Address—Dave Spence
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We have spoken in times past concerning the councils of God, concerning Christ and His Bride, for which he died.
Gave his life.
And yesterday we spoke a little bit concerning the.
Heart of the bride, and that's you and me, beloved, what should characterize our hearts as belonging to the bridegroom?
Today we hope to speak a little bit about the conflict of the Bride of Christ. The conflict. So let's turn to Ephesians 6.
And start with verse 10.
Finally, my brethren.
Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.
Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the.
Of the devil.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand.
Stand therefore, having your loins gird about with truth.
And having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts 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 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.
Before we speak about this beloved friends, the question was raised yesterday after the meeting by a young brother who came to me and he said what is the difference between the Spirit of God?
That is, in the assembly, or we might say the body of Christ as our brother brought before us this morning. For the assembly is a habitation of God through the Spirit, as we had in Ephesians Chapter 2.
And the Spirit of God.
Indwelling or in the assembly as we know it, gathered to the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, this may be a question that is upon the hearts of many of you, and I don't pretend to be able to answer that question adequately.
But I do believe it is an honest question and an honest desire to know on the part of each of you.
Because there is a difference. There is truly a difference.
And we we see around us the ruins today, as our brother brought before us this morning in man's responsibility in building. There has been failure, but nevertheless the spirit of God remains, not only joining believers together into one body.
But the spirit of God joining us to our head in heaven, just like a husband and wife.
Inseparable. In that sense they are one flesh and we are one with Christ. But could we say there is the inappropriate practice today concerning us? Or we might say a certain group who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ who come together?
And they are ministered unto there is the.
Inappropriate practice, we might say.
Of recognizing who is the head of the body.
Who is the Lord Jesus Christ? Now that's in practice, of course, that can't change.
In position because every believer is.
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Bound together in one body by the Holy Spirit and united to Christ in heaven. But it is the practice again. It's as we tried to point out yesterday, it's like a paralyzed limb on our on our bodies. It does not respond to the direction of the head. And so the vocation that Paul speaks of in chapter 4 of Ephesians, he beseeches us to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called.
And I'd just like to impress upon our hearts the urgency of Paul's desire.
And of course, it is the Lord's desire to that we walk worthy of that vocation.
Or with we are called and what is it?
Endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit.
As we said before, and it said often, the Spirit of God is that which keeps the unity of the body. We are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession.
That remains fixed, unchanged, and guaranteed delivery of the bride to the bridegroom. The body of Christ will all make it home safely. But how wonderful, Beloved, while we're here to make this an answer to the Lord's Prayer in John 17, because as we spoke yesterday, he prayed.
That we would be 1 even as he is with the Father and the Father in him.
That the world may know that the Father had sent him into the world.
So the importance not only to the heart of God, but to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself who gave himself for his church.
Desires that we walk worthy of this vocation, beloved, keeping the unity of the Spirit and wherever there is truth.
That is sought to be carried out in diligence and the energy of the spirit of God. There is going to be conflict, and that's what we'll address a little bit later in Chapter 6. There's going to be difficulties and warfare struggles, problems because the enemy is intent upon, we might say, paralyzing the body of Christ, paralyzing the body of Christ so it does not recognize its head.
In heaven.
Our brother spoke of Matthew 1820, which all of us should be able to quote by heart, and I'm sure that we could.
For where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them. First of all, that verse supposes the absence.
Of the Lord because it does not save, or where two or three are gathered together unto me.
He says, Where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them. So first of all it supposes his absence. And when he went back to heaven, our brother again brought before us the truth that the Holy Spirit came down to unite all the body of Christ together and to its head in heaven. And now it can function. But what has happened? We have spoiled it. Man has spoiled it, we might say.
And we could spoil it and we see it all around us.
So that the body of Christ does not function in practice.
In a practical way, in keeping the unity of the Spirit, which is simply, again, recognizing the direction, the guidance of the head in heaven, and the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ in the midst of His own. And the assembly is simply a local expression of the body of Christ, wherever it is, wherever it's located.
