I want to draw your attention to Ephesians 6. We're back in Ephesians 6 this morning. We'll read beginning with verse 13 and read through verse 20. Ephesians 6, 13 through 20. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances, Take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel. for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord and heavenly Father, we thank you once again for the great opportunity that we have to come as the body of Christ. To meet together, to worship you, to adore you, to lift up our voices in singing to you. and to look to your word, which you have given to us. Lord, we ask that we would be a humble people. Lord, that you would take all pride from us. Lord, that our lives would be led in such a way that we would always be decreasing and you would always be increasing. We thank you for the provision that you've made for us in salvation. Lord, when we think of the fact that you worked in. In preparing these things before the foundation of the world, you have brought them to pass and you will continue to bring them to completion. We thank you for that. We thank you for giving us defense against our enemy. For your provision in that. that we might stand and stand firm. Lord, we thank you. Pray that you would speak to us from your word this morning. It's in the name of our Savior Christ we ask these things. Amen. Before we begin, I have to apologize for something I said last week. I was thinking about the message after we went home and I had a thought in my head that I'd given a wrong date for the writer of the Christian in Complete Armor, the book that I told you about that documents the sermons preached from Ephesians 6 here, this passage of the armor of God. And I think I said that he was alive during the 1200s. Well, he was a Puritan, that is not the case. He was alive during the 1600s. That would have been hundreds of years before the reformers even. So wanted to make that clarification and apologize for saying that. He was not in the 1200s, he was in the 1600s when he preached those messages and compiled those in that great work. So getting my facts straight there. I want to ask you this morning, have you ever undertaken to do something, whatever it is, that took some planning and you have the way that you want to accomplish this task all planned out and all laid out how you want to go about this? Bound and determined to accomplish this task that is set before you. and you're confident in your ability and your skills to accomplish this task. And then someone comes along that is wiser and more experienced than you and ask you, tell me your plan. Tell me how you're going to accomplish this that you've set out to do. I see some of you smiling. that this has probably happened numerous times in all of our lives. But you lay out your plan to this person, all its points and its sub-points, all its parts, all its different areas and particulars, And this wise person with discernment and knowledge, and what's more than knowledge, the application of that knowledge, the wisdom that this person has attained, tells you that you should forsake that plan. You should not do this. Go about it a different way. I'm going to show you, this person says, something better. something that will accomplish all you are trying to do without fail. But how many times have we in our pride been determined to do it our way, in our own wisdom, in our own strength, our own ability. And every step of the way, we get to step one, struggle. Hardship. Step two, failure. Back to step one. Fail again. And fail, and fail, and fail. It becomes almost like beating your head against a brick wall. Or to use a scriptural reference, kicking against the goads. In your pride, determined to do it your own way, And even in your pride, maybe having a little bit of a growing contempt for the wise man who told you of a better way. Isn't this often how we set about doing things? Let's be honest with ourselves. Let's look at our own hearts. Over the last few weeks, I've heard numerous accounts of people engaged in warfare, And oh, we could say, well, these are just worldly problems. These are just worldly difficulties. And on the surface, that may be true. But lying under the surface or probably more appropriately over these worldly problems is spiritual warfare. I have to admit that this is far too often the case in my life, even this week. But over the last few weeks in particular, as I've been thinking about these things and dealing with these things and studying and meditating upon these things, over and over again, hearing and seeing accounts of people which are without a doubt engaged in a battle of a spiritual nature, a spiritual assault upon them, leading to doubt, faithlessness, despair, anxiety, depression, fear, even sometimes to the point of being emotionally, mentally, and or physically disabled. completely crippled by this spiritual attack that is occurring. And how is it that we seek to fight against these attacks? By human wisdom and strength, faith in our own abilities? How is that working out? How is that working? How has that worked for you when you've tried that? Failure after failure after failure. Paul says, give it up. Give it up. Be done with fighting your spiritual battles that way. Proverbs says twice, there is a way that seems right to a man, but that way leads to what? Death, destruction. Paul shows us here that there is a way that is right, and it's not the way of man. It's God's way. It's his revealed way. Stop with the way that leads to death. Take up what? Take up the armor of God. This is the way to fight spiritual battles. He must increase, I