I would draw your attention this morning back to Ephesians 6. We'll read verses 14-18. Ephesians 6, 14-18. 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. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord and heavenly Father, our privilege to come together as a group and to go to your word, Lord, to worship you. Lord, we pray that you would move any distractions, Lord, that we have this morning. Lord, remove from us any sense of self-worth, any pride that we have. Lord, that we might humbly come and be taught from your word this morning, that the spirit might give us discernment and wisdom. Lord, and that we would long to hear what you have for us. Lord, through your word, by the power of the spirit, Lord, we're needy in so many areas of our lives. We have great needs and we understand that the true needs that we have, the source of what we need is to be found in you. Teach us this morning, Lord. It's the name of our Savior we pray. Amen. Well, we've now come to the last verse dealing with the armor of God and to the last two pieces of the armor that Paul has been led to put before us in our text. We still have prayer to consider, and Lord willing, We will cover that next Sunday along with the final greetings from Paul as we seek to close out this study in Ephesians. But this morning, we find ourselves at Ephesians 6, 17, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Paul has been writing to the Ephesians and to us regarding our warfare, this spiritual warfare, these battles that we are engaged in. And we've taken the time to look at these things because of the reality of this warfare and these battles that we have, the reality of this fight. I think we can look around ourselves even this morning in preparation to come to church. Isn't this often the case? As you come to church, that there is a battle that happens. And we can look back over this week, and I think I can be pretty confident in saying that if you are a child of God, if you've been redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, if you've been set apart to Christ, then you have most likely at some point in some way been under attack, besieged with doubt, maybe temptation, suffering, anxious, maybe anxious about the state of our lives, about the state of our country, or about the state of our world even, as we look at what goes on around us, these temporal things. We could go on and on. There's so much fear in the unknown that we experience in this world. I don't want us to be narrow-minded or under some notion that causes us not to recognize these things as what they are. Some of these obviously come from the flesh. There are things in these remainders of indwelling sin that we deal with, but they also come from without. As our enemy amplifies, tempts, makes use of those things that we are naturally drawn towards in the flesh, he makes use of those things, Every single one of these things is to be put to death. Every single one of these things we are to wage war against. We need to understand that these things are spiritual warfare in the nature of them. In understanding that, we can then turn to the provisions that are made for us and given to us by our Father. Paul's words that we find in our text this morning would first draw our attention to that piece of armor which covers the head. The Roman soldier, when engaged in battle, would wear a leather cap or a leather cap fitted with maybe some sort of metal or brass on top, a helmet, to protect the thinking part of the body, that part that contains the brain. If the brain is damaged, it doesn't matter what else the soldier is arrayed in, he's not going to be able to fight. And isn't that where a lot of our attacks come to our mind? And so Paul speaks about the helmet, this helmet of salvation here in our text, the helmet that is arrayed with this beautiful adornment, this plume, of salvation. Oftentimes when you picture in your mind this Roman helmet, there would be plumage on top of that, some sort of decorative addition. And this helmet that we're speaking of here this morning is adorned by salvation. Hamilton points out that nothing more adorns our Christian profession and commends it to a watching world than a humble, settled confidence in what God has done for us in Christ. This helmet, this is a helmet of salvation. Now there are many commentators that would speak of this fact that the soldier of Christ, that the Christian is saved, that that's what this helmet of salvation is about, that the Christian is a saved sinner. This is the one who's been redeemed, the one who's been set apart, made a new creation, a new creature, one who has been translated from the kingdom of darkness and placed into the kingdom of light, one who has been taken out of the domain of our enemy, Satan, and placed into the domain of Christ. And all this is true and good and real. And it is something that must take place if anyone is to be a soldier of Christ. And it is a most glorious truth of God that He has saved us. Something that we should always relish and love. This truth of salvation. that is revealed to us through the Word. Each one of us who have been saved, some may not remember the exact moment, and some might be able to recall the exact day, the exact time, and the exact location. of their salvation when they were made a new creature, but each one of us who has experienced this salvation can say that I once was this, but I have now been made this. Something has changed me. I once, I am what I once was not. and what I once was, now I am not. I have new affections. That which I hated, I now love. That which I loved, I now hate and repent of. I once rebelled, but something has made me now a humble and conquered servant. And though I might still fall into sin and rebellion, it brings sorrow and repentance." Surely this salvation is something that has transformed us, and this protects the mind, this knowledge of this salvation. But I think what Paul is speaking of here is something that I think springs from that reality of that past salvation, a reality which came about when the sinner was justified and made new. I want to consider a few things as we look into this, and I hope that we'll be able to tie this back and you'll see where I'm coming from here with this concept of the