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Read it all over God.
Is gone. Great.
We found the pressure.
Efficient.
Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 17.
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 thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for All Saints, 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 bonds, that therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak.
What do you also may know my affairs and how I do? Tikka Cus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known to you all things.
Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that you might know our affairs and that he might comfort your hearts. 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.
Is the part of the armor that protects the head.
As explained here as salvation.
If we're going to have our minds protected.
It's going to be in the joy of our salvation. We read this morning that the Saints need the gospel. I believe it. There's nothing like the joy of salvation to keep our thoughts right, to keep our minds from monitoring.
Which of sins forgiven the knowledge of that salvation?
Enables us to lift up our heads, doesn't it?
Of salvation as we presented that it is something that should be understood and that it is something that is logical, and it is with the mind, the head, the brain that would be under the helmet that we deal with these things. It's it's a wonderful thing to present the gospel in a way that makes it plain that it is not a superstitious or an emotional thing.
But it's a reasonable thing. God says in the beginning of the book of Isaiah, come, let us reason together. And so as we present the gospel, it can present be presented, you might say, in an intelligent, logical way that we're not pleading with souls just on an emotional basis, but as a thing that is reasonable, that is something that's all important in their lives. And so it strikes me to think that salvation is connected with the helmet and the head.
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That is the mind, the brain. And when we deal with people, we should deal. I believe in a way that doesn't just appeal to the emotions. We know that the emotions are something that are fleeting and changeable, can depend upon whether we're weary or I'll. But the gospel is eminently logical, reasonable, and because of that, we want to make sure.
We want this bit of armor so that we never lose sight of that fact and that we can talk to people as intelligent people and present to them the wonderful intelligence, if you will, of the way of salvation.
Chapter 5. There's a couple of verses that I think we should read 1St Thessalonians 5.
But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.
So there's the helmet. The hope of salvation. It says here.
If we have.
Before our hearts that coming day.
That hope of our salvation to guard our minds. We won't settle down down here.
As Earth dwellers that will guard our minds, you'll be like a helmet to our minds. Our minds will be set on that coming day rather than down here on things now.
And that hope of salvation to come, because God has not appointed us to wrath but to salvation, that will be a guard to our minds.
So that our affections will be set on a coming day of collapsing.
That's go ahead.
I was just going to say that that the Thessaloniki's brother Frank, they did get their minds disturbed, didn't they That is.
They were confused over what would happen to those that had passed on.
But then the enemy was able to get a worse wedge in. And so we see in the second epistle that they thought the day of the Lord had already come. So Paul couldn't commend them for their hope, patience of hope, as he did in this first Thessalonians. So we see that it is an important thing to consider overall this thought of the helmet of salvation that we really need our thoughts guarded. We need to be.
Settled on these matters according to the truth of the word? Go ahead, Paul.
I was just going to say it in keeping with the truth of First Thessalonians, isn't it? The helmet? The hope of salvation is what we look forward to at the Lord's coming. That's part of our salvation. Like to suggest, an Ephesian, that the view of salvation is a complete view. It's not only salvation from our sins, from the penalty of our sins and present salvation from the power of sin and and the.
Future salvation from the very presence of sin. It is a complete picture. It's the whole view of salvation. Remember Mr. Lundin speaking about any use that last verse of the hymn we have in our appendix, O Jesus friend and failing it says for every tribulation, for every sore distress in Christ thy full salvation, sure help and quiet rest No Fear of post prevailing.
I triumph, Lord, in thee, O Jesus friend, and failing, how deareth thou to me? And I really have enjoyed that, that it is the salvation in every aspect that you can consider it. The knowledge has to do with the mind. Like you say, it's the knowledge that come what may, we're going to come out as the victorious ones in the end. If a person, if a soldier, were going into war, and you could assure him.
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Without the shadow of a doubt. Without a shadow of a doubt. Look, I know you're going to come out victorious. He would go in without fear and put all his energy into it. Brethren, we need to have the knowledge that our salvation is a complete salvation. It's important.
Blessed Master.
And the Lord turned and looked on Peter, and their eyes met.
All that completely broke Peter up. He went out, and he wept bitterly. No doubt, he thought, the Satan says, you'll never you'll never be able to lift your head up now.
But the Lord went after Peter, and as he had promised, but after thou art restored, and he went after him, and he He brought him back.
He restored him completely, and Peter proved that the salvation that he had in that in his blessed Savior was a complete, was a complete salvation. And there at at Pentecost. There at Pentecost, Peter was out there preaching and.
He.
We read there he was out there preaching 3000 souls were saved.
3000 And so he.
He tells them he had denied the Holy One and the justice, the very thing that Peter himself had done.
But the Lord had gone after Peter and his love, and he wouldn't give him up. He brought him back, and God used him. And so Peter could hold up his head, as it were, and so can we.
It was helpful to when I was younger to have it pointed out that in the book of Romans salvation is taken up in three different ways. It tells us first of all in the 5th chapter, that we're saved from wrath through him, and we look back to Calvary and having availed ourselves of the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We no longer fear death and judgment, all that is behind us now, and we're saved and on our way to glory. But then in the very next verse in that chapter, it says that we're saved by His life. That's His present intercessory life for us now. Because we look up into the open heavens and we see one who's living for us. He's living for us as our great High Priest, that we might be preserved in the path of faith and service for Christ down here. And then He's also living for us as our advocate.
Which brother Clem has brought before us in connection with Peter, so that we will be preserved and restored in the pathway as we go through the situations of life down here. And so David, when he sinned, he said, restore unto me not thy salvation, but the joy of thy salvation. And so we have one who's living for us, that we might be preserved and kept and restored when we do fail. But then there's something else in the I think it's the 13th of Romans.
