Open up our Bibles to Ephesians chapter 6. This morning we're going to work through the shield of faith. And as Marvin already aforementioned in the announcements, tonight we're going to be working through the helmet of salvation. It'll be a sermon sort of towards Christian assurance. And so I would encourage you, if possible, to come out for that as well, especially if you or someone you know struggles with assurance. We need to put on that helmet of salvation, lest the evil one take advantage of us. Let me just, as I've been doing throughout this study on this armor of God, just read through verses 10 through 20. And as I said, we're just going to be focusing on the shield of faith in verse 16. Ephesians 6, verse 10. Your memory verse, by the way, for next week. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. When I'm memorizing, I like all the alliterations of strong, strength. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms or places. 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 have having put on the breastplate of righteousness and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. This morning, in all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. Tonight, and take the helmet of salvation. Next week, 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. That will be also the prayer we lift up for those going door to door after lunch. to share the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ with those in this community. Let's pray, Father. We ask, Lord, that you would visit us this morning. That you would meet with us, Lord. That you would send forth the Holy Spirit, Lord, into every heart. Father, I pray, Lord, that this is not just another religious discourse. This is not just a pastor sermonizing or entertaining a bunch of people who've come in to do their religious obligations. Father, I pray that your word would go forth from this pulpit this morning in power. Lord, I pray that you would help me proclaim the mysteries of the gospel clearly as I ought and boldly as I should. Father, as Marvin has already prayed, I reiterate, would you save sinners to yourself this morning? Would you open their eyes to see their need for Christ? May they realize that all of their religiosity is not sufficient for them to be accepted by a thrice holy God. May they understand they need to have all of their sins forgiven through Jesus Christ, that He is the only way by which man, a sinner, can be made right with God, Creator. Father, help me this morning just to know what to say and what not to say. And Lord, as the Psalms prayed, would you open up our eyes that we might behold wondrous things from your law, that we might see wondrous things from your Word. Lord, I pray that you would fix our eyes upon Christ, not worthless gain. Help us to see Christ. And Father, would you strengthen our faith this morning, Would you grant faith where it is needed? And would you strengthen it, Lord, where it is required? We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Perhaps the greatest treatise ever written on the armor of God is William Gurnall's magnus opus called The Christian in Complete Armor. It's a massive three-volume set amounting to a whopping 1,189 pages. Just on the armor of God, those Puritans sure knew how to write. It was endorsed by such giants as J.C. Ryle and C.H. Spurgeon. In fact, this colossal work is the most well-known of all the Puritan manuals on spiritual warfare, and has provided much comfort for beleaguered saints over the centuries. In fact, John Newton, one of my favorites, would go on to say this, if I would only have one other book beside the Bible, it would be Gurnell's The Christian in Complete Armor. And if we, as humans, go to a veteran doctor for wise counsel and wisdom regarding our physical well-being, it is equally as wise to go to those who have studied and labored before us. Who better to go than to a man who spent most of his ministerial life thinking through and writing upon the subject of the Christian's armor in Christ? Let us not be, as what C.S. Lewis called, chronological snobs. as if we alone have the truth and those who went before us don't have truth. I was encouraged reading some of Grinnell's work this week. Though many of our Calvinistic contemporaries play down the notion of a real spiritual battle that is being waged by Satan against Christ Church, Grinnell the sage offers us a much different picture. Of this treatise, of this understanding of spiritual warfare, listen to what he says in volume one. The subject is so solemn. A war between the saint and Satan, and that so bloody a one that the cruelest which was ever fought by men will be found but sport and a child's play compared to this. It is a spiritual war that you shall read of, that concerns thee, and everyone that reads it. The stage whereon this war is fought is every man's own soul. There is no neutrality in this war. The whole world is engaged in the quarrel, either for God against Satan, or for Satan against God. If Grinnell is correct, and I believe he is, Then the words that we have just read from Ephesians chapter 6 are extremely relevant and important for us this morning. We see that Paul's words are no trifling matter. His words are not games we can play with. His words are not those that we can pick and choose from like a buffet. If Satan really is the roaring lion that Peter says he is, and if he goes about seeking people to devour, Paul's words in Ephesians 6, 10-20 are literally words of life and death. This morning we're going to look at the fourth piece of armor that Paul sets before the believer, namely, the shield of faith. You will recall the first is the belt of truth, that's our anchor to which the breastplate of righteousness, namely Christ, is fastened. Then we put on the shoes of peace. And this morning we're going to look at the shield of faith. Of this armor, of this shield, Grinnell says this in volume two. Remember, he's written in 1658, 350 years ago. There's nothing new under the sun. Listen to how relevant his words are to us. Of all graces, Grinnell says, faith is the chief, and thus is chiefly to be labored for. I'm going to argue for that. He says, of all the graces, or let's call them of all the armors, faith is the chief. It's the most important. And because it's the most important, it is the one we are chiefly to labor for. There is a precedency or preeminence, he says, peculiar to the shield of faith above all the others. It is among the other graces as the sun is among planets, or as Solomon's virtuous woman above all the other women. He goes on to say, though love is the preeminent grace with particular respect to the saint's blissful state in heaven, faith is the preeminent grace for the Christian's present state while militant on earth. He's thinking of 1 Corinthians 13, of course, where faith, love, and hope, these three abide, and the greatest of these is love. And he's saying that love has to do with a heavenly, blissful state, as it were. But he says, while we're on earth as the church militant, faith is the grace that we need to focus on. Love hath indeed its place in battle, and doth excellent service. But it is under faith its leader. Even as Paul says in Galatians 5, working through love. If Grinnell's understanding