Now there is another word in the In that verse Matthew 1820 are gathered together, are gathered.
That means, in the Greek, to be LED together or to be guided together.
That is a power outside of ourselves and I would just like to address the problem this way.
About knowing where the Lord Jesus Christ is in the midst of his own.
Or is in keeping with this truth that we have in Chapter 4?
And that is that you might pray to this end that you would be gathered by the Holy Spirit.
Unto the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our coming Bridegroom, and who truly is the head of his body, the Church. He deserves that place, Beloved, that in all things he might have the preeminence.
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Because he is the head of his body, the church.
It seems, perhaps to you of little significance than it did to me when I was younger. When I I used to make the practice of going to church with my grandmother and was very, very attracted by certain things that I saw.
Lots of attractions, but I noticed in that particular gathering it was so different.
Than where I went in Des Moines, to the little meeting hall where there were brethren that were gathered around, and simply reading the word of God, and and enjoying the presence of the Lord, and rejoicing in the Word, and feeding the Saints.
And justice. Sitting, so to speak, as our brother chapter Brown used to say, sitting at the feet of Jesus. And that was one of the things that convinced him that something was wrong where he went.
And I knew even though I was attracted by things that I saw, I knew those things were out of keeping with the word of God. We don't have to know too much of the Scriptures really concerning the ground of gathering to know that something is wrong and out of order when we go someplace and see things that are not in keeping with what we've been taught.
Now some of the earmarks, perhaps of that place in Scripture would bear this out, and we won't take the time to go into that.
Might be is there a rival name connected with the place where you are going?
There was with my grandmother.
They did not pretend to be gathered simply to the precious name.
Of the Lord Jesus Christ, dear Christians, happy believers in the Lord, evangelistically minded.
And energetic in their service for the Lord wonderful Christians, and it was very heartwarming to be with them.
We don't discount that.
But the name they chose was not the name that we read of in Matthew 1820.
Another thing that we could point to is, is there someone that presides, that displaces the guidance of the head who is Christ?
Very simple.
And as I sat there many times, I knew that this was wrong.
And I didn't know, I say again very much.
But I knew that.
For one person to take that place of presiding and pretending, so to speak, to have all the gifts.
That that particular group needed was wrong.
Absolutely wrong.
Another thing is of course the.
Error, Whether moral doctrine or moral evil or doctrinal evil, those two things allowed in various places where there is what we call.
No disciplinary action to take care of these problems because it says he that nameth the name of Christ. Let him depart from iniquity. Now I'd just like to mention one more thing, and perhaps there are others.
And the brother and I were talking before the last meeting about some who have left us and set up independent fellowships.
Not seeking to be connected, as far as we know, with any other.
Groups.
And especially, and most importantly, perhaps, those gathered.
To the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ on the right ground.
I remember a brother saying once they went to visit some dear brethren in a certain locality where they seemed to have the truth.
Thought that they might want to take the right hand of fellowship and and recognize the ground upon which we are gathered according to Scripture, recognizing our head in heaven and Christ in the midst, there is one table of the Lord. And when they discussed the the doctrines of Scripture and some of the various things that were important to talk about, that is moral evil and doctrinal evil, these things seem to be no problem whatsoever.
And when they spoke then of this particular group of believers.
Identifying with those gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. They said no, we we have no interest in that and that's why I mentioned that because independence though they is wrong. Though they may be right in in their doctrine and separated from moral doctrinal evil, independence can be one of the factors that would signal us something is wrong with that particular group that is not keeping.
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The unity of the spirit.
In the bond of peace and justice, to mention this too I would encourage.
Each of you to read First Corinthians chapter 14, because in that chapter Paul writes to them about several things, several problems, and one of the things was this he said to them when you come together you all have have a a a doctrine, a song and interpretation and so forth.
And he was telling them that this was confusion, that they needed to.
Let the Prophet speak two or three, and let the others judge.