must decrease. Away from self and draw near to the Savior. This is the way that we are to fight. Well, here it is that we find ourselves and we continue this morning looking at the pieces of armor that have been provided for us by our King of Kings to fight the battle. that we are to fight as Christians under the authority of our sovereign Lord. In verse 15, we read, And as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. I wanna first make mention of this piece of the Roman soldiers' equipment we talked last week about the fact that Paul has in mind here that the Roman soldier is equipped with, and he uses that as analogies for these things that we are to use to fight our spiritual battles. So what he is in reference to here in this passage in verse 15, is the sturdy shoe worn by the Roman soldier. They were a beefed up sandal, so to speak, which gave the soldier stability, protection for his feet from the ground upon which he walked, and the traction to stand against and to move in difficult terrain. They were often fitted with nails or spikes or studs on the bottom. to allow the soldier to have a firm stance when pressed in battle so that his feet wouldn't slip and he wouldn't be pushed back. He was able to stand against. Think of the sprinter who puts on running shoes and what do the running shoes have on them? They have spikes, right? And what is that for? That's so that he can have traction, that he can move quicker, his feet won't slip. Think about the offensive lineman that plays football and he has a particular type of footwear on that has added traction. added pieces to the bottom of a normal athletic type shoe to give him traction as he presses against the opposing line. Almost every occupation that you can think of has a type of shoe, this is how important this is in a practical sense, that helps with their particular job requirements or their duties. Firemen have shoes that are fireproof. We have athletes that wear certain types of shoes. We have all different types of things. Even now, weightlifters wear certain types of shoes to help them in the exercise that is before them. Well, the soldier has a certain type of shoe and the Roman soldier had this sandal that was beefed up. They allowed the Roman soldier to cover a great distance in a much quicker time than a lot of their enemies did. This goes back in my reading to, I believe it was Alexander the Great, who was the first to really outfit his soldiers in the way that they would have some sort of advantage over their enemy, and he would give them proper footwear, and they were able to move at a much quicker pace and be to a battle before the enemy was even ready. So this is what Paul has in mind here, that the soldier could go much farther and through tougher terrain than those who were not prepared with proper footwear. Now, the significance of this is seen, I believe, in some of the passages that we read in reference to the foot slipping. We read a lot of this in the Old Testament. We read a Psalm of Asaph in Psalm 73, 1-3. He says, But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled. My steps had nearly slipped, for I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. He looked out at the world and saw the temporal prosperity of those who were serving the evil one, serving who in our text in Ephesians says that we are to stand against. And Asaph says his foot almost slipped. Almost slipped. In Psalm 121, 1-5. Psalm 121, 1-5, I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved. He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper. The Lord is your shade on your right hand. The Lord has made provision. He has made provision to make our feet ready so that we might have a secure foothold. Psalm 94, 11 through 18, the Lord knows the thoughts of man, that they are but a breath. Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O Lord, and whom you teach out of your law. To give him rest from days of trouble until a pit is dug for the wicked, for the Lord will not forsake his people. he will not abandon his heritage. For justice will return to the righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it. Who rises up against the wicked? Who stands up for me against evildoers? If the Lord had not been my help. My soul would soon have lived in the land of silence when I thought my foot slips. Your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up." Here is the foreshadowing of what Paul is about to show us here in Ephesians about what the shoes are that he speaks of in verse 15 of Ephesians 6. Now, before we go any further, I want to address something. I want to address what most point to in this particular passage of Scripture. And I believe even if you look to in your references, if your Bible has a bottom reference or an inside column reference or an inner reference, you'll see in relation to this that there are a couple of verses that are cross-referenced as pointing to this. In most of the cross-references, I've looked up in several of my Bibles that have ESV, New King James, a King James, several of these, and both of these verses were here in the cross-references. And a lot of the commentators point to this as well. The first is Romans 10, 15, in speaking of the foot being prepared with the gospel of peace. Romans 10, 15, and how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news. which in and of itself is a quotation from Isaiah 52 7. