Sermon Aug 10, 2025
Supernatural Warfare: Part Seven
The Sword of the Spirit
In
2019, the Pew Research Center published survey results examining the knowledge
of the Bible among self-identifying Evangelicals. In the course of their
survey, they found the following: Only 66 percent of evangelicals knew that
Jesus was from Nazareth; Only 69 percent of evangelicals knew that Jesus
delivered the Sermon on the Mount; And 25 percent of evangelicals thought the
Golden Rule was one of the Ten Commandments.
Three
years later, in 2022, Ligonier ministries asked U.S. Evangelicals if they
agreed or disagreed with this statement, “The Bible, like all sacred writings,
contains helpful accounts of ancient myths but is not literally true.”
Twenty-six
percent agreed that the Bible was more an account of ancient myths rather than
true history. When asked if God accepts the worship of all religions, including
Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, 56 percent of evangelicals said ‘Yes.’
And, by the way, I myself have spoken to many Christians who believe the same –
that faith in and obedience to Jesus in NOT the only door to heaven.
It
gets worse. From 2020 to 2022, there was a 13 percent increase in the number
of evangelicals who agreed with the statement “Jesus was a
great teacher, but he was not God.” And none of these statistics should be
surprising when we also discover that according to surveys, only 35% of
Christians regularly read their Bibles.
With
that sobering piece of information about the state of Bible reading among
self-professed Christians, we continue our series on the spiritual armor God
has given us to wage successful battle against our supernatural enemy, our
enemy whose overriding goal is to destroy every man, woman, and child created
by God.
Let’s
return now to the sixth chapter of St. Paul’s letter to the Christians at
Ephesus: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of
His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand
firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not
against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers,
against the world forces of this darkness, against
the spiritual forces of wickedness in the
heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so
that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done
everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having girded your
loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of
righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the
gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith
with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows
of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and
the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With
all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and
with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition
for all the saints.”
We’ve
looked these past several weeks at various elements of the supernatural armor
God provides His children to successfully wage war against a supernatural and
deadly adversary. Today we turn our attention to our sword.
As
I’ve said during the last several weeks, every article of the Roman
soldier’s armor was designed for defense – except for his sword, which was
his offensive weapon.
Likewise,
each piece of the Christian’s armor is designed for defense. However, the sword
of the Spirit, the eternal, infallible, and transcendent Word of God – along with
prayer, as we will see next week – it is with that sword that we conduct our
necessary offensive against our supernatural enemy.
During
the 40-day temptation in the wilderness, the Lord Jesus wielded the Word of God
against each of Satan’s challenges. And that is how WE must also battle against
our supernatural enemy. The Scriptures are the foundation of the truth with
which we gird our loins, perhaps especially in our own wildernesses. God’s word
is the strength of our shield of faith with which we stave off the fiery arrows
of the enemy. The Bible is the vitality of our breastplate of righteousness
which God imputes to us by His grace. It is the impenetrable material that
forms our helmet, and it is the energy behind the reason we shod our feet with
the preparation of the gospel of peace we bring to others. If we neglect God’s
provision, we ought not be surprised when Satan so easily defeats us time and
time again.
It's
really just as simple as that.
Listen
to St Paul’s words to Timothy – and to us in the 21st century: It is
“the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to
salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is
inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for
training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, [Gk:
‘thoroughly’] equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:15b-17)
I
know I am being redundant, but I do so purposely to emphasize the point – the strength
and integrity of the Christian's spiritual armor is fixed uncompromisingly in
God's word. That’s why in the battles we face each day, it is crucial –
crucial – to examine every philosophy, every thought, every idea under the
light of the whole of Scripture, not just isolated texts here and there. Remember:
A text taken out of context is usually a pretext for error.
There
is too much at stake to be sloppy or casual about our spiritual gear. The
statistics I just shared with you at the beginning of this message ought to
make that point clearly enough.
There
are, I suppose, many reasons people don’t read the Bible when it is so readily
available. Some keep the book closed because they tell themselves they don’t
have to read it. Or they don’t see a need to read it. Or they don’t understand
some of the archaic language found, for example, in the King James version of
the Bible.
But
though there may be many reasons people keep the book closed, the fundamental
reason – unconscious or conscious – the fundamental reason many keep their
bibles closed is because it wounds their conscience. Listen to Hebrews
4:12 “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any
two-edged sword and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both
joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
Our
conscience is that inconvenient voice in our minds that accuses us when we do
something wrong or when we don’t do what we ought to do. Mark Twain - not one
who thought kindly of Christianity — once commented: "Most people are
bothered by those passages in scripture which they cannot understand; but as
for me, I always noticed that the passages in scripture which trouble me the
most are those which I do understand."
Our
conscience is that troublesome voice – that intuitive ‘sense’ deep inside our
souls – that tells us we are created by God FOR God and are therefore
accountable to God. It’s that irritating voice that causes many to avoid the
Bible because they want to live their own way. They don’t want to be told by
God to change their paths.