Now you tell me, beloved, where is that carried out in Christendom today?
Let the Prophet speak two or three, and let the other judge.
Scripture is so clear in some of these areas. In fact, further on us it speaks about.
That ye all may prophecy, and even in Ephesians chapter 4, if we note it here for a moment. When the Lord Jesus ascended up on high, he gave, so to speak, the gift of the church to the Father, and then gifts were given to him to give unto men. And those gifts were for verse 12, the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till all come in the unity of the faith, and the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man.
The apostle labored to present everyone perfect, every believer perfect in Christ.
There were to be no distractions on that particular point. Everyone Perfect in Christ, in other words.
Christ is everything. He is everything. We don't need anything more. And of course all the truth that's connected with this person.
But then in verse 15 it says But speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ.
The Colossians were not holding the head. They lost sight of the head. They were taken up with philosophies and vain deceit.
Voluntary humilities and things that looked attractive on the outside and external.
Moral code of things that were very attractive, even worshipping of angels, which the Old Testament Saints were taken up with.
But they weren't holding the head. They'd lost sight of the head.
And here now in verse 16 it says from whom the whole body note this beloved young people, from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint, every joint supplier, every joint.
There is not to be one that presides, but it's what every joint supplied, whether it was in the perhaps the edification of the Saints in what we would call an open meeting.
Or as they came together to break bread, the order was the same. They were assembly meetings, Christ in the midst and Him ministering to the Saints in the open meeting perhaps to edify the body.
And as they remembered him in his death, the Lord Jesus Christ in his death, the Spirit of God working through not just one, but several.
In praise and in reading the scriptures, giving out a hymn.
And we find suggestions to that in One Corinthians chapter 14 also. So it was what every joint could supply according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the body under the edifying of itself in love. Now suppose on Lords day when we were here gathered together, we decided that it would be better and maybe a little bit more encouraging and stimulating for us to.
Set the chairs like they are here and have our brother Bob Brimlow give us.
A good, stimulating word that would reach our hearts.
And then we would say, we said we would pass the loaf in the cup later and we would remember the Lord that way. Now I would like to ask you.
Would you feel comfortable with that young people?
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And yet we are attracted by those things to a degree because, humanly speaking, we gravitate to organization. We gravitate from the Organism, the body of church, to the body of Christ, which is the church to organization.
Would the Spirit of God minister to our needs as our brother would stand up and deliver a word to us from the word of God?
To encourage our hearts, I'm sure the Spirit of God would. The Spirit of God is.
Is indwelling the assembly.
And ministers to his people wherever they are. But remember the differences the Spirit of God gathers to Christ its head in heaven.
Gathered to the name, because the person is gone, we gather to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We receive direction from the head.
And the authority of the Lord is in the midst. And when our brother brought before us this morning that verse in Matthew 18.
Whatsoever things are bound on earth, are bound in heaven. So ever things are loosed on earth, are loosed in heaven, the we act in the assembly humbly.
In the fear of God, that the decisions that are made are made for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, so we act in His authority. It's His authority, but by His word we act.
And now to consider just the balance of the time, what we've had before us.
In the 6th chapter and I would just like to say the.
Emphasis is truly upon the 10th verse that we read first, concerning the precious volume of truth that has preceded the 6th chapter.
Now of course, in the 4th chapter we did talk about the.
Privileges that we have in the assembly and that is up through about the 16th verse. From the 17th verse to the 21St verse. In chapter 4, it's talking about the conduct of the believer in this world. A godly walk should characterize us as having this treasure in our hearts.
The treasure of the inheritance by faith, the treasure of this high calling that we have been called to.
And as we said before in chapter one and read that, that scripture, Paul prays that the eyes of our hearts might be open, that you might know what is the hope of your calling. We have it. We have it. We possess it. We're going to get it, so to speak. We have it now, but we're going to share.
With Christ, he's going to share with us that inheritance in a coming day. But.
The point is.
