mongomi shine as lights in the world. That's like the pomegranate.
That's the gospel of peace as we go through this defiled scene.
Uh, but then there's the holding forth of the word of life that is something active that is like the bells that were ringing, Uh, the spoken testimony, Those are two things. There's a life that we live and the spoken testimony, I think that comes out in the, in the sword of the spirit. Umm. And they, they agreed it wasn't a, uh, a difference between them. And so, uh, we are reminded that our lives.
Should speak for Christ. We've heard the expression. Your life speaks so loud that I can't hear what you say.
Uh, important that our daily, uh, encounters and, uh, interaction with the world are blameless so that they can't point the finger at us and say that's not very lovely, that's not a Christian attitude. They shouldn't be able to do that. And, uh.
00:50:10
Then our testimony for the Lord comes in. We have power in our word. But if I I am not walking in the truth obediently, I might as well keep my mouth shut because it's a reflection upon.
Our Lord Jesus.
Well, the enemy has his darts, as we find in the next verse.
And so we need the shield of faith, and the shield of faith is really practically bringing God into every circumstance of our lives.
Its confidence in God. I talked to a brother who said that often during his Christian pathway the enemy came along.
And would get them to doubt is salvation. And he was telling me how distressed he's often been. But what should a person do when one of those fiery darts is sent by the enemy that causes us to doubt our salvation?
Well, rest on what God has said, rest on the promises of God. God has said that my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
Thus lifting the shield of faith, thus bringing God and Christ into every circumstance. And so we need the shield of faith. So faith is simply confidence in God.
And it goes beyond salvation here, Jim, doesn't it? It's, uh, not only in regard to, uh, the saving faith when we were born again and brought to Christ and saved, but this is the faith daily that we are called upon to exercise because the enemy is very subtle. And, uh, he would, uh, insinuate or he would, uh, break down that, uh, confidence.
In God, we their brethren here that are in difficult circumstances, there are some that are passing through deep trials that some of us cannot be trusted with. And, uh, the enemy will come in with his fiery darts at such a time, especially when the body is weak. Those questions that he would, uh, that he would raise. Why has God allowed this in your life? You're trying to please the Lord and uh, this disappointment has come or this frustration or this set back.
Some reversal in your plans that you can't understand, uh, if you don't have the shield of faith at such a time, one of those fiery darts will enter and penetrate doubts, questionings about the wisdom of God's ways with us. We've all had these, uh, experiences and, uh, God is doing the very best for us every day of our lives according to our state of soul.
But there are difficulties in the pathway. There are umm.
Trials, it's not a rosy pathway, uh, the Christian life were not promised, uh, that we're going to escape tribulation, trial, reproach and so on. We need the shield of faith, which is that confidence in God that, uh, he is in control and he is doing the best for us and, uh, will, uh, provide what is, uh, what, what, what will encourage us and, uh, keep us in the pathway.
That confidence in God comes through reading His Word.
Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
So how important it is that we find ourselves reading God's Word day by day?
That we might be able to, uh, meet these fiery darts. How? By faith. Faith, I believe, is simply taking God at His Word.
Like the little girl said, God said it, I believe it, and that settles it. Now that childlike faith is so refreshing. What Satan wants to cause doubts in our minds and make us questions Lord's love for us and His wisdom as though he doesn't know what he's doing. And then maybe even.
Question is power to deal with the situation but the fact is one who loves us perfectly with a perfect love.
And who could say all power is given unto me? And who also we read has all wisdom? Well, here's one we can trust. But how are we going to know about him is through his word. That's how we get acquainted with the Lord Jesus and with God. And this gives us a defense, you know, against these fiery darts that Satan.
00:55:23
Throwing at us.
The shield is a piece of armor that is gripped firmly in the hand, and it's movable because we never know from what direction these darts will come.
Some some darts may come from One Direction, some from another. What what the enemy uses to discourage you or turn you aside may not be what he discourages me or with or somebody else. But I was thinking of how the shield has to be gripped firmly in the hand.
And it really speaks to us of firmly taking hold of the promises of God and utilizing them when those darts come. And so the night, if he let go of that, that shield, why he became very vulnerable to the darts and the Spears of the enemy had to firmly grip it. And you and I need to firmly grip the promises of God. All the promises of God and him are yay and in him Amen to the glory of God by us. Now do we really lay hold?
Of those promises, well, he said, we need to read the Bible, we need to be familiar with the promises of God, but we need to also rest upon them and firmly grip them in our souls, just as the knight had to firmly grip that shield.
And probably Satan is more successful with his weapon of discouragement than anything else.
Umm, uh, if he can discourage us, then we have no testimony. We won't work for the Lord. In fact, in First Peter chapter five, that is, it's usually connected with persecution, uh, where it speaks in First Peter chapter 5.