I
have personal experience with that excuse. Some
of you may remember the story I’ve told before. I was 19 years old and stopped
at a red light on the corner of Mott Avenue and Beach Channel Drive in Far
Rockaway, NY. I still see the moment in my memory. And this thought dropped
into my mind: What if there is a God?
The thought caught me off guard, and so I considered the
question for a few moments – until I realized that if God existed, I’d have to
change my lifestyle of ‘sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll.’ So, as the light turned
green, I made a choice. I made a MORAL choice. I rejected the idea
that God exists because I didn’t want to obey Him and change my lifestyle.
Of
course, at the time, I didn’t know that the Lord Jesus spoke specifically about
people like me when He said: “This is the judgment, that the Light
has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light,
for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the
Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be
exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that
his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.” (John 3:19-21)
Listen,
people can grouse and sputter and argue all they want, but they ALL know
intuitively that God exists. And they know they’re accountable to Him. They
just like to think if they can ignore His existence, they somehow won’t have to
face Him at their Judgment.
How
utterly foolish is that?
I
realized what I just said begs this question: How can we be certain EVERYONE
knows God exists? That easy to answer because God has made His existence
unmistakably known to them. Listen to the Scriptures again: Romans 1:18ff “For the
wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God
made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His
invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly
seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are
without excuse. or even though they knew God, they did not honor Him
as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and
their foolish heart was darkened . . .
And
what is the inevitable result of a willful rejection of God and mocking His Word?
Listen to these next verses:
“Therefore God
gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies
would be dishonored among them . . . [and] God gave them over
to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for
that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned
the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one
another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving
in their own persons the due penalty of their error. And just as they
did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a
depraved mind . . . and although they know the ordinance of God, that
those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the
same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.”
Have
you wondered why so many so-called ‘experts’ in medicine, theology, law, and a
host of other disciplines in our pagan culture – have you wondered why they so persistently
try to influence men, women, and even children to accept lesbianism, and
homosexuality as normative behavior? Do you understand from that text in Romans
why our culture at nearly every level encourages the sins of abortion, fornication,
adultery, blasphemy, self-idolatry, and every other sin that bludgeons against
God’s Ten Commandments?
The
ungodly and anti-Christs not only mock the idea of a divinely inspired and
inerrant Word of God, but they also suppress the truth in unrighteousness. “And
although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things
are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty
approval to those who practice them.”
Christian,
because you believe and obey God’s word, you know that unless they repent,
there is no hope whatsoever for their eternal souls. And THAT is Satan’s goal –
that they have no hope whatsoever for their eternal souls.
Those
who make excuses to keep their Bible closed know instinctively and intuitively
what God requires of them. But the choose to fool themselves into believing
that if they embrace atheism or even agnosticism, they can live as they choose.
And in so doing, they make themselves fools.
Listen
again to God say it: Psalm 14:1-3 “The fool has said in his heart,
“There is no God.” They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds;
There is no one who does good. The Lord has looked down
from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there are any who understand,
who seek after God. They have all turned aside, together they have
become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one.”
Satan
wants you dead. Forever dead; Dead, yet fully conscious and with him and his
demons in the eternal lake of fire. THAT is why he feeds people all kinds of
excuses to leave their sword sheathed.
Yet
God’s warning remains forever true: (Proverbs 13:13) “The one who despises
the word will be in debt to it, but the one who fears the commandment will be
rewarded.”
The
sword of the Spirit is the infallible, inerrant, and fully inspired word of God
we call the Bible and which you have in your apartments.
Christian: We must know it, believe it, and obey it if we are to mightily
wield it against our ancient foe who seeks to work us woe. His craft and power
are great and armed with cruel hate – on earth is not his equal.
We
do not wrestle with flesh and blood. Our battles are with supernatural forces
and therefore must be met with supernatural force. That is once again why we
have spent these past several weeks talking about and examining the
supernatural armor given to us by the Holy Spirit.
It
was out of great love and concern that the apostle Paul wrote to Timothy – and
by extension, to us in the 21st century: “Be diligent
to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be
ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15
I
close this message with this simple reminder of my ‘2+2 = 1+3’ method of Bible
reading. If you read only two chapters of the Old Testament every day – takes
about 10 minutes or so on average, and you read two chapters of the New
Testament every day – takes another 10 minutes or so on average – then you will
have read the entire Old Testament once in a year and the New Testament THREE
TIMES in a year. Thus the 2+2 = 1+3. There are dozens of Annual Bible Reading
Plans on the internet. I have given many of you my own annual plan to try.
For
as long as I have been here at Ashwood Meadows as your pastor, I have striven
to help everyone grow in their faith and remain on the narrow road that leads
to eternal life. I do not want anyone to fall prey to liars and false teachers
who want to steal your soul.
Next
week we will conclude this series on our spiritual armor with an examination of
prayer.
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