of the importance and necessity of faith for battle is correct, then we must heed Paul's exhortation this morning. Grinnell says of this, keep your faith and it will keep you and all your other graces. You stand by faith. If that fails, you fall. I'm going to read that again. Keep your faith and it will keep you and all your other graces. You stand by faith. If that fails, you fall. Or in the words of John Flavel, a contemporary, like baby birds in the nest, so all other graces depend upon what faith brings into them. Maybe I'm shooting arrows over your head. Basically what he's saying is this. The breastplate of righteousness means nothing unless you have put it on by faith. All this talk about peace means nothing if you've not been justified by faith. All the other armor means nothing if you don't believe in it. If you just look at it and talk about it and pontificate. It doesn't mean a thing to look at a shield. You must take up the shield by faith. You must put on the breastplate by faith. And so I agree. It's like that little baby bird. Faith is like the preeminent one and it brings all the other graces. Faith is like the mother bird bringing all the other graces into union or into the consumption of the baby bird. You need faith to make all the other graces work, as it were. All the other armor is useless if not appropriated and applied by faith. It is not enough to know about the truth. You must believe the truth. It is not enough to have a mere head knowledge regarding Christ's righteousness. You must believe in Christ for righteousness. It is not enough to give mere mental assent to God's offer of peace in Christ. We must, by faith, put it on. Dear listener, taking up the shield of faith is critical for us as Christians as we wrestle against all the hosts of hell that seek to harm our walk and hinder Christ's work. If you have no faith, Satan will seek to hinder your walk and harm Christ's work. Ephesians 6.16, in every circumstance, having taken up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. That's the passage we're going to look at. The shield. As we saw on Sunday School this morning, I couldn't contain myself. I started to sort of leak the morning service into Sunday School. It was two and a half feet wide by four feet high. Therefore, a crouching soldier could basically be completely engulfed or covered or protected by the shield. It was massive. It's not the small little circle one like Captain America has. His is cool, but this one's more realistic and it covered the whole body of the soldier. And as Tony mentioned, The soldiers were together, and so it's not just me and my shield, it's us and our shields. And we're standing firm, having planted that shield in front of us, as with the shoes apiece, we're trekking forward against the battle line. And we have all these arrows flying around us. And so you need a big shield. You need a shield to cover every part of you. And that's what the shield was. It was about the size of a door. In fact, the Greek word for shield is almost the same as the Greek word for door. So you're basically carrying a door. You could crouch and be completely protected from the enemy's arrows. The protection of this large shield afforded It was vitally important during an enemy attack when multiple arrows were shot from various directions. I think of the movie Gladiator. I guess I'm dating myself. But it's when the Romans are fighting against those savage barbarians from the north. And if you remember, there's that amazing scene where they all launch back and then they let go of their fiery arrows and the sky is filled with literally tens of thousands of arrows. And they're coming everywhere. And you can't pick them out and block them. You need a large shield to cover you. And we're going to see that's how Satan works often. He's just slinging arrows in every direction. And you need this large shield to protect you from his attacks. Listen to Josephus, the historian, the Jewish historian. He would say this. To avoid the multitude of the enemy's missiles, Warriors should bend down on their knees and cover themselves with their shields and they should retreat a little backward for a while till the archers should have emptied their quivers. So there's some strategy. You wait and you wait and you wait with the shield of faith as he exhausts all of his arrows. And Paul says that you need to do so in spiritual battle when Satan is flaming those darts at you. You need to take up the shield of faith. The first point I want to look at is when are we to take up The shield of faith. Well, he says emphatically, in all circumstances. Okay, I know the King James says, above all else, that's not a good reading of it. In all circumstances. Spurgeon has famously said, if you will tell me when God permits a Christian to lay aside his armor, I will tell you when Satan has left off temptation. What is Spurgeon saying? Satan is always tempting. Or his minions are always inducing us. Always trying to trick us up. The temptations with which Satan attacks us are incessant. They're coming from every direction. If we had spiritual eyes, we would see arrows flaming all over this room. I would hope by grace I would see many a shield extinguishing those arrows. Therefore, if we as Christ's people are to endure all of the adversary's sinister assaults, we must take up and we must carry with us the shield of faith everywhere we go. In every circumstance, take it up. Don't leave it behind. It's not enough that the shield is near you. It must be with you and upon you. The illustration I thought of was Ryan Anderson, but I'm not supposed to name names, so I'll just say, I know many people who are so attached to their cell phone that if they lost it for one day, their whole life would become unraveled. That's some of you. You lose your iPhone, Armageddon. Right? It's unbelievable. If you put that cell phone away and you misplace it, you're in trouble. Well, in a very spiritual sense, if you leave that shield somewhere and you don't take it up with you everywhere you go, you're in worse trouble. Not a big deal if you miss a couple texts or important emails. You can get to those, even if you lose some deals. As important as your phone is to be on you, how much more the shield of faith. The shield is infinitely more important for your spiritual survival than your phone is for your physical survival. Christian, you cannot survive apart from faith. And I was thinking, I really think in some of our reformed circles, we can fake it. that we can hide behind the guise of fancy creeds, fancy gospel talk, and fancy theological, you know, diatribes, that we can pontificate and quote all the scholars, and yet, our shield is not with us. It's funny because the shield, you can't hide it, it's massive, it's four feet high and two and a half feet wide, you can't hide it, it's very conspicuous. But in a spiritual realm, it can be very inconspicuous. You can talk about the helmet and the breastplate and everything, and yet your shield might not be with you. It might be somewhere else. It might be lost. I guarantee you, the devil will not give you one day to try and find your shield before he unleashes his fiery arrows at your soul. You think the whole world will stop if you don't have your phone for one