Of umm.
Her adversary, the devil, uh, and then yeah, verse, uh, said verse seven. Casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you.
Notice the shield of faith is not erected.
Then those doubts and questionings will come into my mind if I don't cast that care upon the Lord, that disappointment, and look to Him in the confidence that He has allowed this in love and, uh, for my benefit and for my blessing. If I don't pass that care on the Lord, Satan is going to come in. He's going to come in as the roaring lion. Remember our brother Gordon? Hey ho, we all, uh, recall.
He used to say, I believe that Satan as the roaring lion is not so much as in persecution. Usually when that happens, the Saints are bright and happy.
But here as the roaring lion, it's more in discouragement, bringing, uh, those, uh, doubts and, uh, that, umm, those fears and, uh, those questionings into our mind. Uh, he's a master, uh, at that sort of thing. And, uh, that's his successful weapon to discourage the Saints of God, the young people, or any one of us. And we need that, uh, firm confidence.
As our brother Wally said, the reading of the word of God and then we have is the last part, not exactly of the armor, but the exhortation that dependence praying always with all prayer and supplication. What a wonderful resource that is. The word of God in the loins girt about with truth that godly restraint in our lives, but also the the dependence that we have in the in the prayer.
That is mentioned here. How important that that is.
Jacob had so many doubts.
And so many things happened in his life. And finally he says all these things be against me. All these things be against me.
And I thought when I read that, oh, it'd be nice to go back there and say you didn't have Romans, then be able to turn to Romans 8 and say you've gone before us, Jacob, who can be against us? But that's really taken the shield of faith up, confidence in the one who's purpose to bless us.
And it goes beyond laying hold of the promises of God in His Word. What about His ways with us?
01:00:06
His ways with us, uh, averse from Second Samuel. As for God, Second Samuel 22 and 31 As for God, his way is perfect.
The word of the Lord is tried. He is a buckler, a shield to all them.
That put their trust in him and and so God has his ways with us and we can doubt these things.
Uh, as another has said.
Looking to 2nd causes in our lives, in other words, other than directly taking things from God's hands, is practical infidelity.
And so when the eye is fixed on God, looking to his promises in his Word.
Looking to all things that happen to us is coming directly from him. Then we're safe from those, uh, fiery darts, those doubts that come flying.
Two to take the helmet of salvation in First Thessalonians the.
Hope the salvation and just, uh, thinking about how many times we do foolish things because we can't wait, but I don't think the salvation of ourselves, but uh.
To uh, umm, see the end of the top.
How many have entered into unequal because they couldn't wait and they thought there was no other answer? Or so many things that we can do that are foolish. Our minds aren't kept straight thinking straight because we don't, uh, we're not considering the end of uh.
The hope of salvation in First Thessalonians bring it out there, and it's perhaps a similar thought here, but.
Interesting that, uh, in Thessalonians that you speak of that the breastplate is.
Faith and love, and here the breastplate is righteousness and and Thessalonians it's the hope of salvation. Here it's salvation. And I think the difference is the battle that's being fought here. It's against Satan as well as fiery darts and so on.
Or another way of putting it against the president evil world. And in Thessalonians it's not so much against the present evil world, but against the present world. Uh, that is the danger in Thessalonians there is that people were starting to, shall we say the danger was that they were sleeping amongst the dead or looking like.
Looking like unbelievers, uh, and so it's not so much against evil, but getting just caught up with the danger of, uh, the, the problems of this life, taking care of myself, my family, earning a living and the, as I say, the present world. And So what is the protection against the present world? It's.
The hope of salvation, not salvation that is. I've got something better that that I'm com that's coming.
And her breastplate, not righteousness that, uh, we need protect as protection from the attacks of the devil. But.
Love for the Lord, love for the brother.
And faith in his word and faith in God. And that is what protects us from the danger of getting just caught up with occupying ourselves and surviving in this world. So as I say, it's a different battle and and the and the protection is a little bit different.
It's interesting to think that all of these, uh, pieces of armor.
Were exemplified perfectly in the Lord Jesus in his walk as a dependent man here in the world.
Now he didn't need salvation, but he provided it.
01:05:00
And, uh, and so there's, that's why it begins with the in verse 10, be strong in the Lord. We need to have him as our focus. And as we observe that he, umm, was the perfect illustrator of dependence on this armor and the use of it, then he becomes a wonderful example for us.
And so we see that with the sword of the Spirit, don't we? Just the word of God.
The Lord Jesus used that when He met the enemy in the temptation. He simply quoted a verse of Scripture.
And there was a power there. He didn't argue with the devil, but he used the.