It says, knowing the time, that it is high time to awake out of sleep. For now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. Brethren, that's the salvation of our bodies. That's what we're yet waiting for. If the Lord Jesus were to come before this meeting is over, and he may, we would immediately receive a new body, a changed body, a body of glory, like unto his body of glory. May this ever be before our souls. If we lose sight of the end of the pathway and all that is ahead, then we're going to be discouraged.
The enemy is going to gain a victory and will be cast down as we go through the circumstances. But if we're looking on to that day of glory and the time when we're going to be with not only with Christ, but like Christ, as it says in first John chapter 3, then it says every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure brethren to look on to the full salvation. The time when we're going to be there with bodies of glory, like unto his body of glory, that is what's going to preserve us in the path and in the measure in which you and I have the end of our salvation in view. In that measure it will have a practical purifying effect.
On your life and mine. And so I just point that out that it's helpful to see salvation taken up in those different ways. We look back to the time when we were saved and our sins were taken care of because of Calvary. We rejoice today because he's living for us, preserving us, that we might be saved by his life. And then we rejoice to think that perhaps this very afternoon the fruition of everything is going to take place and we'll be there in a moment changed and with him in a moment.
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May it gladden our souls, and may the Lord help us to keep this ever before us. And we might, in a practical way, put on the helmet of salvation. Because, brethren, if we give up these things, then Satan has plenty to fill our minds and plenty of things that are not true. And so we need to have these precious truths, and we need to be reminded of them over and over and over again. That's the joy of a reading meeting like this. We know these things. We hear them so many times.
But we need to have them brought to our minds once and again.
Yesterday.
That when Simeon held the babe in his arms.
His remark was now Let thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy.
Salvation.
The Lord Jesus.
Makes the remark in his prayer that this is eternal life that they might know.
The the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.
And so the Apostles Paul desired to know the Lord Jesus Christ in the power.
Of his resurrection, so the acquaintance with the Lord Jesus Christ in a personal way.
Translated into a walk with him in communion. Sets him before us, as our brother has just said.
As our hope that has its purifying effect with us, so the conscious knowledge of salvation and the Lord Jesus Christ who is our salvation gives us that ability to go on in the midst of all of the enemies onslaught.
And for young people, and it's all really to have the knowledge rather than that our salvation is a complete salvation.
So often you see young people or others to get into a severe trial and we all go through trials. But to realize even in those trials we have a God who is our salvation, not to lose our trust in Him, trust in him at all times. It tells us it's so important to keep our confidence. I think it was commented on this morning.
Verse in Hebrews 10 Cast not away your confidence, which has great recompense of reward.
In a trial right now, you have a God who is a God of our salvation. He is giving you a complete salvation. You may not be able to see any light in any direction, but you have a God who is a God of our salvation. Trust in Him. And that's the knowledge that's so important to keep up in the Christian warfare that we do not depend on ourselves for our salvation like was brought out.
And I think it's been such a comfort to so many of God's people in times of stress, that verse in Hebrews 725, He is able to save unto the uttermost them that come unto God by Him. Seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for him. He stands there in the presence of God for you in the time of your need. He knows what you're passing through, and he's pleading for you. He's interceding your cause.
We have reason, even when things seem too difficult for us to take courage.
To not lose confidence in God. It seems to me that one of the enemy's most subtle onslaughts is to try to take away our confidence in God. Don't do it. I like the verse that sometimes we've used with the young people that we quote many times in Proverbs 36. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not until thine own understanding.
With all your heart. It's important the word in Spanish for lean not to thy own understanding is interesting. It's a word for the stirrups on a saddle. You know when a person gets off balance in the saddle, he puts his weight on his stirrups and he balances himself. The scripture says lean not to your own understanding. Our understanding is limited at best. We understand.
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We know in part, and that's all we'll ever know down here in this world. Don't lean to your own understanding. I don't say we neglect it, but we don't lean on it. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. That's a command the Lord gives us. So we have a God that is powerful to save to the uttermost, all the way home to the glory. That's the way Brother Eric Smith used to say it. But we can. We can trust him. He'll come through with it. Dear young people trust him at all times.
All that isn't all the way home, Savior.
When he was down in the whale's belly in the sea.
Made three different promises, I believe, he says. I will do this. Oh, I will do that. I will do the other. Nothing happened.
God brought him down far enough that finally said salvation is of the Lord. He was up on dry land. The Lord is salvation and it's of him that we get it. Salvation is so simple. I learned a good lesson for me many years ago. Traveling around I heard of a young man that had gotten saved and it sounded like a real interesting story. Well, a few weeks later I met him and.
I said I heard that you got saved it for the reason. How did you get saved? He said. God saved me. How did you get saved?
I.
And I think it's beautiful to see that Jonah, he could only blame himself for this position he was in.
And still he could turn to the Lord in that position. I think sometimes when the enemy causes us to fall, and of course we can't blame the enemy. We have to blame ourselves. We tend to think, oh, I've gotten myself into this method, I'm going to just have to bear it now. I can't really turn to the Lord. I've been unfaithful. But even in that extremity, when Jonah turned to the Lord, the Lord delivered him. That's the kind of God we have.
Your young people, dear brethren, we have a God who can hear anywhere.
We can call to him.
You know.
Something comes before me in connection with parental responsibility. Maybe our brother Henry can help us on this, but the Shunamites boy, you know, went out to with his father to the Reapers and all of a sudden he was doing something. Perhaps the father was so preoccupied with his work. His.