day. Satan will not stop if you do not have your shield for one day. Do you have your shield right now? This is just an aside. Do you pray before you come to church? Do you ask that God would give you a heart that is receptive? that you would receive with meekness the implanted Word, which is able to save your soul? Do you pray that God would take away distractions? Do you pray that when the Word goes forward, faith would be produced? Do you pray, God, give me a believing and obeying heart, and not just a mind that is able to critique the pastor's message and leave here unchanged? We're to live by faith, which includes now, are you living by faith or are you just listening to a sermon? It's a big difference. You can listen to Reformed sermons until the cows come home and you will die spiritually if you are not mixing them with faith. You cannot survive apart from faith. The words that God spoke to King Ahaz through the prophet Isaiah are as eternally relevant for us today as they were for Ahaz 2700 years ago. If your faith does not remain firm, then you will not remain secure. That's Isaiah 7, 9. If your faith does not remain firm, then you will not remain secure. Or, for those of you who have the Michael Card song rolling in your head, if you do not stand by faith, you will not stand at all. For those of you who are keeners, who love Greek word studies, do you know what the Greek word for all means in this context? When he says in all circumstances, do you want to know what the Greek word for all means? It means all. You must have the shield of faith with you in every, in all circumstances. You don't get to pick and choose which circumstances or areas of life require the shield more than others. You need it in every circumstance. So let me give you two main categories of circumstances I think that we forget our shields. We don't take it up. We're to take up in every circumstance. But let me give you two major categories to which we sometimes forget about our shield of faith. The first will probably shock you. We forget our shields when engaged in religious activities. How often do we read the Bible intellectually, but not believingly? How many times just, whoop, you know, I have to fight it. I've got my Bible reading plan, and it's nice, it's an app, and so I can check off the chapters I'm doing, because I want to read through the Bible this many times. Done! Now I can do whatever... How often do you do that when you wake up? When you just glazingly stare at the page and it really doesn't get down into the soul, the fabric of your being. I want you to turn to chapter 3 of Hebrews. This is a verse that should be hopefully sobering to us. He keeps quoting the 95th Psalm in verse 15. He says, today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. So, whether you're reading the Bible or listening to a sermon, do not harden your hearts. That's a danger with us. We listen to sermons professionally. We begin to grade them. We begin to compare them. We begin to analyze and critique them. We think about the arguments and how logically accurate they are, but we do not say, God, change me by what this man is saying, if it is true. I'm guilty of it. Here's a dirty little secret. I listen, and I love Alistair Begg, but sometimes I watch and listen to him so I can be a better communicator, rather than saying, how can I take the word of Christ he is preaching, and how can I believe it and be changed from one degree of glory to another? I want to challenge us not to read the Bible with our shield way over there. Read the Bible with the shield here in front of your face, because Satan is intensely attacking you. He doesn't want you to get the Word deep into your heart. He doesn't want it to penetrate and convict and challenge and mold and shape and transform you. He wants you to read the Word religiously, like an intellectual at a university, but not like a child who believes. Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt by Moses? And with whom was God provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but those who were disobedient? So then, we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. So they were hearing the Word. But what was missing? The shield of faith. It's sort of like Mark 3 and Matthew 13, the parable of the seed sower. The seed is being sown, but if Satan is left unhindered, what does he do with that seed? He devours it. That seed is not, as it were, immersed by faith and taken deep into the ground. Satan gets it. Therefore, while the promise of entering His rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you seem to have failed to reach it." He's speaking. I think Hebrews is a sermon that is written down and is being, as it were, read to a church gathering, a congregation. The promise of rest still stands. And I fear that some of you have failed to reach it. Maybe even some of you have been baptized and are members and have tricked us. Maybe some of you as kids who come in with your parents. Have you failed to reach the promised land? Have you heard and heard and heard, like in Hebrews 6, the torrential rains of the gospel of the church pouring upon you? And yet all you have to show is briles and thistles and thorns and outward forms of religiosity, but no faith. Verse 2. This is the verse I was thinking of. For good news came to us, just as to them. But the message they heard did not benefit them. Why? Because they were not united by faith with those who listen. Or as the King James would translate it, their message was not mingled or mixed with faith. That's one area we forget our shields is when we read our Bibles. Another, how about when we pray? Again, here's just me being an honest sinner. I've prayed many prayers without faith. Sometimes at the prayer meeting, so busy thinking of fancy words to say rather than saying, do I actually believe what I'm asking for? Remember what James said eons ago when we went through it in Sunday school? If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God. But how are you to ask? Let him ask with, Faith. If you don't have faith, let not that man think he will receive anything from the Lord. Jesus says, as we worked through Mark years ago, that when you pray believing, you will receive it. We could not cast out these demons. Why? Because of your unbelief. And so let me challenge you to not pray without faith. Let me quote Mr. John Bunyan. I'm modifying a quote by the way, so if you Google it, it's going to be a little different. In prayer, it is better to have faith with no words than words with no faith. Be very careful of just quickly running in to prayer without faith. Grab your shield and then get on your knees. Pray with faith. How often do we go through the motions of the Lord's table without faith? How many here perhaps take the Lord's table as an unbeliever? How many of us as believers actually are thinking about, Jesus, thy blood and righteousness, my beauty are my glorious dress. How many of us are thinking, what can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. How many of us are thinking, upon that bloody cross where my Savior was hung, all of my sins were forgiven. The wrath of God fully satisfied upon that dying Savior. Or how many times do you just eat, drink, and then run? I'm not trying to guilt, but