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, your God reigns. There is no doubt that there is a reference that can be made here to the evangelical message of the gospel. this gospel of Jesus Christ, this good news. And a reference could be made to those who carry that message to a lost and dying world. And that is a subject that is very worthy of our time and consideration. But this is not directly what Paul is referencing here. Paul, by divine inspiration, is talking about here in this passage, in the context of this passage, something very different. He is talking about spiritual warfare. He is talking about fighting. He's talking about battle. His concern in this passage is that the Christian soldier should stand against his enemy. to stand against the wiles, the schemes of the evil one of the devil, to be able to withstand in the evil day. There are some who will totally reject to cross-reference to the Isaiah and Romans, and I won't do that because I believe that during the course of these battles and during the course of our stand against our enemy, there is a gospel proclamation that is being made. So I won't totally deny that this is part of this, or we can draw this inference from this, but because of the context here, I believe that we have to look at what Paul is dealing with. This other may be a byproduct, so to speak, of what Paul is dealing with, but it is not in the direct context. So what is it that we're dealing with here? Let's read again verse 15. and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace." Let's look here at the two points that Paul mentions, the readiness given and the gospel of peace. Readiness is the idea of being prepared, being outfitted or equipped prior to the need arising. It's being ready to ready for being engaged in this conflict prior to the conflict itself arising. So it is that we must begin to ask ourselves, and I think that this is a question that we should always be asking ourselves, am I ready for this battle? Am I ready? Am I prepared for this battle? This is something that I think about pretty regularly in my line of work. I am an investigator, so I wear plain clothes to work. I don't wear body armor all the time like the guys out on patrol in our enforcement division. There are times that I will rush to a scene when help is needed by one of our officers and jump out of my car and I don't have my armor on. That puts me in a bad spot. What I should have done is the moment the call came out, I should have grabbed my vest, put it on, and then made my way. in case there is a battle that arises. It's not good for the Christian to not be armored or not be prepared, equipped when the battle has already started. This is what Paul, in one sense, is saying here. The Christian is prepared, is made ready. Readiness is given by the gospel of peace when the attack comes. The Christian, once again, who must scurry around to try and prepare once the battle has already started, is in danger of defeat or being dealt a very, very powerful blow, a wound. This preparation is similar to what Paul says elsewhere when he says that we are always to be ready to give an answer for the hope that is in us. The time to prepare is not during the conflict. We should already be prepared. We should already have been making ourselves ready. Are you ready for conflict? Are you ready? Well, what is it that prepares us? Paul goes on. He says that it is the gospel of peace that prepares us for battle. There is a term that is used of war called the fog of war. It is describing what happens in the chaos of battle, the confusion that often comes during a conflict or an engagement. There's unexpected things that happen, things that you can't see or were unforeseen that arise during a battle, and it leads to a great deal of confusion. It's a difficult thing to overcome. Read history. Read of conflicts. American Revolutionary War, Civil War, Vietnam, Korean War, modern day, it doesn't matter, you will see this concept of this fog of war. But there are some things that will help lift this fog. Things like being confident in the mission and sticking to it. Confidence in leadership. confidence in being equipped, and even in a sense, believing so much in the mission that sacrifice itself is not feared, but may be required to achieve the intended result. Do you see here is the gospel of peace. making us ready to dispel all the fog of war. All the chaos of the battle is superseded by the gospel of peace with which we have been made ready. It's prepared our hearts and our minds for this battle. It has steadied our nerves, built up our confidence, not in ourselves, but confidence in what God has provided to stand against our enemy, an enemy that we can't see, an enemy that we can't touch, but yet we have confidence in what the Lord has provided to recognize the battle as such and to stand against him in all that he has provided. In the middle of the chaos, there is peace. In the middle of the turmoil, there may be calm. God is for us, who can be against us? How confident and full of peace may we be when we know it is our Lord and our Savior who says to his disciples at the moment of one of their greatest fears, he is just telling them, I am going away. Jesus stands before his disciples and he's telling them, I'm getting ready to go away. And it's at this moment he would have them recall all that he has taught them, that he has prepared them in all that he has taught them. He has made them ready through the gospel that he has preached and lived right before them for the last three years. And in John 16, 33, he says, I have said these things to you. I have preached to you, I have taught you, I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart, I have overcome the world. This is the gospel of peace. In me you may have peace. Do you see this? He said to them earlier in