Field that he didn't pay attention and the lad fell, and he says, my head, my head. And we see that there was not the concern on his part. He says take him to his mother. Well, she was a woman of faith, and so she took him to Elisha, which is certainly a picture of the Lord Jesus. And one word was sent to her. Is all well, she said All is well.
She knew the Lord would come in in some way and help out, but I think we have a quite a responsibility as parents, do we not Henry, in regard to seeking to guard the minds of these children? But they don't take a fall.
Does touch on.
Something on my heart because.
We took up our chapter in verse 11 and connected it somewhere with the end of chapter 3, but the Spirit of God hasn't put it at the end of chapter 3. He's put it here in the middle of chapter 6, after he has brought before us our relationships of life that should be affected by the.
Sovereign Work of God and the.
Before us in the opening chapters of Ephesians.
And I saw it of Ephesians during these meetings, akin to the Garden of Eden that man was put into. Ephesians is the Garden of Eden for the believer, that is.
Our every blessing is brought to us, and we're not fighting for those blessings. They have been secured for us. But the warfare that's being carried on is here on earth. It's with principalities and powers and heavenly places.
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We look at, I'd like to just say, you know, we we become sons of God and Ephesians. The church is brought out to us in Ephesians. And so in chapter four we get our walk address, how we're going to maintain here on earth the truth of the assembly that we have been brought into.
Something impressing me in chapter 4 and verse 6.
It starts, you know, with the assembly, when it goes down to the realm of nature, verse six, one God and Father of all. So Paul puts us into all the relationships that we enter into in life, the assembly individually as children in chapter 5.
Followers of God as dear children and we go right on down.
To the family relationships, wives, we get husbands.
We get children, we go into the workplace, and we get the work relationships if we're masters or if we're servants. But all of these relationships of life are being attacked. And if we don't have on the armor of God, we fail in these relationships. And so let's look at ourselves in the church relationship.
Have we failed?
Where is the Church of God in Saint Louis? Couldn't begin to be put into this room. We're just the testimony that we have not worn the armor of God in such a way to preserve on earth the unity that should be given expression to by the Church of God.
Look at our families. All right. You know the end of this chapter. It says peace. I don't think this is what it means, but the end of warfare is peace. When war is over, there's peace. Have we experienced, characteristically, peace in our families? Do we find in our workplace that we are able to conduct ourselves as men of God in the workforce? Or have we found practically that?
Our jobs have become our masters and have taken us away from our families.
From the assemblies have become a paramount thing in our lives. Well, all of that is the result of not wearing properly the armor of God. And this helmet of salvation is a little different than the other things we take some of these other things, but apparently the thought here of take is simply to receive it. It's not something active on our part, but it's something as if God were saying I have a helmet for you to wear.
That will save you. And I don't know, we've had different aspects of salvation. I would just like to say the helmet of salvation that is God is handing out to us this afternoon is a helmet that will save us. And I don't care what aspect it's taken up in, It would have saved the assembly from division. It would have saved the family from merit to break up.
It would have saved our children from going out and being lost. They would have saved us in our workplace from not allowing the work to become our master instead of us, like Adam was to have been. He was supposed to have controlled the earth and used it for his servant. But God has this helmet of salvation, he said. I have a salvation for you in every aspect of your life. Will you take it? No. Just receive it. It's here.
Put it on you and we're saying, Lord, I don't want it. I'll think with my own mind. I'll figure a way out if we turn to our own minds and our own ingenuity and we end up in all the confusion that the assembly, the Church of God and our families are in today. So we say it's practical and it is in this salvation. I don't pretend to know the doctrinal.
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Thrust of the salvation here.
But I do know God is saying I have a helmet. That's a helmet of salvation. And if you will receive it, things will be preserved. These relationships of life will be preserved if you put this armor of God on. Because Satan, you know when we've referred to the coming day, when he's cast down, you know he can't fight against the Saints of the Most high places.
What does he do?
He they cursed them, but I can't hurt them. When Paul was called to the 3rd heaven, it wasn't for a wrestling match or a warfare. He was in the enjoyment of God. There he wrestled and he warfared when he had to come back to Ephesus, when he had to come back to earth.
These forces in the heavenlies are marshaled brethren against the assembly. They're marshaled against our families, and they're marshaled against you and I as an individual believer here on earth, to keep us and come keep us in these relationships from demonstrating and showing the salvation our God has for us. Well, let's receive the salvation, the helmet of God's salvation.
We don't have a substitute for it.
That.
In Genesis, when Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and built that city, then those descendants of his that populated, it says that one of them was an artificer in brass and iron. And later when David goes out to meet Goliath, he goes out to meet one who has a helmet. But that helmet he's wearing is a helmet of brass. And that helmet didn't protect Goliath. It was what man was going to do, what man was going to produce to protect his thoughts, his pride?
His ways. And so he took that.
What you might say that science or that ability that was developed by a man who left the presence of God. Cain went out from the presence of God and out from the presence of God. Man learned how to create articles of brass and iron, and one of those articles he learned how to create evidently was a helmet and Goliath. As far as I know, that's the first mention of a helmet in the word of God. I could be wrong, but I think the helmet that Goliath wore not a helmet of salvation.
A helmet of brass. And it's very amazing when you think about it. The thing that Goliath wore to protect his head didn't protect him. When he met David, the stone sunk into his forehead. My beloved brethren, do we want that helmet? Do we want to, with our thoughts and our pride and our abilities, seek to make our way through this world? It's not going to work. It's not going to be a helmet of salvation.