I'm just saying that if we live and if we walk by faith, we should read the Bible with faith, and pray by faith, and take the Lord's table by faith. How often do we go to church and hear a sermon and leave smarter in theology, but not stronger in faith? That's not my goal. I was thinking about it. I'm like, God, please don't let me be a jester or a clown or an entertainer, even if I'm reformed. We laugh at all the other churches where the pastor's, you know, doing backflips and entertaining. And I thought, what if I'm doing the same thing, but just quoting Tulip? People are like, okay, reformed, reformed, orthodox, done. I'm entertaining you. I'm tickling your ears as a Calvinist preacher. If you're not leaving, receiving by faith the implanted word which is able to save your soul. Let me give you a quote from Joel Beeky. Faith is the key to profitably receiving the Word. If the chief ingredient of a medicine is missing, the medicine will not be effective. Okay, I took biochemistry and I took all that fun stuff and inorganic and inorganic chemistry, and if you're missing the key component, the reaction doesn't go. If the chief ingredient of a medicine is missing, it's a placebo, it's not effective. So be sure not to leave out the chief ingredient, namely faith, as you listen to a sermon. That's why I want to encourage you. Saturday night. The Puritans used to say, Sunday morning begins Saturday night. And it grieves me when so many Christians... Here's just the old ratchety, cranky old man coming out. But we're out doing everything on Saturday night. So we wake up tired and groggy and prayerless and faithless on Sunday morning. Yes, God can meet with you and by grace He can change you on Sunday morning. But why would He be compelled to? He says, draw near to me, James, and I will draw near to you. Please don't listen to sermons without faith. It will do you no good. How often do we quote scripture and counsel one another or post on Facebook without first feeding on it by faith? This challenges them too. I love putting nice quotes and scriptures. But do so with the shield of faith. Don't do it for your own ego. So, 15 people liked that awesome quote for how deep it was. It's useless to you if it's not done in faith. Look at the end of Romans 14, by the way. Don't turn there. Whatever is not done in faith is sin. Here's something for you door-to-doors. You who are going door-to-door after the service, will you take the shield with you or will you leave it elsewhere? Though Satan might not keep you from sharing the gospel of peace to unbelievers, please understand that right now. He's flinging darts at you. He's sharpening His arrows and He's lighting them, that He might hurl them your way to maim you this afternoon and make you ineffective. You know that you can share the Gospel without believing it yourself? I've talked to an unbeliever who used to go and preach on the streets. I remember helping him and his mom move. And it blew my mind. And I said, do you believe the gospel you're preaching? And he said, no. He went out for the rush. In all circumstances, especially religious circumstances, take up the shield of faith. When you're putting money in the offering plate, are you doing so by faith? How mindlessly sometimes we just put in whatever, whether little or large, We're to do so by faith. God, bless this! I believe! You will take this! And you will extend your kingdom to the ends of the earth. Are you just putting it in? This is my religious obligation. God is not pleased with that offering! Keep it in your pockets! When you're confessing your sins, take up the shield of faith, believing that God in Christ has forgiven His people and will continue to forgive and cleanse them. Do you believe 1 John 1 verse 9? That if you confess your sins, He is faithful and just. Do you believe that? That's why I love the Puritans who would meditate on one verse. Meditate on 1 John 1 verse 9 for a day. God is faithful. Why is He faithful? Because Christ died on the cross for all of my sins. God doesn't punish twice for the same sin. Do you believe that? If you did, you would confess your sin and leave it with God, and it wouldn't be the boomerang that comes back and you catch, and it's that sin you keep morbidly focusing on. If you actually believe God is faithful and just to not only forgive you, but also cleanse you. Oh, how your sanctification would be so different. I believe God wants to cleanse me and can and has given me everything. Everything I need for life and godliness. The power that lays Christ in the dead is at work in me. I can say no to sin. Do you believe that? Or you just quote Romans 6. It makes all the difference in the world, doesn't it? When Satan assails us to stop up our paths, and our courage doth fail us, we triumph by faith. I know it doesn't rhyme, path and faith, but Newton was right. You triumph by faith. Let me give you the second kind of circumstances. So not just the religious, but there's the everything else circumstance. I don't want to spend an inordinate amount of time But let me call this the secular circumstances. We have the religious circumstances and then the secular. When you're suffering, take up the shield of faith. Suffering will do one of two things to Christians. It will strengthen their faith and soften them with a greater love for Christ and His sovereign purposes in it, or it will harden them and make them bitter in their unbelief. I've seen it. I've seen those who take up the shield of faith in the midst of suffering. And I've seen those who leave the shield far away, and they're just filled with arrows, poisonous arrows of bitterness, and anger, and hostility, and resentment. What enables you to rejoice in your suffering? Faith. Read Romans 5, verse 3. You can rejoice in it. Why? Because you know and believe that God is using this. to make you more like Christ, Romans 8.28 and Romans 8.29. You actually believe Hebrews 12 that says that this discipline is going to make me holy. That even Christ was not perfected apart from suffering. Why should we be any different? But do you believe that? The difference between suffering with the shield and suffering without the shield is with the shield you will become a greater lover and adorer of Christ. Without the shield you become bitter and your life will wither. When you go to work, take up the shield of faith. Do you believe that God has put you there so you can be a light for the Lord Jesus Christ to assault? Or you just go to make bucks, just to make the coin, just to make money. Take the shield with you. When you're listening to the godless radio, when you're sitting there at a stop sign and the girl sometimes crossing in front of you, take up the shield of faith. Remind yourself that Christ's righteousness is greater than that lusting thought. This is a very practical sermon. In leisure, especially take out the shield of faith. That shield's heavy, isn't it? Imagine carrying a door around. It'd be hard, eh, Jared? Not everybody's strong like your pastor. What are you going to do, right? When you're at work, what do you do with the heaviest thing? It's the first thing you put down, isn't it? When you're tired and weary and you've been carrying it all day. especially in leisure. That's the devil's playground. When you