helmet of salvation and how this protects us in this spiritual battle that is set before us. Romans 12, one through two. Romans 12, one through two says, I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. Be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." Be transformed by the renewal, this ongoing process, this renewal of the mind. Philippians 4, 7 through 8. Chapter 4, verse 7 and 8 of Philippians, And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 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. Paul also says in Romans 8, 18 through 24, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy, are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us, for the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subject to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for the adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we are saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope for who hopes for what he sees. 2 Corinthians 4, 7-15. I'm going to turn there. 2 Corinthians 4. I'm going to read beginning in verse 17. excuse me, 7, down through verse 18. 2 Corinthians 4 verse 7, but we have this treasure in jars of clay. To show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us, we are afflicted in every way. but not crushed, perplexed but not driven to despair, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed, always carrying in the body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh, so death is at work in us, but life in you. Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, I believed and so I spoke, we also believe and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people, it may increase thanksgiving to the glory of God. So, we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. As we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. This that protects the mind against our enemy is something that is continuing. It is not just some past reality. That is the start of it. but it is something that is continuing. It is based upon, revealed, made real, founded, and built upon that which is in the past. The helmet of salvation is most assuredly connected. It flows out of the past moment of your own salvation. But there is a present reality. even a future reality that is part of this great salvation. God has saved us, God is saving us, He is keeping us, and He will save us completely. I believe it is why Paul speaks of this helmet of salvation a bit differently with a bit more detail in 1 Thessalonians 5, 8. And we read this, I believe, last week. But since we belong to the day, Paul says, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope. the hope of salvation. This is not saying, oh, I hope that salvation is real. This is the hope that is grounded and based upon certain truth. Hope is the blessed assurance of what God has done, what God is doing, and what God will ultimately complete. Hendrickson says, salvation is both a present possession and an inheritance not yet fully acquired in this life, hence the object of firmly anchored hope. This, this is the helmet of salvation. This is what Paul says the Christian must be adorned with, with this hope of salvation. Isn't this what Paul has already laid out for us in Ephesians? Think about what we've already learned from Ephesians. Ephesians 1, 13 through 14. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Here it is, you've heard the word, the spirit has given you the word, you have been saved. And believed in him, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it. To the praise of his glory. And then think about what we learned when we were in Ephesians five. When Paul was talking about husbands and wives and how they are a picture of Christ and His body, His church, He is the groom, we the church are the bride. In verse 25, of chapter five of Ephesians. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that she might be holy and without blemish. Does that fully come to realization in this life? We have the guarantee of that. We have the hope of our salvation. This is the promise of what God planned and will do. The hope of our salvation, which protects our minds during these battles with our enemy. It is a hope, it is the hope that is based in certainty of Scripture and what God has revealed that He will do and has brought to pass. We have the testimony of Scripture that what He says He will do. Isn't that over and over again what we understand from Scripture? Look at Scripture written over generations and generations. All of it God breathed. God giving us divine revelation of who he is, who we are, what our need is, and what God has done to provide for that need. And even his purpose for it, to glorify himself. And over and over again, we see what? We see fulfillment of what he said he will do. And it is that that we have that grounds us and gives us this sure hope, this helmet of salvation that Paul is talking about here. We must protect the mind by this hope of salvation, this helmet of salvation. We have to rid ourselves of all of this man-made contrived ideas and his twisted man-centered theology. There's really only two religions. There's the religion of man, and there's the religion of God. And God has revealed His way to us in His Word. God tells us, through his word in John 16, 33. I have said these things to you that you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation. We've read this recently. In the world, you will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world. We have to rid ourselves of this health, wealth, and prosperity gospel, this false gospel that is so prevalent in the world today. This new life that we live is not designed for this fallen world. It's not. It is faith. It is hope of the completed, fully realized salvation, the full receiving of the inheritance that will protect our mind as we are new creatures in this fallen world until we reach that which is perfect. It will protect our minds through all the troubles, the trials, the temptations, and battles that we will. Scripture tells us we will endure while we are in this wilderness marching toward the promised land. We are now here. We are going to a city not made with hands. This is a necessity in this warfare that we are engaged in for us to have this helmet of salvation. Read