Connection between the salvation and the spirit of the Lord if you go back to chapter one.
Where you have the salvation first mentioned in Pauls letter, it also immediately brings before us the Spirit connected with it in chapter one, just to get the connection, verse 12, that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ and whom he also trusted. After that she heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.
In whom also after that she believed, ye were sealed with that holy.
Spirit of promise, and so God in his purposes of blessing.
Determined that he would have in a man the administration of his creation, and that's in the man Christ Jesus. And he purposed that we too should be brought into connection with him and presented to us the word of truth, the gospel of our salvation. And upon receiving that by faith we are immediately sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. As has already been mentioned, it's a present and practical thing. So he goes on in Chapter 4.
And speaks to us again about that Holy Spirit that has sealed us.
That's Holy Spirit of promise and brings in something of the practical side of it. We might say, well, my salvation is secure.
So nothing can touch it, because I have been sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. But then our side, or our responsibility side is brought in in connection with it in chapter 4. And he says to us, verse 29, Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And then what? And grieve not.
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The Holy Spirit of God.
Whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. And so we have a practical exhortation given to us. I have been, and you have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. He is a divine guest that dwells within us. And as we go on in a day by day way, how do we walk? Or do we walk in such a way that we grieve the Spirit of God?
That dwells within us. And if we do, are we do we have on then in a practical sense, that helmet of salvation?
Or is that person grieved in such a way that the beauties of the unsearchable riches of Christ that are given in chapter 3?
Are not enjoyed in our souls, and so he goes on and.
Elaborates further in chapter 5 when he says to them.
In verse 18, the positive exhortation to us not just a negative sense of grieving, but then a positive. He says, verse 18 Be not drunk with wine, we're in his excess, but be filled with the Spirit speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual psalms, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.
Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting yourselves 1 to another in the fear of God. That's the occupation for the mind that keeps the soul. It's been said and said well, that we ought to read the word of God until our very thoughts are formed by the language of Scripture, and we ought to have the word of God so much a part of us.
That the Spirit of God which would fill us with those things.
Which are for Christ, and which would be to our minds a preservative, a helmet of salvation. And so we have some very positive ones that occupy us, as it says here, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
Do we wake up in the morning and the first thoughts that pass through our minds, perhaps is in our hearts, if not out loud? Is the the singing of the word that's found in the word of God the thoughts that have to do? And then also something that so easily gets us is the acceptance, the submission to God that is allowed in the circumstances of our lives. And so he says giving thanks for all things.
What is it that's so easily troubles? The mind is those things that I am not submissive to God in the circumstances of my life. Why has God allowed this? Why has God allowed that? Why did it have to happen to me? And so on. And my mind becomes troubled and confused and in agony. But that which is filled with the Spirit of God responds in the heart and in the mind by giving thanks always.
For all things. And then he goes on, submitting yourselves to one another in the fear of God. That submission of Spirit to God and even to his people, is that which the Spirit of God works in us as a preservative, as we await the full results of the salvation that's been wrought for us and is being kept for us too by the Spirit.
In chapter 2.
In chapter 3.
Verse chapter 3, verse 16, That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man.
So theoretically you might say we could put all of this armor on, but if we don't have the strength of the Spirit of God, the power of the Spirit of God, which we will not have even though we're sealed.
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We won't have his power if he is grieved in our life or if he is quenched in our lives. And we can do that through willfulness and sin. And so that that's what is hindering our Our victory here is that we're we're grieving the spirit of God, and we're hindering the spirit of God, and we're losing the power of the spirit of God, the strength of the Spirit of God in our lives.
So we need to call it, I think not only that we think the thoughts of God being, as has been said, saturated with the word of God, so that we think in the thoughts of the Scriptures, but that the those thoughts of the scriptures control our actions and help us in making the decisions of life as to how we're going to take up these different relationships in life, their control.
By the Word of God having authority over us in our lives, making those decisions based upon the Word of God.
The Helmet of Salvation is the complete of the armor as we have in verse 11. We're exhorted to put on the whole armor, and again in the 13th verse to take unto you the whole armor of God. And after that he tells us to take the sword of the Spirit, which is the weapon that he gives us if we turn to Hebrews chapter 4.
In verse 12.
Where the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and that the joints immoral and is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of our heart.
So dealing with this, we can see that Christ has put us in a position that if we do not take this helmet and then take the sword that He's given us as a weapon to continue on, we're left out here in the cold. We have to depend upon the Lord, the Spirit that He's indwelt us with, to take it on as the sword.
For us, is it not? Is the defensive part of the armor. Now he takes up that which is.
This borough fence, this.
The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Having on having on the whole arm right now. Now we can one is unable to take up the the sword of the spirit. That's the first defensive part of the end. Is that right, Jimmy? Well, I believe that's right and I believe it's good to see that it's the sword of the spirit. The reason I say that is sometimes I've heard young folks say as they have their Bible under their arm, I have my sword with me.
Well, that's not really scriptural. It's not my sword. It's the sword of the Spirit, because it's only when it's used in communion by the Spirit that it has its power. I think of the example of Peter. Peter had a real desire to defend his Lord, and he had a sword, but he used it without the sanction of his Lord and what he did. And so he took that sword and cut off the servant of the high priest here. And he didn't help the situation. He only, as another has said, he added to it and he only ended up giving the Lord more work to do.
He didn't help the situation, but it's when it's used in communion by the Spirit.
