(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Ephesians 6 16 above all now when we see the words above all that means this is the most important thing right so is the helmet important yes that is the girdle important is the breastplate important of course those things are all part is the preparation of the gospel piece everything is important but above all he says above all taking the shield of faith where with you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked so a critical component of the armor is the shield of faith why is it so critical the darts of the wicked well let's look at Psalm 11 keep your finger in Ephesians 6 but let's go to Psalm 11 because in Psalm 11 we see a scripture that's kind of similar to the fiery darts of the wicked because remember he said above all taking the shield of faith where with you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked so we think of the fiery darts of the wicked now look at Psalm 11 one in the Lord put I my trust and by the way trust is synonymous with faith the shield of faith how say you to my soul flee is a bird to your mountain for lo the wicked sound familiar bend their bow they make ready their arrow upon the string that they may privilege shoot at the upright and hard so in Psalm 11 we have the wicked shooting arrows at the upright and hard and in Ephesians 6 we had the fiery darts of the wicked pretty much the same thing right and then look at the next verse in verse 3 he says if the foundations be destroyed what can the righteous do if the foundations be destroyed what can the righteous do now what does it mean to have the shield of faith because if it's that important to where he would put the words above all we need to pay very close attention to what this is faith is when we trust and believe what God has said in his work when it comes to salvation what is faith because we know we're saved by faith right the Bible says for by grace are you saved through faith and then not of yourselves is the gift of God not of works as any man should boast it shouldn't really surprise us that faith comes above all since faith is even what saved us in the first place faith in Christ what is faith in Christ mean well go to Ephesians chapter 1 you might have a finger in Ephesians 6 Ephesians 1 is right there and look what it says in verse number 12 it says that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ you see that we trusted in Christ verse 13 in whom you also trusted after that you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation in whom also after that you believed you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise so notice how trusting in Christ is equivalent with believing in Christ so when the Bible says that we're to believe in Jesus to be saved believe on Jesus to be saved you know what that means we're trusting Christ and what does it mean to trust him it means that we're relying on him to save us not relying on ourselves so person who said well I believe in Jesus but I think I'm going to heaven because I'm a good person their trust is in themselves they're not trusting in Christ ok they and I believe Jesus existed but they don't have trust in Christ they don't have their faith in Christ they're not relying on Christ so when the Bible talks about faith in regard to salvation it's trusting Jesus's death burial and resurrection to get you to heaven not trusting in your own works not trusting in your own goodness or any good life or leaf that you've turned over what have you but is that where faith in our life ends I mean do we do we have faith to get us saved and then faith just never comes into play again in our lives no the Bible says in Romans 15 that we go from faith to faith in our life and the Bible says that as we've trusted Christ that's also how we walk in Christ ok so getting saved is a one-time thing we put our faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ as our only way to heaven but wait a minute aren't there other areas that we need to trust Christ and also going forward now to get to heaven we just need to trust Christ in that one area trust him with our soul trust him with the death burial and resurrection as our only way to heaven but as we live our lives we will find many other promises in God's Word that tell us if you live right or if you do this I'm gonna bless you for example you know God said seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you you know all these promises of God the question is are we gonna trust the promises of God are we gonna rely on that now we've already relied on Jesus for salvation but wait a minute are you gonna rely on God to give you your daily bread are you gonna rely on God when he tells you how your marriage should be are you gonna trust what God said about your marriage or are you going to go with what the world says because the world you know what the world's gonna tell you that the Bible's methods don't work the world will tell you that the Bible's way of marriage is wrong the world will tell you oh yeah the Bible tells you to spank your kids but that doesn't work we've got studies to prove that spanking doesn't work right that's what they'll say who are you gonna trust are you gonna trust the word or are you gonna trust what the world says okay the world is gonna tell you all kinds of things that are contrary to the Bible and they're gonna try to destroy your faith in the Bible and I'm not talking about your faith in Jesus once we're saved we're always saved you know we have the Holy Spirit of promise but wait a minute what about all the other areas where God gives us advice and gives us counsel are we gonna follow that advice and counsel are we gonna walk in the counsel of the ungodly now when it comes to the shield of faith why is the shield of faith gonna quench the fiery darts of the wicked because the devil is gonna fire these fiery darts at us and what is the goal of those fiery darts well in Psalm 11 3 we got some insight into that to destroy the foundation if the foundation be destroyed what can the righteous do the foundation the very foundations of what we believe in the very foundations of how we live our lives are under attack by the devil and we need the shield of faith to quench the fiery darts the way what do I mean the devil is going to constantly be attacking us and trying to what is it imaginations and and thoughts it said and let me let me just quickly go back to that you don't have to turn there but he said in 2nd Corinthians 10 5 casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ different competing ideas competing ideas about how to live your life competing ideas about what's right other ideas that I will know this is a better way to have a marriage or there's a better way to raise your kids or there's a better way to run your business or is a better way to do nutrition or there's a better way of building a church or there's a better way and it's the world's philosophies that are constantly attacking us and trying to get us to give in and and trying to take the foundation of God's word out from under us that rock that everything that we believe is based upon we need the shield of faith wherewith we shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked if you look at job and I know we're kind of done looking at job for a while but if you look at job and think about this he stayed firm he stood did he not stand in the evil day I mean you want to talk about the evil day he stood he was not defeated that tells me he had the whole armor of God he had to have or he would have fallen he would have been defeated I mean he did some serious battle and he stood all the way to the bitter end because he had the shield of faith and what did job say the most fit one of the most famous quotes in the whole book of job though he slay me yet will I though he slay me yet will I trust him he had that shield of faith didn't he and that's why he was able to quench all the fiery darts we trusting God have faith in God what does that mean that means that when you're doing things God's way and they don't seem to be working you keep doing it God's way but it's not working the world's got a better way keep trusting God because God's ways don't always work overnight but they do work you know God doesn't necessarily give you all the blessings that he promises tomorrow or a week from now but if you hang in there and keep that shield of faith out there saying I trust God I trust what God has said the Bible said trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy path and when we know the Bible and we know the promises of God and we believe that God's way is the best way and that God's gonna bless us if we do what's right and that if we hang in there weeping may endure for the night but joy cometh in the morning and if we know the patience of job that he was stood and stood all the way to the end and God bless the latter end of job then we know that like job when we're tried will come forth as gold and we need to just stay with it and have the faith that says you know what I know that if I do what's right God's gonna bless me I know that if I commit sin I'm gonna be cursed I know if I commit fornication God's gonna mess up my life I know if I commit adultery it's gonna ruin my life I know that covetousness will eat me up from the inside and turn me into a wicked ungodly person because the love of money is the root of all evil aching the shield of faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked so a critical component of the armor is the shield of faith wise that is the girdle important is the breastplate important of course those things are all part is the preparation of the gospel everything's important but above all he says above all take Ephesians 6 16 above all now when we see the words above all that means this is the most important thing right so is the helmet important yet it's kind of similar to the fiery darts of the wicked because remember he said above all taking the shield of faith wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of eyes it's so critical the darts of the wicked well let's look at Psalm 11 keep your finger in Ephesians 6 but let's go to Psalm 11 because in Psalm 11 we see a scripture