through Hebrews 11 sometime. Read through there and see if you find health, wealth, and prosperity. I can see most of you thinking through Hebrews 11. Where is health, wealth, and prosperity there? See if you find worldly peace. in a fallen world pictured for us in Hebrews 11. I'll tell you what I find when I read it. I read battle after battle, I see spiritual warfare, and I see the people of God armored against the enemy with the hope of salvation. That's what I see. What does it say of Abraham in Hebrews 11.10? For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. And then a little bit later, a couple verses later in 11 through 16, those all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return, but as it is, they desire a better country that is a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God for he has prepared for them a city. Our salvation is one of hope. grounded in a past reality, protected in a present reality, and looking forward to a future reality, a hope of better things than this fallen world could even conceive. We have a grounded and sure hope in an absolutely dependable and unchanging God in his absolutely dependable and unchanging promises. Want to know what protects your mind in battle? When the devil says to give up, when the devil says God has left you, when the devil says that God has not kept his promises, when the devil says that he has not done, God has not done what he says he will, When he says that you've been sold a fantasy, isn't that what the world wants us to believe about the gospel of Jesus Christ, that it's nothing but a fantasy? Whose work is that? That's the devil's work, to try and get you to believe that. It is the hope of salvation that allows us to answer back to the enemy. Lloyd-Jones says, the answer to the devil is this, I know that I am saved. I know that I am being saved. And I know that ultimately I shall be completely saved. It is this hope of salvation that sees that Christ has crushed the enemy's head and that he is now bringing many sons to glory. And one day he will return, and the graves will open up, and these bodies that have turned to dust in the ground will be glorified in an instant, and Satan, who has been defeated, is being defeated, will ultimately be defeated. To the praise and the glory of God. This is the sure and grounded hope of the saints of God. This is the helmet of salvation that protects our mind when the devil would have us doubt and give up the fight. This is blessed assurance. Jesus is mine. Isn't that what Fannie Crosby said there in that hymn that we sang? What did she have to help her endure these spiritual battles? Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. Hope, grounded hope, upon the promises of an immutable God, this helmet of salvation. Take it up, put it on, and go to the fight. Paul then continues to the last piece of armor here in verse 17. and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." I wish we had weeks and weeks to look at this. This is not a hopeless warfare we're engaged in. Along with the helmet of salvation, we've been given a weapon, a sword to put the devil and his army to flight, not merely to stand against him, but to stand against him in such a way that James records for us in James 4, 7. Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. It is precisely because we have such a powerful enemy. We've already talked about that. He seeks to devour us, and it's precisely because of this enemy that we have that God has given us such a weapon to be used in this battle. We know that we have nothing in and of ourselves. We have no power, no weapon of our own making to stand against Him, yet we have this armor given to us by God, and we have this sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. I don't think we need to go into mentioning or talking much about this Roman piece of equipment that was this sword, other than to say it was an offensive and a defensive weapon, both. Primarily an offensive one. Instead, I want to focus on what this sword of the Spirit is, being the Word of God. We have a striking picture in Revelation. We have our King of Kings and our Lord of Lords envisioned by the Apostle John in Revelation 1, 12-16. And in verse 16, we read this, In his right hand he held seven stars. From his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. We see this picture of Christ that reveals to us who He is and what His character is. And here we get a glimpse and a picture of how Christ Jesus rules His church and how He fights His enemies. He does this by the sword of His mouth. We see in Revelation 2.12, as Christ sends his word through these letters to the seven churches, he has John write a letter with his words to the church at Pergamum. In Revelation 2.12, there were some who were practicing at this church in Pergamum, idolatry. And in the opening section of that letter, he said, And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write, The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword. And then he goes on in the last part of that letter to the church in Pergamum to say, therefore, repent. Repent of this idolatry that some of your church has been involved with. Repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. And in Revelation 19, Revelation 19 verse 11, Then I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse, the one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, And the name by which he is called is the Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. and He will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty on His robe, and on His thigh He has a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, come gather for the great supper of God to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses, and the riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great. And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet, who is in its presence, had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped his image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur, and the rest were slain by the sword that comes from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse and all the birds were gorged with their flesh." These are visions that John had regarding the power of this sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God in the person of Jesus Christ. John 1 makes that very clear to us, who the Word of God is. This is a sword without equal. Hebrews 4 verse 12 says, For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of morrow, and discerning the thoughts and the intentions of the heart. It doesn't just pierce. It discerns. And it looks into the very heart to know the intentions of what man has. It's not an inanimate object. It is a living, living weapon. It's living and powerful. This sword, this Word of God is imperishable. It's unbreakable. Isaiah 40 verse 8 says, the grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of God will stand forever. This Word of God, this sword with which we fight, is God-breathed. It's Scripture. 