And so there's a power there. I think it was already alluded to that the Lord Jesus, when he met the enemy in the wilderness, in the temptation he didn't seek to argue with the enemy. He simply quoted from the word of God. He said it is written. But I might say in that regard, again for those who are younger, that if we don't have the word of God before us, if we're not reading it and storing up our minds with the word of God, then the Spirit can't bring it back to us.
So that we can use it when we're faced with the temptation or the situation. But if you read the word of God, maybe it might not mean that much to you at the time. You read some of those Old Testament stories and illustrations. Maybe at the time it's just an interesting story. But if you read it and you're familiar with it, then when the time comes and you're in a situation, the Spirit of God can bring it to your remembrance. When the Lord Jesus spoke to the disciples in the upper room, He brought much before them, but he said that when the Spirit was come, he would bring all things to their remembrance.
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Which he had spoken unto them. And so they listened attentively to what he had to say. But, brethren, if we don't listen attentively to the word of God, if we're not reading it for ourselves, then he can't bring something to our minds that we've never read. It is the glory of God to conceal the matter. The honor of kings is to search out the thing. And so as we study and search the word of God and have these things in our minds, stored in our minds and in our hearts, then he can bring it back. And haven't you been surprised sometimes?
Sometime perhaps you're in a situation, maybe you have to answer a question at work or at school. You have to make a decision and you just don't know how to answer. You just don't know which way to turn. And all of a sudden the spirit of God brings back a story or a scripture and applies it. And so it's applied in the example of David going to the brook. Because I believe that often running water in scripture is a type of the Holy Spirit. Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
And this he spake concerning the Spirit. And David went to the brook, and from the brook he took five smooth stones, and he stored them in his shepherd's bag. There were those stones, as it were, the word of God, made good to him in this power of the Spirit. And when the time comes, he takes one of those stones that have been taken out of the brook, a type of the Spirit of God, and he uses it in type in the power of the Spirit. And what was the result? Why the enemy came crashing down, not because David did it in his own strength, but because he had taken that stone from the brook, and he used it.
At the proper time, brethren, if we store our hearts with the minds and hearts with the word of God.
Then I say the Spirit of God can bring it back to us, and there's a power there. Don't try to argue with people. You'll only become discouraged yourself. You'll only become entangled in human reason. Just bring forth the word of God and we don't have to argue the scriptures. There's a power there in the word of God. When you quote a verse or you bring the scripture can't argue with the word of God. It commends itself.
Battle that I find in this book, Revelation 19, in which we come forth associated with that man on the White Horse.
Heaven open Jesus coming out of heaven.
We find that his name is called the Word of God. So here again the sword of Spirit, which is the word of God.
Is that person.
2nd Hebrews Chapter four that our brother Ken referred to.
We see that the word of God in verse 12 is likened unto a quick and powerful and a sharper than any two edged sword, living and powerful. And it pierces even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit that shows how refined and how powerful the Word of God is through the Spirit of God. To make a distinction like that, because there's so much that belongs to the soul, you might say that has been introduced into Christianity.
The soul would be more of the emotional seat and of feelings and appetites and desires, whereas the Spirit would be more to God, conscious part. And we see how the word of God makes a clear distinction in those things, and we can be very thankful for it. We need the word of God to be kept and the high priestly work of Christ to be kept, and that's presented here in Hebrews 4. But then we see that it goes right down to the joints and the Morrow, in other words.
It seems to me that that has something to do with distinguishing the functions of the body, recognizing the joints, recognizing the true and proper functions of the body. So we need the word of God to bear upon all these things, and the Spirit of God to apply it correctly. So the sword of the Spirit is very important here. It's not our sword as you say. There may be a scripture in First John that might be helpful to consider.
In this connection one John chapter 2 Speaking of the young men, And I might just say, before I read the Scripture, young men or youth in Scripture always speaks to us, or often speaks to us of the energy of the flesh, the natural man. It says in Isaiah 40, even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But notice the contrast to that here in first John chapter 2 and verse 14 I have written unto you Father's, because ye have known him, that is from the beginning.
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I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong. But what was the source of their strength? Not natural ability, it says. And the word of God avoideth in you, and you have overcome the wicked one. The word of God had become part of them. It was not only that they knew the word of God in an intellectual way, but they had taken it in it. Abide in abode in them, and that was their source of strength. And that's how they had overcome the wicked one.
Praying. Always.
Praying always. We need to learn how dependent we are.
Reminds you of the 16th Psalm where that blessed man I believe in type uttered those words preserve me of God. Or in yeah, I put my trust. Maybe I'm not quoting that right.
We'll get it right by reading it.
Preserved be, O God, for in thee do I put my trust. Now was that Jesus uttering those words there in type?
The dependent Man.
The Spirit of Christ.
We find him in prayer frequently and he walked through the desert.
I think it's so interesting the way Paul goes on with.
This prayer praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.
Walking thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for All Saints and for me, what was he asking for that he could give utterance to the message been given to him? If Paul needed that prayer to give utterance to the gospel, every one of us needs it too.
And then it leads on to prayer for all the Saints.
A largeness of heart.
So they this is an ongoing thing, isn't it?
Ongoing thing all day long, all day long.
We don't need to get down on our knees to pray about a thing. We can't do that. Often times the Lord doesn't expect us.
I remember the story about a man who was in a field and a bull came.
Little fence.
All he could say was Lord, help me and the and the animals veered off and went and went another direction well.
There are little things along in our regular daily life we don't need. We can just look up and ask the Lord to help us give us an answer. We're the we're the gainers. If we take Him into all our circumstances, are we not?
We've often been taught, correctly, that prayer is the expression of our dependence upon God.
And we are often cast upon him because of felt weakness.