put in a full day of work and you turn on the internet, you start watching TV, you make sure that shield is in front of your face, either to turn it off or to protect you. Realize that some environments by nature have a higher concentration of flaming arrows flying. Just look at a battle war. Some areas where there's a greater concentration of archers, there's going to be more arrows. I guarantee you that if you're on the internet late at night being tired, the arrows are a flaming and a firing, more than you would ever imagine. Take up that shield of faith. Since the whole of Christian life is war, wherever you live and move and have your being, take up your shield of faith. I'm not going to press on in those, but I just wanted to sort of slow it down. In all circumstances, whatever. In all circumstances, you take up that shield of faith. Second, why? When? Always why? Very simple. To extinguish the flaming darts, missiles, arrows, whatever you want to translate, of the evil one, of Satan. In Paul's day, the archers of the Roman army would take their arrows and they would dip it in pitch. It's like tar. Something that burns hot and burns long. And they'd dip it in there. They'd have sort of like a cotton material on there, something that burns. And they'd dip it in there, light it, and then they would shoot it. Why? Why would they go through all this? Because that once the arrow that's flaming hit the target, it might splatter and start little fires all over the place. Remember the shield, it's not like our modern day shields, it was basically just huge planks of wood that were glued together with an animal skin over top of it. And so an arrow could still stick into it. And so you know what the Roman soldiers would do before they would engage against archers? They would take those shields, and because they're wood and have animal skin, they would plunge them in water and let them soak. That's what we do when we're barbecuing. We want to have shish kebabs, so we do with the little skewers. We dip them in water, let them soak, and then they can withstand the fire. That's what they would do. Why? Because if my shield is dry, And I've not soaked it sufficiently. That arrow is going to come. And yes, it will block the metal from stabbing into my heart. But what happens? My shield is going to start on fire. What am I going to do? So there's arrows coming everywhere. My shield is on fire. I'm going to do one of two things. I'm going to put it down and run. Or I'm going to turn it around and try to take the arrow. Either way, I'm exposed. So you need to, as it were, quench your faith with more faith. It's not enough to be of little faith, we need to dip it, to immerse it. The water that comes to mind is maybe the water of Ephesians 5, but the washing of the water of the Word. Paul's vivid imagery. I'd love to talk about the Greek, but I won't. It conveys both the danger and frightfulness of the attacks. This is scary stuff. Dear listener, If you've not taken up your quenched, your waterlogged shield of faith, you have put yourself in a precarious and compromised position on the battlefield. Whatever circumstance you're in, take up your water-drenched shield of faith to quench all of his onslaught, all of the devil's attacks. Even the greatest of theologians is no match for the enemy if he has not first taken up the shield of faith. You can quote scripture to the devil, till the cows come home. It doesn't mean anything if you don't believe it. And yet, though the greatest of theologians is no match, without faith no match for the evil one, yet Jesus said the smallest of children, having a modicum, a mustard seed of faith, can do what? Can move mountains. Okay? The best study note I've seen is in the Gospel Transformation Study Bible. And those mountains aren't what the Pentecostalists say. They're basically mountains that inhibit us from following Christ. From a closer walk with Christ. If we believe, we can conquer over those things for a close walk with Christ. Jesus said, in Mark 7, after they came down from the Mount of Transfiguration, He said to His disciples, All things, all things are possible for those who believe. Okay, so we saw that we're to take up the shield in every circumstance. Why? Because He quenches all those flaming darts, all those flaming arrows of the evil one. All those temptations, and all of those lusts, and all of those lies, and everything He flings at us is that same, self-same shield of faith that quenches them. Third, this is where I want to get theological with you. You're going to really have to put on your thinking hats for this, okay? I just want to challenge you right now to not get sleepy, and I hope God will reward you for staying awake during this and actually thinking through this. Don't just sit passively. Please think through this with me. How does the shield of faith work? Okay, I need it in every circumstance, I know what it does, but how does this work? Yes, I know physically how it protects me from errors, but how does this work in the spiritual realm? Because most of you probably aren't going to go out to a battle tomorrow where there's people shooting arrows at you. Unless you're those really geeky guys who dress up in the knight's armor and try to kill... Have you ever seen those guys in the park? Okay? I don't think any of you are doing that. So, how do we apply this spiritually? Right? If it's important for the Roman soldier to have this faith or this shield, how much more for us as Christians to have our shield of faith? But what does it mean? What is faith? How does faith protect me? How do I get faith? First, I want to say something very loud and very clear. Well, maybe not so loud, but very clear. Faith in faith can never and will never deliver anybody either from God's wrath or from Satan's wiles. Okay? Faith in faith will not protect you from the wiles of Satan or the wrath of God. We saw on Sunday school this morning, everyone has faith. You know that? Muslims have faith. They believe in a false god called Allah and his false prophet named Muhammad. They have faith. You think they blow themselves up without faith? They have faith. Is that the shield of faith? No. Catholics have faith. They believe that Mary will hear their prayers and take them to Jesus. They believe that their penance will somehow work forgiveness. They believe in the merits of the saints. They believe in all these works that will somehow save them. They have faith, otherwise they wouldn't do them. Is that the shield of faith? No. Mormons have faith. Jehovah's Witnesses have faith. And listen, atheists have faith. They have faith in scientific inquiry and evolutionary theory, underlying theory. So we're going to have to define this faith a little more specifically, otherwise we're universalists. Just have faith! Paul says, take up the shield of faith. Oh good, I've got faith. I believe in myself. I believe I'm a thoroughbred, I'm a champion, that I'm just the best person in all the world. I believe in me. Just like what all of Oprah's books say. Believe in yourself. Okay, that must mean that's not the shield of faith. That's why you've got to read Paul. Paul's words are specific here. Whenever you read Paul, And especially in Ephesians, faith is always in Christ, towards, into