2 Timothy 3.16, all Scripture is breathed out by God. and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness." It's the more sure word of prophecy. 2 Peter 1, 16-21 says, For we did not follow cleverly devised myths, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was born to him by the majestic glory, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. We ourselves heard this very voice from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain." And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed. to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts, knowing this, first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of men. But men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." This is opposed to what Peter says in 2 Peter 2, 3. This is opposed to these cleverly devised myths. We read in 2 Peter 2, 3, "...and in their greed they will exploit you with false words." This is a false word that Peter is talking about here in 2 Peter 2, 3. This is not the word of God, but the word of man with their cleverly devised myths that they have been given to them out of fallen sinful desires and from their father, the devil, who has led them to these lies. But this sword that we have, this sword of the spirit, the word of God, the Bible is no mere human word. It's no grand novel. It's no mere instruction manual. It's not a moving epic or a moving narrative. It's the inerrant, infallible, living and abiding word of God. It is the sword of the spirit with which we tear down the word of men. The word, these cleverly devised myths that Peter talks about. It is the word of God spoken through men as they were carried along by the spirit of God. And it is the chief weapon to take the battle to the enemy and not just to stand against him, but to tear down his strongholds. 2 Corinthians 10, 4-5, For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ. This word is the sword of the Spirit. It is not made known. It is not available to wield based on your intellect, based on your station, or based on your rank, or scholastic achievement, or your bloodline, or any other type of division that man can come up with. This was attempted for so many years by the Roman Catholic Church. They took and they hid the Word of God and kept it from the people. The sword is the sword of the Spirit. One must possess the Spirit to be able to wield the sword. In other words, one must be indwelt by the Spirit of God. One must be a Christian to make use of this sword this word of God in the battle. I think a lot of times of a neighbor that we had in Montana. I was young. I have fond memories of Peter Saran. He was a man that escaped communist Czechoslovakia. He was turned in by his wife for printing anti-communist material and he escaped and fled. He married a lady there in Livingston, Montana by the name of Nancy, Peter and Nancy Saran. And they were our closest neighbors when we lived out there about 10 miles out of Livingston. This man knew the word of God intellectually. He knew the contents But it was without the Spirit, and therefore it had no effect. It had no power. The sword could not cut. It was no weapon to yield. It wasn't sharp. Why? The Spirit of God only can make it into a weapon. The Spirit must move, the Spirit must make it alive to make this Word of God effective and powerful, to energize it and to give discernment on how it is to be used. We must have the Word of God, yes, but we also must have the Spirit of God. It is the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. So how is it that we see our ultimate example in all things wielding this sword. Christ is our ultimate example, is He not? I want us to see something as we look at this. Christ is the Word. That is the clear teaching of Scripture. Yet Christ was also full of the Spirit. The Spirit and the Word. Look at the prophecy of Isaiah. Isaiah 11. I want to show you something here. Isaiah has already mentioned in prophetic terms the coming of the Anointed One, the Messiah. And we learn something of this Word becoming flesh in this prophecy of Isaiah in Isaiah 11. Verse 1, he says, There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse. and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit, and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, and his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the earth, and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth. And with the breath of His lips He shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of His waist, and faithfulness the belt of His loins. Do you see that this Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon the Messiah? And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, with His Word. We also read concerning the Messiah in Isaiah 49, 2, He made the mouth like a sharp sword. In the shadow of His hand He hid me. He made me a polished arrow. In His quiver He hid me away. Then we read again, as we are about to see the very best example of our Lord and Savior, our ultimate example in all things. We're about to see Him wield the sword against the enemy. And we read this in our Scripture reading from Matthew 4. If you turn to Matthew 4, and then if you want to, stick a finger at Luke 4, We won't read this for time's sake. But in Luke, in the beginning of this record that we have from Matthew of the temptation of Jesus, we see that Jesus was led up by what? He was led up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And the devil tempted him. And what did Jesus do? He used