And so we can rejoice that God does not despise weakness.
When I am weak, then I am strong. When we consciously feel the necessity of coming to God for strength, he never turns us away. And another wonderful aspect of praying in the Spirit is that God answers because of our opportunity. He does not weary of our coming and coming again. So we are encouraged to pray always and to pray with expectancy watching thereunto. When we ask for various things, then we can can quietly weep on God to see how He's going to bring it about.
Perhaps we might say that it's not only the expression of dependence, but it's really the expression of confidence too. Because when we pray, we're really saying, well, we have no strength for this situation. But we're expressing confidence too, that there's one who is able for the situation, and we need to come in that way. And as our brother has said, the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. And we might say here in our portion, that prayer, as we know, is not part of the armor, one of the pieces of the armor, but it's the spirit and the attitude in which we avail ourselves.
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Armor of God. There has to be the proper attitude. And what is that attitude? It's the spirit of dependence and confidence. But brethren, aren't we all? We often selfish in our prayers? Sometimes we bring before the Lord our own needs, or perhaps the needs of the family circle, and that's right and proper. I don't want to take away from that in any way, but I've been impressed with men of prayer in the scripture how often they prayed for the needs of others. You think of the Apostle Paul, how often he was praying for the brethren.
At times when they were going on, well, I'll just give you a couple of examples. We find in Philippi There was with the Philippian brethren. There was a freshness there, and they were exercised about the Gospel and so on. What did Paul say? Making mention always of you in my prayers when he wrote to the Thessalonians. They were going on in the joy of their new found salvation and the joy of the truth. What did he say? I ceased not to pray for you day and night, Brethren, do we know what it is to persevere in prayer for the Saints of God?
To bring others before the throne of grace, I'm encouraged when I visit in a home, and the man of the house prays after the family reading. And I love to hear those prayers as they reach out beyond the walls of the home, beyond the even the local assembly. And I know brothers who pray diligently and earnestly for the people of God, even at times when they're going on well. Because I suggest that if we use prayer as a preventative measure, it might save us from many things.
I had a sister come to me after a prayer meeting one time, and it was rather a rebuke to my own soul, she said. Jim, why is it when we come to the local assembly prayer meeting, we only hear the names mentioned of those that have specific needs and difficulties, or the names of those who have chosen not to be there for one reason or another?
She said, wouldn't it be well to pray for those who are there to thank the Lord for each one who's there by name, and for the grace that has preserved those individuals? I say, brethren, it might save us from many things. And so when Paul speaks of it here, he says with all perseverance do we know what it is to persevere? I don't mean just to mention in passing the brethren or to just mention the name of a specific assembly. I say this to my own heart. Do I know what it is to persevere in prayer for the people of God?
Brother and I just suggest that it might save us from many things, because prayer is not only the powerhouse of our lives individually, but it's the powerhouse of our lives as families, and it's the powerhouse of our lives collectively, as gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus. May we avail ourselves of this wonderful resource that we have that we might be preserved. And if we don't, then we have to face the fact that really, brother, we're fighting for our ecclesiastical lives. We're at the end of a dispensation.
We don't learn how to pray, don't look for things to be preserved. There's many, there's many. God has not given us the time that we have in this country just to to travel the world or to eat at some different restaurant every night. You know, we have a lot of time in this country. We have a lot of time to be on our knees for our brethren and for what's left of the testimony. We must, we must learn how to pray for the people of God.
Sometimes it pays to.
Be prayed up.
I was at the ranch down in Texas 40 years ago approximately and my brother needed to go to the out into the big pasture to get a certain steer that had been contrary and he hadn't been able to work it as he should take it to market and so forth. So he says they let's get on the horses and go out and get that steer, help me get that steer. So I we did. We saddled a couple of horses and I think there were three of us in fact and.
We finally got the stair into the small pasture, and so it was several feet from yards from the gate. And so I got off the horse and closing the gate so he couldn't get back in the big pasture. And suddenly my brother says Dave getting on the horse quick. Well, I didn't have time to get on the horse. The steer was heading straight toward me. I didn't even have to say, Lord, help me.
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6 inches from me.
Horns clipped around, turned to one side, and the Lord turned that stairway, and I only had time to thank the Lord for deliverance. But God is for us.
First, who was Who is? This is in in in Colossians chapter 4 and 12. Epaphras. Who is one of you, a servant of Christ?
Always laboring fervently for you in prayers that ye may stand perfect and complete in all.
The will of God? No. That was a as a lovely commendation. There he had found a service for the Lord, and apparently he was faithful in it, and he was even in prison with the Paul. With Paul we read about him, he's a fellow prisoner. But that didn't the prison didn't keep him from from praying for the brethren. Always.
Laboring fervently for you in prayer, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God, and so on.
What's the difference between prayer and supplication? Clem, could you give us a word on that?
Let's try the other clamp.
While I was just thinking that and I here, I I don't know whether this answers that or whether it's the right place to bring it in. I think of the Blessed Lord in the garden at Gethsemane. Oh, there he was, down on his knees, down prostate, on the ground, in prayer. And then it says he prayed more earnestly. He prayed more earnestly.
And that his sweat was as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
So there's there's intensity in prayer too, is there? How about it, Bob?
I think that's what it means too. In that verse, you go to collections 412 laboring fervently in prayer. I mean, it was work. It was work rather than It takes determination to set aside time to get a loan in the presence of God and wrestle and bring these dear brethren and these dear God's dear people before the throne of grace. I think it does include something of more intensity than just simple prayer.