The word of God. And So what a lesson for us. Again, we are not to fight the devil, but we are to resist the devil. And so we've noticed there were five defensive pieces of armor and then this one offensive part. And then we find, as I said earlier, that we have the seventh thing, which is not really a piece of the armor, but it's prayer. And prayer is the spirit and attitude in which we take up and effectively utilize the armor of God. Often toss a bumper sticker one time said for the way for a Christian to stand.
Is on their knees. I thought that was very good because prayer is our powerhouse.
The those who in the Scriptures had power and fruit and testimony in their pathway for God, whether it was the Old Testament or the New Testament. They were men and women and young people of prayer. Sometimes we read the old stories too of missionaries and maybe not so old stories, current missionaries and so on that go out with the word of God and they experience all kinds of power and wonderful things in their lives and great fruit in their work. And we say, wow.
How? How wonderful. But if you examine their lives very carefully, you find that they are men and women of prayer. Martin Luther said, I have so much work to do for the Lord, I dare not spend less than three hours a day in prayer. Well, no wonder he was a man that was used mightily of God during the Reformation. His powerhouse, his resource was in prayer.
The sort of the Spirit is is using the word of God in communion with the Lord.
The word of God is used by Satan. He used it on the Lord Jesus himself in the wilderness. And uh, a believer can use the word of God in the wrong way to keep a person in a path of disobedience. Umm, it's the word of God used in communion, uh, with the Lord, uh, as we have remarked, the, uh, in the temptation in the wilderness.
Uh, the Lord, did Jesus use the word of God? Of course, he was always in full communion with his Father, but he didn't defeat the enemy by his mighty divine power in the wilderness. He could have dispatched Satan from the, uh, from the arena there, but he did not do that because, uh, he wanted to be an example for you and me. So if the word of God is dwelling richly in all wisdom we all have and we're walking in communion with the Lord.
We can use it effectively against the enemy and be and be victorious in the, uh, in the conflict. But, uh, we must, uh, be in communion with the Lord. We, there's no substitute for that.
Important to it, we're always in conflict. Like it was mentioned, the armor hanging in the Armory and the enemy comes along and we scramble to put the armor on. But there were always in conflict. No doubt there's peculiar and decisive battles, but we have to be accustomed to using this armor every day. David, when he went out against Goliath, Saul offered him his armor or saw his head and shoulders above the rest. The armor wouldn't fit and David had improved in the corner.
Different application there, but there's a lesson there. David couldn't just take that armor that he'd never tried on before. And then?
Comes out against this decisive battle this enemy put that armor on and try to use it. He couldn't do that. It wasn't practical. David was prepared, but uh, just thinking about we read this, this isn't to so that we can scramble, uh, put on the protective equipment like on a construction site when the Department of Labor shows up and everybody's scrambling to find the heart happen. I'm sure many of us have worked in construction, but if there are missing pieces falling off the building all the time, everybody has a hard house on.
01:10:06
Umm.
And it protects them. They realize the need of it and they know how to use it. If not, you can tell if somebody who's used to using that protective equipment and those that don't usually put it on and it doesn't fit and don't know how to use it, they can't work with that equipment. But if they're accustomed to it, then they can be useful and umm, when they're protected all the time and the way it should be. And so the armor here, there is an evil day and there are.
The crisis that we have to meet personally in the assemblies and the families and everything but.
It's important that we're in the habit of using it and we know how to use it day by day.
288 Two. 88 Preserve thy flock both graciously within thy sheltering fold, Move them from every harm away, and in thy safeguard hold till thou shalt fully have obtained in US the fruits of grace and we.
Enjoys that never end shall see thee face to face.
288.
Who thou, who, Smurdy? All right, leading me in all the living land.
And everything.
It's like, let's follow up on the.
Ticket. All right.
Beginning alone.
My birthday.
I'm crying that I have time to love my heart.
Re enjoy your thy life of.
9999.
3 minutes.
01:15:10
With a lot of my heart to give you a lot of paralysis. Uh-huh. And then?
Bless the garden, our loving Father, we, we give thee our thanks once again this morning for thy word before us. Surely how comforting it is to know that thou has uh, armed us. Thou has told us they laid hold of this, that the whole armor of God. And above all, we thank you that we know thou are by our side, and we thank you that thou has given us this provision of prayers too. And how much more do we need to be dependent upon Thee? So we now look today and we thank thee to that, uh, though we'll be left here in this scene.
For yet a little, uh, longer. But we do know that we have that blessed hope before us, knowing that it's not gonna be far off that time. And we shall be with thee as we wait for that shout, as we look forward to be forever with the Lord. At the meantime, we do pray for continual health and for continual safe keeping over us. And now we look to the end. We think of, uh, if it be thy will, and thou still tarry the remaining remainder of the meetings. We do ask for help and we do ask for blessing. So we just commit one another into thine hand now, thanking thee again.
For the time, with Thy word over us, we give thanks and ask this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen, Amen, Amen.