John 14, 27, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. There is no reason to fear the battle that lies before you. Make ready through the gospel of peace. Christ has done the work. He's done the work. Rest in Him. Rest in Christ. Christ has overcome. Romans 8, 37, no, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. This, my brothers and sisters, is the gospel of peace. The good news that can calm and steady your soul when engaged in spiritual warfare. Christ has already crushed the enemy's head. He's already done this. He has risen. He has ascended and now is sitting on the throne. Ephesians 1, 19 through 22. Listen, Ephesians 1, 19 through 22. And what is the immeasurable greatness of His power, that is, the power of God the Father, toward us who believe, according to the working of His great might, that He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but in the age to come, the one to come. And He put all things." What's left out there? You hear, all things but? He put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church. Who is the church? The church is the body of Christ. Who is the body of Christ? It's believers. Who is to be engaged in this warfare? Believers. Who is over even the battles that the Christian, that the believers are engaged in? It is Christ Jesus who is over all things. And then he goes on in Ephesians 2, 4-7, But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved and raised us up. with Him and seated us with Him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus." Are you going into this spiritual warfare afraid? Doubting? in turmoil of mind and soul when this is the gospel that is preached to you? We sang just a few moments ago from William Cowper, you fearful saints, fresh courage take, the clouds you so much dread are big with mercy and shall break in blessings on your head. Don't you see? The good news is ours. We own it. We have been redeemed through it, built up by it, made ready for war through it. No hardship, no weakness, no thorn in the flesh can undo the readiness made by the gospel of peace, His grace. Listen, what did he tell Paul? His grace is sufficient. It's sufficient. So you die on the battlefield. What hardship is that? What hardship is it if you die on the battlefield? We've all got to die. You go to your eternal reward. Is that hardship? The felicity of heaven? Is that hardship? Is that something to dread? Is that something to be feared? I know the process may not be pleasant. There may be some fear in the process of death. It's not my desire to ever diminish that. But do you not trust in the providence of our Lord and Savior? If you could ask any of the martyrs, was it worth it? Was it worth it? When you ask Stephen, was it worth it to be stoned? Yeah, it was worth it. You ask Paul and Peter, was it worth it? It was worth it. Any of them. We just watched a documentary that talked about some of the things that happened in Scotland during the Great Ejection. And some of the martyrs that stood firm in the faith and stood against the evil one. You ask them if it was worth it or not? They would tell you it's their joy to stand for Christ. And no matter what the enemy could do through the people who serve him, all it did was be their avenue, their road to go to be with their Savior. Paul says in Philippians 4, rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything. But in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God. which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." Finally, brothers, don't think about the hardships, don't think about the turmoil, don't think about the anxiety, don't think about the trouble or the pain. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Here it is again, the gospel of peace that makes feeble saints ready for battle. Paul said it earlier, didn't he, in Ephesians? Ephesians 2, 4, 14. For he himself is our peace. Christ is our peace. Our peace with one another is of Christ. Our peace in the chaos of battle is Christ. Our armor is Christ. Look at the professing church today. And I fear that most by and large have not put on the shoes and made ready their feet with the gospel of peace. They are fearful to engage in battle because they have no peace. They are overwhelmed by the enemy and his perceived strength. They fear his assaults and what do they do? They capitulate. They give in. They let the enemy push against them and they slide. with no sure and firm footing. Their foot has not been prepared by the gospel of peace for engaging in warfare. They aren't prepared. They're not made ready by the provision of Christ. Man, time is getting away from us. Paul then goes on to say in Ephesians 6.16, Take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. Paul says, in all circumstances, take up this shield. The soldier of Christ must always and ever be arrayed with this shield of faith. In fact, what he may be saying in effect is, over all the rest of the armor that you have been given, all the rest of the armor that God has provided, the soldier holds up the shield of faith to protect him. The shield of faith is the primary defense against all that Satan, our enemy, hurls at us. Paul has in mind here, once again, back to the Roman soldier, the shield that the Roman soldier carried, it measured about four foot by two and a half feet. and the size of the shield allowed the soldier to cover his entire body. He was able to crouch down and get his whole body behind this shield. It would cover everything. It could be carried, it could be wielded in any direction, was worn on his left side with the sword in the right, and he could go any