Let's get in on the enjoyment of it now in our hearts, because He's given it. He's told us all these things. He's abounded to us in all wisdom and prudence concerning His choosing us in Christ before the foundations of the world predestinated us according to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself. He's redeemed us through the precious blood of Christ.
And of course we are one with him, because in the counsels of God the church is called the Christ.
The Christ, What a blessed thing. What a blessed thing. And then, of course the inheritance spoken of in the 12Th verse of Ephesians One and the sealing of the Spirit. There are about 8 things. Eight spiritual blessings that are not connected with any material blessing. They're far removed from all of that element because they're from heaven. Heavenly or spiritual blessings concerning our place in heaven.
Now you'll find when a person gets saved.
Many times their hearts are removed from this world.
Immediately it seems like they are living in another sphere and if you speak to them or their hearts are truly on fire, especially those that have been saved out of a life of sin and depravity.
And I spoke to a brother who was saved not out of a life and sin and depravity, but he was saved by the grace of God.
In a normal family way of life we might say he had a job and he had children and he worked hard and so on and so forth. But he said when he got saved he was living in heaven.
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Now, if any of you think that these things are so far out of touch and out of your grasp.
They are not.
They are really not. What is the problem? Our hearts.
Our hearts.
There are other things that are filling our hearts. We read yesterday that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith, that ye being rooted and grounded in love and so forth, our hearts need to be filled with Christ to displace everything else. And you know what that would do? If Christ is dwelling in our hearts, we would be dwelling in heaven.
We would be.
I have seen young people say that boys, homes and penal institutions.
Older people.
Who got saved? And they were just living out of that institution. They were living in heaven.
And so the common ailment among believers today is not so much that they don't know the doctrine. It's wonderful to know the councils and purposes of God in Christ concerning His bride, but the problem is our hearts.
And what we're taken up with.
Mary Magdalene stood at the grave of Jesus, unintelligent as Peter and John were, who came to the grave, and they looked in and they went home.
In fact, they even went into the grave. Here were two who were intelligent, we might say, concerning the resurrection of Christ because Jesus told them that it was going to happen.
But their hearts were not like the heart of Mary Magdalene.
Mary Magdalene stood at the sepulchre, looking and seeing the angels there, and they said, Why weepest thou? She said, Because they have taken away my Lord, I know not where they have laid him. And then Jesus came, and she's supposing him to be the gardener. You know the story. She turned and looked, and she said, if you have borne him hence, show me where you've laid him, and I will take him away. And Jesus said, Mary.
He calleth his own sheep by name.
And she said.
Rabbonae or master of my heart?
Here is one who knew the conflicts of this spiritual wickedness that we rid of in Chapter 6. She was oppressed. Not only oppressed but indwelt by 7 demons, and she knew the powers of darkness. And yet we play around with some of these things that are very powerful and very influential in our lives, such that they take us, they can take the heart captive. You've seen it happen with Christians, even those gathered to the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Having the privileges that we have, He takes them down the path into the world. And sometimes.
Sometimes they're never recovered.
I knew a brother who used to stand on the street corner and preach the gospel.
And he missed the path. Somehow. I don't remember all the details. He left the assembly. He got into the institutions of man's learning.
And he was swept into philosophies.
Psychology.
And he gave up the faith.
This warfare that we have, beloved is very subtle. In fact, it speaks here about the Wiles of the devil. That's why we need to be strong in the Lord. And to be strong in the Lord simply means that we need that nearness to Christ. Like Mary Magdalene had. There was one who was indwelling her heart though the Holy Spirit hadn't come yet. We have the Holy Spirit even to communicate to our hearts and to fill our hearts with Christ and to attach us to our head in heaven.
But one was filling her heart such that without him, that is Jesus.
She didn't have a home in this world.
He was His presence was her home. And that's why a believer who is on fire for Christ and knows a little bit about first love, having been saved out of of a path of sin.
Knows something of the blessedness of nearness to him.
Forgiveness. Eternal life, peace.