But it is important that supplications is thinking of that story the Lord told. I think it's in the 11Th of Luke of the man who came at night, and that's I think the word opportunity has been used. And I've enjoyed what Mr. Darby's translation uses. Instead of the word importunity it says because of his shamelessness.
He will rise and give him all that he needs, in other words, perseverance.
You might say I go to a person several times and I don't like to keep on bothering him about the same matter. You cannot weary the Lord, You cannot do it because of his shamelessness. He rose and gave him. I thought that was beautiful.
As if there that experience the word the word ask, ask, ask and you shall receive. Well, perhaps you don't get it. Well then.
Press further seek, and ye shall find, and still you may not get it on the knock.
OK, tell me an open idea.
ASK.
We need to be careful we don't come to the Lord and beg him for something that may not be according to his mind.
Now there are some things we pray for, and we ought never to give up because we have a definite scripture for it.
And I believe we will ask.
In we won't ask a miss in the measure in which our thoughts are governed by the word of God and we're walking in communion. And so there are some things. Just as an example, Maybe you've prayed for years for the salvation of a loved one. Don't give up praying for the salvation of that loved one because it's God's will that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. But maybe there's something we think we want or need in our lives, and it says of the children of Israel, he granted them their requests but sent leanness into their soul.
And so we need to be careful The Lord Jesus as the dependent man, He prayed nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. And so when we come, if we've got a definite scripture, then keep on praying, and the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. But let's be careful in those day-to-day requests and needs that we pray according to his will. But I think it's helpful too, to see, brethren, that prayer is more than just making requests. That's part of it, as we've been saying. But if you notice in First Timothy chapter 4 and verse 5, Mr. Darby translates the word prayer as freely addressing God.
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Isn't it a wonderful thing, brethren, to come and freely address God? Prayer is speaking to the Lord.
And when Daniel prayed three times a day, I've appreciated a little comment there. In that 6th chapter it says as he did a four time. And I just suggest that Daniel not only prayed when he got into trouble, it's true. When there was a difficulty he knew where to turn. But he didn't pray just when he got into trouble. It was the habit of his life. Even when things were going well, to commune with his God three times a day. I just.
Picture Daniel sometimes going into his room, and maybe there wasn't some special burden or request on his heart at the time, but he communed with his God. And so if you have a friend and you enjoy happy times of fellowship, you say when the trouble comes, I know where to turn. I can go to that friend. You don't mind going to a friend like that because you say we've enjoyed communion and that friend understands me and knows my heart. But brethren, if we if we have a friend and we only go to that friend when we're in trouble.
Pretty soon that friend gets tired of us. They say. Why do you come only when you're in trouble, only when you have a need? Can't we just sit down and enjoy happy times of fellowship together? But then again, if you do enjoy that, then you can turn to that friend. Brethren, if it's the habit of our lives to commune with our God and with our Savior habitually through the day, day after day, in our Christian pathway, then when the trouble comes, we can turn to Him not only in prayer but in supplication, perhaps on behalf of our own need, Perhaps something in the family, perhaps something in amongst the people of God.
And I've enjoyed what it says about epiphrast in the next verse. Our brother dear didn't read it, but he not only prayed for the Saints, that Colossi, which no doubt was his home assembly, but it says there and Heropoulos and Laodicea, his heart went beyond the walls of even of his home assembly. He had the Saints of God in other assemblies on his heart. And so, brethren, let us be in communion ourselves, freely addressing God during the course of the day that when the trouble comes in our own lives or in the lives of others.
Then we can turn to him and I just say get to keep an open line between yourself and the Lord. Don't let something come between. If you have a friend and you have a little disagreement, well, all of a sudden you don't feel free to go to that friend with a problem. But if you are enjoying those that happy communion and nothing has come between, then you can go to that friend. If there's someone here and you've let something come between you and the Lord, some sin, some failure in your life, get before him.
Confess it. Judge it.
And keep that open line. Nehemiah stood in the presence of the king, and he didn't have time like Daniel, to go into his room and make the thing known, or gather his friends together and have a prayer meeting. He had to give an immediate answer. But he was so in communion with his God that it says what the king said. What do you make requests? So I pray to the God of heaven. And I said unto the King between the time the king asked the question and Nehemiah had to give an immediate answer. It was that open line, maybe a swift little prayer. Lord, help me. And the Lord came in and granted him his request, and even more than he asked. And so it says, if any man lack wisdom.
Let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not.
What we had here, this was all perseverance and supplication for All Saints.
I would take in the whole blood box.
Church, would it not?
Nothing. Not just our own little assembly. Thank God if we pray for them, but our hearts would go out to all the Saints of God, wherever they are.
There's a word.
Fearing in prayer. That's been a real help to my soul.
And we have been spoken to as to continuing in asking for that which we know to be the mind of God.
And when we sometimes may not see an answer that.
To a prayer that we know is a correct prayer.
A brother said to me not too many years ago. We have to remember that the last chapter has not been written yet, so we can continue to ask in faith and God in his own time. There's a little line in the preface of Mr. Andrew Miller's 23rd Psalm, a little pamphlet that's been a real encouragement to my soul.
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He was referring principally to.
An unbeliever.
For whom prayer had been made, possibly by godly parents.
But I applied it to my own soul and the experience.
And praying for one who has missed the path.
And his brother said in his preface.
The prayer of faith never goes unheeded.
And he said as to this unbeliever and praying for the recovery of one.
In a moment.
A man's entire life comes before him, and the next moment he is the Lord's.
We may pray for a long time for that which we believe is the mind of God and have a word.
From God as to that effect.
But in a moment.