the Word. He used the sword of the Spirit in all of the temptations that Satan brought before Him. We won't take the time to look at this in detail, but I want you to look at Luke 4, and I want you to see how Luke describes the start of this temptation. He doesn't just say that Jesus was led up by the Spirit. He says, and Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. And then to conclude this, in verse 14, and Jesus, after this temptation, and Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit. I want to see these things so that we might understand two truths that are vital in our battle against the enemy. The first thing is we must use the Word of God. This is our weapon against Him. It is imperative that we go to the Word. We have the example of that in Jesus Christ. We could look time and time again at the Scriptures Once again, we won't because we don't have time this morning, but we could look time and time again at the scriptures when the Pharisees and the Sadducees and all these Christian, these Jewish leaders would come to him and what would they do? They'd try and trick him, trap him. Already looked in the past message what Jesus said about them. They were of their father, the devil. This is spiritual warfare. that was occurring. They were seeking to engage Christ in spiritual warfare, seeking to trap Him, to trick Him, to smear His reputation, and even to discount His witness of who He was. This was their goal, doing the bidding of their father, the devil. And what did Christ do time and time again? He used His Word against them. He wielded the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. And the second thing we need to realize is we must realize that the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, must accompany the Word so that we may discern it, that we might recall it, that we might speak it and share it and engage in conflict with it. We know the Word by the work of the Spirit. That's how we know. That's how we discern. what the Word teaches us. We must walk in the Spirit with the Word of God to engage in conflict. If you are under temptation, what do you do? You go to the Word and pray that the Spirit would help you wield the sword. If you are anxious or tormented, what do you do? You go to the Word and pray that the Spirit would help you wield the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. If you are under affliction and assailed by the enemy with doubts, what do you do? You go to the word and pray that the spirit would help you to wield the word. This is our weapon against him. This is the only truly offensive weapon that we have, and it is sufficient. This is what Christ used. This is what Christ showed us to use. I'll add one more thing in closing. We briefly stated previously The context of this whole passage and what we've been looking at is the context of battle. It's the context of us fighting against our enemy. And this is truly what Paul is primarily dealing with here. But never forget that when we fight against our enemy, it is often in the presence of, or maybe even against, those who are acting on behalf of our enemy. How many times when Christ was battling these things, the Sadducees and the Pharisees, were there those standing there who witnessed? And what happened? The sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, was effective upon them. Scripture tells us that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, doesn't it? In our battles, we are wielding our weapon, which is the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. This is a powerful, powerful weapon. It is far beyond what man can even begin to imagine. And bear in mind that this is the only weapon ever created that can't just harm our enemy and put our enemy to flight, but it can be the same weapon, this sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, which can pierce a dead man and bring him to life. This is the weapon that we wield in our war. What provision do we have in this? our helmet of salvation, the hope of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. You know, I was thinking last week as we were taking the Lord's Supper about this hope of salvation. The hope of the final consummation of our salvation. What is it we do when we take the Lord's Supper? We remember Him till what? Till He comes. What happens when He comes? Our salvation is to be made complete. What do we do when we baptize someone? What do we picture in that? This is the hope of our salvation. These two things to be used with all the rest of the armor, but these two things should make us so bold to stand against the enemy. How are you going to fail when the Lord's on your side? You know The end of the story. He's revealed it to us. We gonna stand in fear of what somebody next door might say? We gonna stand in fear of what our government might say? We have the hope of salvation in the word of God. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for these gifts that you've given us. Lord, to fight the battles that are before us as we live in this fallen world. Lord, as we await. The fullness of our inheritance. That you've provided for us in Christ. Lord, we pray that we would live with this glorious hope of our salvation. And Lord, may we be as those who are pictured in Nehemiah that work with a sword in one hand, tool in the other. Lord, may we be so in the Word May you make us so familiar with the Word that it would be ever with us, that the Spirit would give us discernment and wisdom in using the Word, that in those times, Spirit might give us understanding and bring to our attention those parts of the Scripture that pertain to the battle that is before us, May we rightly divide and rightly use that word in our lives. And in the warfare that we fought, that we have in this world, the enemy that we fight against. Lord, may we be. More and more desirous to share these things with others who are lost. May you give us opportunity to share of your great grace and your mercy and your provisions with others. Or bless our fellowship time that we'll have here in a few minutes. Lord, we thank you, praise you. Ask that you'd be with us throughout this week. Make us a praying people and a people who are in your word. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.