And a relationship with one who loves that one.
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We need to be strong in the Lord near Christ, Joseph said to his brethren, Come near unto me, I pray thee. And that is the pleadings of the Holy Spirit, in fact, the Lord Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit to you and me. And it says in Hebrews chapter 10, is it LED us drawn here.
Let us what's holding us back and we wonder why we fail and say the wrong things and do the wrong things, and I'm guilty. It's because we're not strong in the Lord, in the power of His might. We have no strength in ourselves. That's one of the hardest lessons to learn. Some of us were speaking together this morning in the prayer meeting, One of the hardest lessons to learn.
Is that we do not have any strength in ourselves.
But we can, through communion with the Lord and only through communion with the Lord, stand in the evil day. We're living in an evil day, beloved. So we see three things in the verses that we read, and we're not going to go into great detail but just briefly go over them. Number one is we need to be strong in the Lord and the power of His might. Communion with Christ the Lord Jesus Christ filling our hearts strengthened.
With might by his Spirit in the inner man, walking in the power of the Spirit, living in the power of the Holy Spirit, that is, living in company with Jesus. And when you live in communion with him, you want to be with him where He is, and so your heart is taken out of the world.
Soon we're going to be taken out as the Bride of Christ. Physically, the redemption of our bodies draws very near, the scripture says.
But now we have the privilege of making our home where he is just a preparatory blessing before we actually get there and have our bodies of glory that go along with.
That blessing.
The second thing is the character of the enemy, the Wiles of the devil, and he will set before you Wiles. That is things that are very attractive. They look very good on the outside, but it's leading you to departure.
From Christ and eventually disobedience it could be.
A job that looks very glamorous to you or a relationship.
And it could of course apply to the doctrinal elements any way the Lord or the Devil can get you from.
Living close to the Lord Jesus Christ and feeding on him.
Any way he can, Things look very attractive, Very, very attractive.
That's a while.
But he leads you out of communion.
Out of communion in your heart feels the distance, like Peter who followed Jesus afar off.
And the last thing is the armor. That's the third thing. And these are the.
The important things that we must consider as Christians, and it so happens as we said before.
This subject of the armor does not come at the end of Romans or some other book. It comes at the end of Ephesians because here were a group of Saints who were walking in the joy of first love and communion with the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the Lord so valued that walk they had with him, He dispensed to them this heavenly truth that we've had before us. And really, Ephesians, is what Christ is to the church. By the way, what Christ is to the church or what the church is to Christ. Excuse me.
What the Church is to Christ.
And so he would protect his own with the armor that we have here in the 6th chapter.
He would protect them from the influences of the enemy, from the spiritual.
Forces that come against us, the spiritual wickedness, the rulers of the darkness of this world.
But there is a spiritual wickedness against the believer. He tries to get inside the armor and how successful he is to do that. He knows us far better than we know ourselves. He knows exactly what to use against you and use against me. He knows your weakness.
And the weights and sins which do so easily beset you.
Wherefore in verse 13 it says, take unto you the whole armor of God, that you might be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all.
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To stand.
Stand therefore, having your loins gird about with truth.
Truth is never ours until we we have our affections and thoughts in order.
By the truth, it adjusts our thinking.
The truth should make corrections in our hearts and our minds.
We're taking up with so many things.
And so it says set your mind on things above and the enemy first of all gets inside.
Your mind. And that affects the heart. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.
You are what you think about in your heart, and so am I.
The breastplate of righteousness Is there. Unjudged evil, beloved in your life, unjudged sin.
You see, the first important, the one of most importance, is the loins. Gerda Brentbought with truth, because that keeps the affections and the thoughts held in and saved or reserved for Christ alone. He deserves them. He deserves all of our hearts, does he not?
And so how can we walk in a way that would be pleasing to him? How can there be conduct in our lives that would?
Glorify him.
If there is not the heart that is attached to him.