God works in that man's soul, and he is a Newman or a different man.
And I was encouraged to as to praying and waiting.
When?
The Angel appeared to Zacharias Zechariah in the.
Ministration of the temple.
Have you ever noticed what he says? Thy prayer is heard, and thy wife shall have a son. How long have they prayed? They were old, beyond the years of conception normally. But that prayer is heard, and it happened according to the angel's word. So we need to persevere, knowing that we have done the will of God. Then we have patience.
To receive the promise.
It might be good to just have a word on the thought that you brought up there for the clams in Colossians, the Apostle Paul says in a first chapter in the third verse, we give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you since we heard of your fate in Christ Jesus and of the love which you have to all the Saints. And so I think that's a barometer of whether we really are spending any time in the presence of the Lord.
That we have love to all the Saints if we have left out one.
What's on our heart is not what's on God's heart. All the Saints are on God's heart. And so we ought to love all believers, all that are in the family of God. And we will if we have on our heart, which on God's heart. But it doesn't mean that we can walk with them. But we must pray for them and we will love them. The new man loves them and and so we we get into there's a danger.
Of becoming sectarian in our hearts if we don't have.
The whole Church of God on our hearts. So it's I just bring that up because I feel that that's somewhat of a danger that we might fall into and feel that we only should love those that are gathered to the Lords name. That's sectarian the Baptist, love the Baptist, and so on and so forth. But God would have us love all the Saints, have a wide heart large enough to take in all the children of God but feet.
That walk in the narrowest, A narrow path that he's marked out for us. What we confess in the one loaf on the table doesn't I take in all the Saints of God. There were the brother years ago. I remember he was a pastor of a large evangelical church out there in California, and he came to those Thursday morning meetings.
And he got a hold of some truth that he personally wanted that and.
He began bringing it out in his.
And his sermons? Well, there were those in the church there.
They didn't want that. They told him, look, if you're going to, if that's what you're going to preach here, you better start looking for another, another job, another pastor. Well, rather than compromise the truth of God, which you felt it was the truth, he gave it up and went an old brother breath. Way to understand. He went to see him and he said, well, where am I? Where do I go from here?
He saw the all the different divisions among Saints and where do I go from here?
Old brother, Brathwaite said to him. Brother, he said you.
You belong to Christ now. Now your responsibility is to seek to follow him without the camp. And when you have found your place there around himself, you'll find there are others there.
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Perhaps not a great many, but you will find others that are there who are seeking to express faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
And love unto all things.
Well.
Happily he was found. The Lord led him.
And he found out that there's a place where the truth is, and there's a place where the truth will put you if you want to give expression to that truth. And so he was, he was happily gathered when all for quite a number of years.
There's a nice illustrator connection with one of the Kings of Israel that confirms what has been said.
We find that with King Hezekiah because Hezekiah came to the throne of Israel at a time when it was divided.
2 tribes were meeting at Jerusalem at the House of God, where he had placed his name.
And 10 tribes were meeting at Dan and Bethel. And when Hezekiah came to the throne, he was thankful that he was there at the House of the Lord at Jerusalem. But in his heart he embraced all the people of God. And so he in his exercise and concern for their blessing, he wrote them those letters, encouraging them to return to the House of the Lord at Jerusalem. We know that the letters, for the most part were laughed and mocked, although there were some who humbled themselves and owned their their failure, and came up to the House of the Lord at Jerusalem.
But I have appreciated the fact that Hezekiah remained faithful. He was thankful to be at Jerusalem, and he remained faithful there, but in his heart he embraced all the people of God and justice. To echo what has been already said in connection with the loaf, it's very good, but there's going to be a loaf on the table tomorrow if we're left here, and it's going to be one loaf. It's not going to be many loaves. It's not going to be crackers. It's going to be one loaf and brethren. I trust that we see in that one loaf represented to us every believer alive on the face of the earth.
No matter how fragmented the testimony has become, God looks down and he says there is one body, It's the testimony to that truth that has failed. There's no ruin in the body itself. The ruin comes in, in connection with the testimony and our responsibility. But I say again, if we do not recognize every believer in that low, then we become narrow and sectarian in our view. It's not just the believers that are gathered there on that occasion.
It's not just the believers who express that truth in a practical way worldwide. But again, every believer on the face of the earth is going to be represented in that loaf on Lords Day morning. May this ever be before our souls, and may we seek to walk in the path of faithfulness of.
To the word of God. But may we in our hearts embrace every St. of God.
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.
Prayer is our strength and the Spirit is it not?
As we see in Ephesians chapter 3.
Verse 16.
That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. That ye being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with All Saints what is the breath and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge. That she might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask for, think according to the power that worketh in US. Unto him be the glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages.
World without End, All Men. And then in the chapter that our brother mentioned, the Wall of Golden Colossians, Chapter one going a little farther down.
Verse 9 The apostle tells us here for this 'cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that she might be filled with the knowledge of his will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. Being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthens with almight according to his glorious power, and to all patience and long-suffering.
With joyfulness.
Giving thanks unto the Father which has made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in life. So we go back to our statement Here. Prayer is our strength and the Spirit.
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It's nice too, because we have not really commented too much as prayer in the Spirit, but the Spirit joins himself to our infirmities and makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered according to the will of God.
So it is really the spirit of God joining in our weakness in our prayers that lends weight to those prayers, isn't it?
79 in the back of the book.
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Right. So how are you?
Still ignoring.
Strong.
Transport good here.
Awkwardly. Well.
No way to ask.
The dread No, I can't.
Oh.
Really well.
I didn't call.