Christ. It's a theological shorthand. He says faith here, but he always means faith, saving faith, united faith in Christ. You must not just have faith, you must have saving faith in Christ. And the illustration that came to my mind, I don't know if Marvin remembers this, but when we went to India the first time, I had my old laptop. And it gloriously died on the way home to never give me problems again. But it had the worst battery in the world. And like always, I was writing my sermon at the last minute. So I'm trying to work in the airport, and that battery, I'm just like... It's like every word I'm writing, it's dropping. So I gotta plug it in. But you know what I didn't bring? The right cord! I thought everything was 120. I go and I got these big things that you think you could hook up like monstrous cooking utensils in a restaurant in. I can't plug it in. I've got the cord, but I don't have the right cord. I can't plug my cord into that power. You have the right cord. All that power there is available, God says. All that power is at your disposal, right? You just gotta plug in. I've got my cord. I've got faith. You don't have the right kind of faith. It must be the faith that is in Christ Jesus, Paul says to Timothy. Everyone here, I know you all have faith this morning. But are you in Christ? Are you plugged in by faith in Christ? This is all the difference in the world. You cannot wrestle. against these spiritual forces. They're strong. You need a ton of power if you're going to wrestle against them. Please don't be holding up the wrong cord of faith. There is one name given under heaven and earth by which man must be saved. There is one cord by which God will infuse not only forgiveness, but power. And that cord is in Christ, by faith in Christ. Faith unleashes God's saving, delivering, rescuing power into our lives. Faith in Christ. You've heard me give that illustration. You've got to plug into Christ. That lightbulb is not going to go off until you plug in. You can read to the lightbulb. You can meditate on the lightbulb. You can sing to the lightbulb. That lightbulb is not going to light up. It needs power running through it. And that power is found only in Christ. You will never be able to wrestle against all of these foes unless your faith is in Christ. Right? Be strengthened in the Lord. It doesn't say be strengthened in your faith. Be strengthened in the Lord. And how are you strengthened in the Lord? By faith. Okay, let me give you three texts in Ephesians that will show you that God unleashes His power in the believer's life through faith. Okay, it sounds awesome. It sounds like a charismatic sermon. He said, unleash power! Ephesians 1.19. I encourage you to turn there. Okay, here's Paul's prayer. God open up the eyes of their hearts. God, show them all the resources they have in Christ. Show them that they have been blessed in the heavenly realms with every heavenly blessing in Christ. 1-3. Show them that. That's my paraphrase at the beginning of the prayer. In verse 18. We've had our eyes enlightened by grace that we might know three things. The first is the hope to which He's called us. The second is what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in us, in the saints. And it's the third one here in verse 19. I want to show you the connection between God's power unleashed in our lives and faith alone. Third, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power towards us who believe? Let me translate that for you the way I would have it. What is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us as we are believing? It's a participle, which means nothing to anybody other than to say that this is the act of a present figure. as you believe God's power is being made available and unleashed through you. No faith, no power. That's why Paul says, God opened their eyes that they might see the power that is theirs through faith. To those who believe, this power is realized, it's actualized. It's the same power, I'm not going to read it, but if you look in verses 20-23, it's this resurrection power that raised Christ from the dead and seated Him above who? The rulers and authorities! I've kind of heard that. Alright, that's Ephesians 6, 11! Or 12, I mean. We don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against rulers and authorities and all these names! Well, in Ephesians 1, God says that He's made available for us, in Christ, by faith, the same power that Christ conquered over all those foes with. You can triumph by faith. Newton was not wrong. When Satan assails us, we triumph by faith. It's interesting, and for you, Lazar, probably alone, and maybe some of the other Greek guys, the Greek word in 119, dunamis, is the same root as the word in 618. Right? With which you are able. The SV is not good. It says which you can or which you are able. But to quench or extinguish all the enemies? Dunamay. Okay? How are we able to quench all these darts? By faith. It says the same thing in chapter 1 as he does in chapter 6. God's power to overcome and resist the devil, to endure, to stand, to withstand an evil day? Faith. Not just knowing the righteousness, faith in the righteousness. Not just knowing the truth, faith in the truth. Not just knowing peace, faith that Christ has become our peace. Second passage. You're probably familiar with this. It's in chapter 2. See, when Paul's doing practical theology in chapter 6, he's drawing upon all the theology of 1, 2, and 3. Verses 5 through 8. So, by nature, In Adam, unplugged we might say, we're dead. Right? There's no life in a lamp that's not plugged in. That's all of us by nature. We're dead in the trespasses and sins in which we once walked, following the Prince of the power of the air. Okay? We're dead to Christ, and we're in Satan's army as it were. But, verse 4, but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, He did what? He made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved. Then He did two other things. And He raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And it's very important. You need to be in Christ. You need to share in His death, His burial, and His resurrection. But you need to be with Him in all of those things. You need to be in Christ Jesus. How are you in Christ Jesus? Well, verse 8 tells us, For by grace you have been saved, Through faith. All those privileges and power is yours in Christ. How do you plug into Christ? By faith. Faith unites us with the risen, ascended, and exalted Christ. Chapter 1, we're in Him, above all these names. Chapter 2, we're seated with Him in the heavenly places. How? By faith. Not by religion. Not by works. Not by moralism or goodness. By faith. And faith alone. We're dead. God makes us alive. We plug into Christ. All of the blessings are ours. Through faith. We're dead. And God made us alive. Gave us faith. We plugged into Christ. And now we conquer. I can do all things in Christ. Not through. In Christ in Philippians 4. In Christ. Who strengthens me? How are you united to Christ? Through faith. Look in 1 Timothy 1 quickly. I just want to show you how this works. A lot of people don't know this verse. Because I'm always trying to think, like, how does this work? I'm dead, and now I'm alive, and then I'm in Christ through faith. I thank Him, verse 12. Who has given me strength. So here's Paul's testimony in chapter 1. And he's going to say in Ephesians 2 that our testimony is identical to his in 1 Timothy 1. I thank Him who has given me strength. Be strengthened in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Christ Jesus, our Lord, because He judged me faithful, appointing me to His service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent, but I received mercy. It's the same as Ephesians 2. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ. You're dead in your sins. You hear the gospel, and God's electing love, grace takes that gospel, gives you new life, gives you faith, and with that faith, you trust in Christ and are united to Him. The grace that brings with it faith and love in Christ, and in Christ, you are more than conquerors. In Christ, you overcome. In Christ, you have God's power unleashed in battle. Okay? I have way more scriptures I want to go through, but I'm already going longer than I anticipated. Let's go to the third passage. Ephesians 1, Ephesians 2, surprisingly, Ephesians 3. Let's look at the third one. So we see in chapter 1 and 2 how faith unleashes this power God has for us in Christ. And you should be saying, God, give me this faith. My life is so powerless. I know a lot of theology. I can win lots and lots of Bible quizzes. But my life is void of power. Just say, God, I believe. Have my unbelief. Give me faith in Christ. Not just to know about Him, but to trust in Him. Ephesians 3. This is going to be part of our application. Chapter 1 is a prayer. Chapter 3 is a prayer. Maybe that's intentional. Verse 14. For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of His glory He may grant you to be strengthened." That sounds exactly like Ephesians. It is. Finally, be strengthened in the Lord. And in the power of His might. God, how are you going to... Maybe prayer, but that's for the application. That He may grant you, He may grace you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your heart by faith. Paul is simply drawing the link here between divine strengthening and faith. Paul is simply praying that the believers realize God's empowerment comes through faith. I know that sounds very Arminian. Suck it up. It's scriptural. You don't sit like a hyper-Calvinist, waiting to do nothing. You pray for it. You plead for it. Faith comes by hearing, so you say, God give me faith. I don't want to be a useless, paltry Christian who knows a lot, but does nothing. How is God able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think according to the power that His work is in us? By faith, to those who are believing. How is God going to transform the world? Not by a bunch of smart Christians, but by a bunch of believing Christians. That's why Jesus says, you've got to be like children. We think too much as adults. I love to read and I love to reason and I love to think, so don't think I'm saying that. But I overanalyze everything to the neglect and detriment of simple childlike faith. Right? Just a bunch of fishermen turn the world upside down. Why? Because they believed the gospel was the power of God for deliverance, for salvation, for rescue to those who are believing present participle again. How does the gospel deliver you? Not by quoting it, by believing it. So what does faith look like? So that's my fourth point. In every circumstance, that's when we take up the shield. Why? It quenches all those fiery arrows, darts, missiles of the enemy. How does it work? How do we get power? By believing in Christ, God unleashes His power. Faith is what unites us to Christ. Okay? Talk to John about electricity, he'd be more than helpful, more than happy to give you some kind of course on it. You gotta plug into the power, and you plug into Christ by faith. What does faith look like? R.C. Sproul says this, I promise I'm almost done. The whole concept of faith, says Sproul, is one of the most misunderstood ideas that we have is understood not only by the world, but by the church itself. The very basis for our redemption, the way in which we are justified by God, is through faith. The Bible is constantly talking to us about faith, and if we misunderstand that, we're in deep trouble. So let me explain to you. Three components. Necessary. All three of these are absolutely necessary for biblical saving faith. If you are missing any of these, it's not true faith. Here's three Latin words for Daryl. It's what we learned in seminary, and R.C. Sproul loves to use these too. Notitia, assensus, fiducia. Okay, don't worry about writing those down. The first is notitia. It's the content of faith. Faith comes by hearing. There's a lot of Christians who never read this book. This is your notitia. This is the content. You can't just believe in nothing. You gotta believe the promises. So notitia is the promises of God. It's the content. You're saved by the Word of Christ, by believing in the Word of Christ. So notitia, what is the content? What am I to believe? The second is not just to know the content, but to ascend to it. Ascensus. You have to agree with it. You're persuaded of the truthfulness. So I say Jesus Christ died, and three days later, He was risen from the dead. A lot of you might agree with it, but you're still not a Christian, perhaps. But you know the fact, you know what the Gospel is. You even agree, it's reasonable. But you need the third component, which is called fiducia. That's simply personal trust or commitment to the truth of the Gospel. Faith is not merely knowing or even agreeing with the truth. Faith is a verb. It's an acting upon the truth. Okay? I'm drowning, that lifeboat will save me. Someone told me, I believe it. If I don't grab on to it, I'm not saved. Fiducia. It means to transfer all of your trust into what you believe. You put your mouth, or your money, sorry, is where your mouth is. Okay? Faith is a verb. It's an action. Read Hebrews 11. By faith, Abraham left. By faith, Noah built. By faith, Moses left. By faith, they did things. So it's not enough for you to say, OK, I believe. Here's the gospel. Ding! I agree with it. That means nothing if you haven't transferred all of your trust upon Christ as your Savior. All that Christ is for us as sinners means nothing if we're not in Him by faith. If you've not reached out. Okay, so the illustration I've used. Here's some beautiful water. Someone told me water will quench my thirst. I see it, I believe it will make me thirsty. And now I die of my thirst. Pick it up, man! If you believe it will quench your thirst and you die, drink it! Why will you die? Believe! Believe! Trust in Christ! He's not that glass of water. Trust in Christ! Bank on Him! His faith. Forsaking all, I trust Him. Look outside of yourself and look to Christ and place yourself at His mercy. Cling to Christ. Psalm 10, 14 says, To you the helpless commits himself. Commit yourself to Christ. Don't just have mental assent to Christ. Commit your life to Christ. Forsake all of yourself and flee for refuge in Christ. Look and live. That's the Gospel. It's so simple. Please don't just agree with me and say, Amen. Trust in Christ savingly and bank all of your eternity upon Him. Not just sort of, I'll hedge my bets. Christ is all or nothing. It's not enough to realize you are weak and helpless