In communion, unjudged evil, if there is in your life, if there's a bad conscience. And the Spirit of God cannot occupy you with Christ and his glory and his love.
There is something that needs to be confessed, and it could be not only to the Lord but to your brethren.
To your brethren.
Being in the assembly, we are responsible.
To not just the Lord, but to our brethren.
And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
Proper conduct and living for Christ in an outward way will lead you to live a life of peace. The way of peace the Scripture says they have not known, but the Christian knows the way of peace.
And the scripture says in Romans chapter 14, as much as lieth within you live peaceably with all men.
And then he tells us, Avenge not yourselves, but rather give place to wrath, for vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.
There was a man who was just a very dear Christian. He loved to give out the word, and he met one who was a a high priest in a cult.
And he did everything he could do to convince this dear man that he needed Christ.
He'd shine his shoes, he'd make his bed, he's hanging his clothes up, do all kinds of things to convince him that there was a better way of life and a happy way of life to live happier than he had.
And one day this man got His name was Mike. He got so upset with this Christian tormenting him with the gospel and all of his little kindnesses.
He hit him and he knocked him down and he hit him real hard.
And he lay there in a pool of blood.
That wasn't the end of the story. And you know it wasn't the end of the story.
Did this Christian get up? And later when he?
He received some strength back. Come back and retaliate and exercise vengeance upon this.
Dear man, walking in the darkness of sin and delusion, No.
He did the same thing all over again.
He sought to win him.
By the life of Christ, so to speak, shining through him.
And he did. This dear man was saved and delivered from.
This cult where he was.
One of the top men.
And he became a very, very energetic Christian in giving out the gospel himself to others just like him.
And he received the same persecution and the same reproach. And he knew a little bit about what he gave to that dear man that sought to win his heart.
Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye may be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
Do you know, dear friends, about discouragement?
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That's the first dart the enemy throws at you when things do not go the way you expect them to go, and tragedy strikes.
Discouragement.
When David should have been discouraged, naturally, when the city of Ziglag was burned with fire.
And his family was taken away, and his men were ready to stone him. He encouraged himself in the Lord.
He didn't allow the fiery dart of discouragement to strike through the armor.
The armor of faith.
The shield of faith.
No matter what someone says to you or does to you, or no matter what tragedy.
May strike in your life.
Hold the shield of faith, because first of all, it's discouragement.
Then it is despondency, and then it is despair.
And we've even heard of some who have taken their lives.
That's exactly what can happen to a Christian, because the enemy works on the Christian. He has the unbeliever in his hand, but he works upon the heart and mind of the Christian. Why? To destroy the testimony of Christ and the joy of the believer. To rob the believer of his portion in Christ, the high calling, the inheritance, and the indwelling of the Lord Jesus Christ in communion with him. He knows exactly how to do it.
And to bring shame and dishonor upon the name of Christ.
I know a lady who lost, practically lost her life in a fire.
She had a little baby girl likewise that was practically burned to death.
Now they were she was a Christian. This mother was a Christian. The daddy came home one night, saw the the disaster and the ambulance taking his wife and little daughter away. And for months that little girl was on the brink of death.
But burn beyond recognition.
Now how would you feel?
How would I feel?
Discouraged.
Naturally.
But the father held up the shield of faith and the mother, when she recovered sufficiently, she was able to.
To believe somehow that this was from God.
But she said there was one problem I had. I couldn't rejoice in tribulation as it says in Romans chapter 5.
But as time went on, she saw how the grace of God and the power of the Lord was using this.
As a means of blessing, giving her a greater capacity.
In her own life and her husband's.
For the joy of the Lord in communion with him, and reaching out to others with the gospel, she finally came to the moment in her life, the day in her life, when she said.
I rejoice.
I rejoice in the tribulation.
That's come into our lives.
All things work together for good to those who are the called, to those that love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. Everything beloved and I know things are hard, and some here have been through things that have have been harder than that.
That little girl lived, but she was scarred for life, scarred for life, and hardly distinguish any features on her face.