direction that the attack might come with that shield and cover his body. And Paul is saying that this shield, this that he's making the analogy from, this spiritual reality here is that this shield is a shield of faith. It's a shield of faith. It is faith which unites us to the victor. And our union with that victor assures our victory. With Him, we are victorious. Isn't that what Revelation tells us? Revelation 17, 14. They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them. For He is the Lord of lords and the King of kings, and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful. It is faith in Him who died that is our shield in all the battle. And it is faith in Him which covers all these other things and protects all the rest with which we are to defend and with which we are to fight. And it's not our faith that shields us. but it is a faith that is given to us, gifted to us. Ephesians 2.8, for by grace are you saved through faith. And this is not of your own doing. It is the gift of God. And I will go further and say that this is not even the strength of our faith that shields us in the battle and protects us in the conflict, but it is the object of our faith which makes the shield of faith effective and defensive. Before we look more at this and explain what this entails, we'll look at what else Paul tells us in this verse here. It is the defense against what? He says, in all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. It is a defense against the flaming or fiery darts or arrows of our enemy. These are the attacks which come from our enemy that may come suddenly and unexpectedly upon us. And what is specified by the phrase Paul was led to use here is flaming darts and the ability of this shield to extinguish them. Well, what does he mean by this? Well, we've looked in detail previously about who our enemy is and what some of his attacks may be. But I think what Paul is getting at here is that these particular attacks are meant to do more than just cut us or wound us. There is the imagery of an arrow that is fitted or that there is a material placed upon the end, the tip of this arrow, that may be set on fire with the desired outcome to hit its target and set that target on fire so that it might be consumed, to continue to assault and overcome the object of our enemy's attacks. And by that object, I mean you and I, Christians. It's like a flaming arrow that's sent out to attack a ship at sea. The intent is not that the arrow itself do enough damage to sink the ship, but the flaming arrow, when it strikes its target and is unextinguished by anything, will set fire to the ship itself, which will eventually sink the ship. This is the way the accusations of Satan and the temptations of the evil one work in the life of those who he fights against. This is what happens upon the unarmored and the individual who has not taken up this shield of faith which may extinguish these flaming darts. He would have this arrow, this flaming arrow, this fiery dart, not just strike, but then set aflame the doubts and the temptation until there is a roaring fire upon his enemy which threatens to consume and to devour the man or woman upon which his attack is centered. He may attack, as we have stated before, he may attack the conscience of the individual. And if not quenched, that fire that spreads may create a plague of doubt in that individual. This may lead to depression, debilitating fear of unworthiness, and inner turmoil over past sins. That song that we sang from William Kalper, William Cowper was a man who lived in absolute and utter depression and despair. He tried to take his own life multiple times, but the gospel of peace and the shield of faith prevailed against the enemy who would attack him. There was one time that there where he lived. He lived in the same place as John Newton. He attended John Newton's church and together they wrote a hymnal called the Alney Hymnal. And it's a compilation of William Cowper's works and John Newton's work. But there was a time when William Cowper was so overcome by the fiery darts of the wicked one that he went to throw himself off of a bridge. And God caused a great fog to come over the city and he couldn't find the bridge. There was a shield, a hedge about him. He was God's and God was his. And so he wrote, God moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform. These attacks may be of temptation to some secret sin or what the Puritans called darling sins. Those sins which are a particular trap to that particular individual. Those sins that so easily beset each one of us and they are often different sins that would trap us, that are a particular problem for us as individuals. Satan knows these things by experience. He knows by observation and he will aim his firing dart for temptation directly there. And he would do that for the express purpose that that would lead to a particular temptation to sin And by doing that, our enemy may set afire a string of sinfulness that keeps going and going and going. We talked over the last two weeks about David and his sin with Bathsheba. We've mentioned this in the last couple of messages. His sin of adultery was a sin of fleshly pleasure and pride. set a fire leading to murder. The murder was not the start of this sin, but the overcoming fire of that sin of looking upon that which gave him pleasure that did not belong to him. And that sin hit when the shield of faith had not been taken up to extinguish that flaming dart. And then what does that eventually lead to? But back to the first thing that we mentioned. That sin of doubt, those feelings of unworthiness, being