against the foe. You must respond in faith. It's not enough for you to realize that God is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. You must respond by taking refuge in Him. Realizing must be followed with response. Not only is our faith how we overcome the world, it's how we overcome the God of this world. Beloved, in every situation take up the shield of faith. For Paul says that by faith we can overcome every fiery arrow Satan shoots at us. Whether an unholy thought, A temptation, whether blasphemy, fear, false teachings, oppression, doubt, despair, discouragement, distrust, discontentment, worry, envy, pride, even atheism. Understand that faith can quench those. How encouraging this must have been to Paul's original hearers. Oh, that it would encourage you that no temptation is too great for you, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10. Do you believe God will provide a way of escape? In truth, the devil cannot touch the believer who exercises faith in this way. Try as he will, Satan cannot penetrate this defense. Faith is this, a total dependence upon God that becomes supernatural in its working. Anybody know Hebrews 11.6? Actually, anyone know Hebrews 11.1 and Hebrews 11.6? What is faith? It is the Assurance. Sorry, there's different translations. Someone just say it nice and loud in their translation. Substance. So that's exactly what faith is. It's the substance. The Greek word can mean reality. It's the assurance of things hoped for. Being convinced of what you do not see. That's what it is. And this is how important it is. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. For we must believe that He is, or that He exists, and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him. So, you're sitting here, I don't have much faith, so I'm going to sit like a couch potato and do nothing. Diligently seek Him. Pray with Paul in Ephesians 1 and Ephesians 3. Give me faith. Seek Him in the Word. I was thinking about it. We're so lazy nowadays. We call anything that smells of discipline, legalism. And Satan loves it so. That you would go home and read your Bible for an hour on Sunday afternoon. And come back to the evening service. No, that's legalism. I'm free in Christ. You can think that way. But He rewards those who diligently seek Him. True faith is our lifeline to God's grace and power. Without faith, nothing else counts. If faith is missing, everything else is in vain. It's our lifeline. Some of you are dying. Don't do anything else until you are resting in Christ. Counsel every plan, everything you can. Don't go to work tomorrow. Wake up early tomorrow. Do whatever it takes. Fight for faith, Paul says to Timothy. Fight! Fight for faith! Satan's killing many of you, and you're doing nothing! Fight to rest in Christ! Why will you go to hell? Without faith, Christians, we will be mechanically going through outward forms of religion without experiencing nothing of God's power. I'm sick of religion. I really am. I hope you are. I want to know Christ. I want to know His resurrection power. And it comes by faith. Believer, God can and is willing to revive fresh faith in you if you simply ask Him. Ask and you will receive. Seek. And he will find. Knock and it will be opened. For everyone who keeps asking, receives. And everyone who keeps seeking, finds. And everyone who keeps knocking, the door is open. Be the importunate widow and don't let go until God grants you greater faith in Christ. The greatest Christian is not the one who achieves the most, but the one who receives the most. Application. You put on the armor by faith and you put it on by prayer. Faith and prayer are basically synonymous. In the New Testament, there are only two things that made our Lord Jesus Christ marvel. Not depraved children. You know what made Jesus marvel? Faith and unbelief. Isn't that crazy? He wasn't like, wow, that's profound theology. Man, you understand predestination? That's great! Look at this pagan. I tell you that not in all Israel is there anyone like him. And then he marveled at their unbelief. Oh, that Christ would marvel at great faith. Romans 4 says that no distrust, no unbelief made Abraham waver concerning the promise of God, but rather he grew strong in his faith, giving glory to God. Do you want to give glory to God? Grow strong in your faith. How? Ask. Ask. You have not because you ask not. Faith is a gift. Ask for the gift. Do it. In prayer, do it like Whitfield, reading your Bible on your face, on your knees. And third, if you need, ask for trials to come into your life. Read Hebrews 11. Men of great faith are men who go through many waters and fiery trials. James says that God sends trials our way to strengthen us. Peter says that God sends trials to purify our faith, which is more precious than anything this world could ever offer. Have you resolved to say, God, I am not going to let go until you give me faith. I am going to pray, I'm going to pray, I'm going to fast, I'm going to do whatever it takes. If you want to call that legalism, go for it. Personal testimony. When I waver in faith, you know what the first thing I start doing is? I need to fast. Call me a legalist. That's fine. God strengthens me. And if I'm strengthened in that legalism, glory be to God. I get in the word and I don't just read it so I can show off. I read it because in it is life. I feast on Christ in John 6. He is true meat. He is true drink indeed. Some of you are just dying. Your faith is almost about to be snuffed out. Go and fan it into flame. Get into this book. Don't hang out with others. Get into this book. Then hang out with others. When Satan fails us to stop up our path and courage all fails us, We triumph by faith. Father, I thank you. I pray now, Lord, that this sermon will not be received with unbelief. Father, what a shame it would be if I didn't believe this. Father, I think of what Spurgeon told a young man who saw no conversions. Spurgeon said, do you believe that God is saving anybody or can? Father, help me to believe that you can save somebody here this morning. Some of the teens, some of the children, some of the adults. Help me to believe that you can save, that people can hear Christ's voice and come when your gospel is preached, when the cross is magnified, when the Spirit is poured out. Father, I pray, please don't make us as a church a whole bunch of egg-headed theologians who have no faith. Father, I pray, that even as the believers saw in Thessalonica and Romans and Colossians, that their faith was going out through all the world. Father, please let us be a people who triumph by faith. Help us to be like children. Help us to trust and help us to obey. Help us to cling to Thy promises. Help us, Lord, to feed on You by faith. And Lord, I know some feel here beaten down because they have no faith and they feel that they're leaving here with less faith. Oh Lord, give them faith. Open their eyes, Father. Show them all that is theirs in Christ, if they would but come to Him. Father, help us to believe that Christ will in no wise cast out any that come to Him. Father, please, save Your people. Save us in justification. And then save us in glorification. Save us, Lord, from temptation and trial. Deliver us from the evil one. By faith, Lord, we ask. In Jesus' name,