Someone said that.
Trials come and problems and unsolvable things. A loved one taken out of our lives that God might become the more abundant source of joy. And we look to naturally relationships to be that. We look to things in the world to be the source of joy. And there's nothing wrong with having a good time, but they displace sometimes the true source, who is Christ.
And take the helmet of salvation.
The Scripture says, and I believe it's Hebrews Chapter 7, that we are saved unto the uttermost that come unto God by Christ to the uttermost. Then it says working out your own salvation. In other words, recognizing the trial has come into your life. And now working through the trial, through the problem, the helmet of salvation, not only the security in Christ that we have, but working through the problems, working out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
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We have been saved from the penalty of sin. We are being saved every day from.
The difficulties, the problems of this life.
And we're going to be saved, that is, our bodies, at any moment when Christ comes.
To take us, the bride needs to have the armor in place for that blessed relationship.
That we have with him as we await his return and it says put on.
The whole armor, first of all, put it on and it has to be every part of the armor.
Everyone that we've read so far and there are 7, including prayer, they must be in place.
If anyone is out of place, the enemy knows how to get in and take the advantage and the sword of the spirit. Now, I don't know about you young folks, but I know that in my own life I have tried to use the word of God against the enemy.
And I say this somewhat cautiously, but I say it as a confession to you.
It hasn't worked for me.
And I'll tell you why it hasn't worked for me.
Because it says the sword of the spirit.
The Spirit.
The sword of the Spirit, in other words, the heart and communion with the Lord Jesus. And Scripture assumes this, the believer in communion with Christ. And we are warned about the sins in chapter 4 lying and and.
Being angry and all those things that come in, they are to guard us against severing communion with our blessed bridegroom.
Not to gain communion, but to sever communion.
And so the sword of the Word must be used by the Spirit. The power of the Spirit within. Applying the Word of God to the problems through the enemies advances on you, to the temptations in your life. And if your heart is in communion, you'll feel a loss of power.
And strength.
Now you can get back in communion. Think God for that.
He restoreth my soul in the life of Peter as a beautiful example of that.
And David likewise, who had a bad conscience Speaking of the breastplate of righteousness he did, and it was hiding the sin in his life. And you may be hiding a sin in your life, I don't know.
I have before.
But the sin was pointed out because the Lord knew about it, and when it was pointed out in his life, David confessed it.
And he was restored.
He had some difficult days ahead of him.
But he was restored, he owned his failure, and he got right with the Lord.
Then the last one is praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.
None of the armor will function, as our brother said this morning when he was reading this to us. None of the armor will function properly without prayer.
Praying always with all prayer, not once in a while, but being in the attitude of prayer that is your heart. So taken up with the Lord Jesus Christ, you don't want anything to come into your life to disrupt the joy of His presence.
Therefore, you're praying always and not just for yourself, but for others.
And Speaking of the Lord answering prayer for Lynn Saint Vincent.
The doctors marveled that it wasn't a 15 hour surgery after all. It was.
Only nine hours.
Now we say, well, that was just an accident.
Well, it's important that we're watching. We're watching for results. In Acts chapter 12, there were those that were praying for Peter, who was in prison. And when Peter King was released from prison, the Lord answered the prayer of the Saints, prayers of the Saints. Peter came and knocked on the gate and Rhoda went to the gate and she went back in the house. She said Peter's here and in the house they all said, no, you're mad. They weren't watching.
We need to be watching.
For the Lord's gracious hand in answering our prayers, that He's the one that's going to work in our lives and solve the problems that we come in, we that come into our lives praying always with all prayer may not always to pray and not to faint. And when Jesus came to his own in the Garden of Gethsemane, when he needed, so to speak their companionship the most, when he was facing the most tragic moment in his life when they would be taken from Him, we say tragic.
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But the work of the cross and all the agony.
Associated with it, he came to his own.
And he said, What? Could ye not watch with me one hour?
Pray that ye in or not.
Into temptation.
Shall we pray?