unqualified, being undeserving. I think this is where we must properly understand what this shield of faith actually is. It is not faith in our ability, in our worthiness, in our strength to overcome. Do you begin to see how all these things fit together that Paul is talking about here and have their source in our Lord and Savior? This is not a shield that is effective if our strength of faith is enough, or if the manner of our faith is enough, but is altogether effective because of the object of our faith. the beauty, the worth, the holiness of this object of our faith, Jesus Christ the righteous. It is faith in and of Jesus Christ that is our shield. It is faith in His provision and His finished work. Ian Hamilton said this, he said, it is imperative that we understand that when the Bible speaks about faith, it is not speaking about mere intellectual assent to certain propositions. Saving faith includes intellectual assent to God's truth, but it is more than that. Faith is essentially is trust, self-abandoning trust in Jesus Christ. Faith involves submitting all that you are to the lordship of Jesus Christ. This is the faith that is the believer's shield against all the fiery darts of the wicked one. Christ said from the cross, it is finished. Brothers and sisters, the battle is won. Victory has already been achieved. It is not my work, but it is His work. Faith is saying, I am nothing, He is everything. I must decrease, He must increase. Give me Christ or else I die. That's faith. That is this shield of faith. My whole lot, everything I am is cast upon him. He is the object of my faith, not me or the amount of my faith or the exactness of my faith, but Christ being the object of my faith. Christ being the object of it all. Horatious Bonner, we sing many of his hymns. And I don't like to quote large sections, but this is worth quoting. He said in his book, Everlasting Righteousness, I would commend that to you. Chapel Library has that online for free. He says, with a weak faith and a fearful heart, many a sinner stands before the altar, but it is not the strength of his faith, but the perfection of the sacrifice. that saves. And no feebleness of faith, no dimness of eye, no trembling of hand can change the efficacy of our burnt offering. The vigor of our faith can add nothing to it, nor can the poverty of it take anything from it. Faith in all its degrees still reads the inscription, The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. And if at times the eye is so dim that it cannot read these words through blinding tears or bewildering mist, faith rests itself on the certain knowledge of the fact that this inscription is still there, or at least the blood itself of which these words remind us remains in all its power, and suitableness upon the altar, unchanged and uneffaced. God says that the believing man is justified. Who are we then that we should say, we believe, but we do not know whether we are justified? What God has joined together, let no man put asunder. And then he goes on to say, what should we have said to the Israelite who on bringing his lamb to the tabernacle should puzzle himself with questions as to the right mode of laying his head on the hand of the victim? And who should refuse to take any comfort from the sacrifice because he was not sure whether he had laid his hands aright? on the proper place, in the right direction, with adequate pressure, or in the best attitude, should we not have told him that his own actings concerning the Lamb were not the Lamb? And yet there he was speaking as if they were. Should we not have told him to be of good cheer, not because he laid his hands on the victim in the most approved fashion, but because they had touched that victim, however lightly or imperfectly, and thereby said, let this lamb stand for me, answer for me, die for me. The touching had no virtue in itself, and therefore the excellency of the act was no question to come up at all. It simply intimated the man's desire that the sacrifice should be taken instead of himself as God's appointed way of pardon. It was simply the indication of his consent to God's way of saving him by the substitution of another. The point for him to settle was not, was my touch right or wrong, light or heavy? Was it the touch of the right lamb? The lamb appointed by God for the taking away of sin. That is the question. The quality or quantity of faith is not the main question for the sinner. That which he needs to know is that Jesus died and was buried and rose again according to the scripture. This knowledge is life everlasting. The shield of faith is based upon the object of our faith. This is your shield when Satan's accusations come. Look to the object of your faith and hear the words the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. Hurl your flaming darts all you want, Satan. Here is my shield. Jesus died. and has cleansed me from all iniquity. This is the shield of faith. This is the gospel of peace that makes us ready and able to stand. I wanted to go much further this morning, but we're not going to get there. Let's pray. Lord God and heavenly father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for our savior, the lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world. Thank you for his atonement. Thank you for the redemption that we find in him. Thank you that he intercedes even now for us. Thank you that we may pray. In his name and be assured that our prayers are heard in the very throne of heaven. Give us grace to know these things, to live by these things. And to stand with these things. And it's in the name of our Savior we pray, Amen.