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

I'm here. Right, so we're in Hebrews 4, but in case you're wondering where to turn next, we're going to keep a finger there and go to Ephesians 6 for the last time, probably for a little while, as we're on the last of our six-part series called The Whole Armour of God. We've been breaking down each item of the armour, and for good reason really. When this church started, many of us probably weren't fully prepared for the spiritual battle that was to follow. I know I kind of didn't expect it to be how it kind of became, and the spiritual battle rages, yeah, when you're doing stuff for God, when you're serving God, when as a church, as a whole group here, we're doing great things for God, that means that we're going to have a spiritual battle with it. And many people here probably might be sitting here thinking, you know, the half of the battle I have on a day-to-day basis, and maybe, you know, going home and outside this church, and that we're all going to be going through our own individual battles, and as a church we're going to go through spiritual battles as well. But fortunately, God hasn't left us a spiritual cannon fodder, has he? Yeah, he hasn't just left us there to just get destroyed, he's given us access to all we need to be able to stand. He wants us to stand, doesn't he? God wants us to stand. And in Ephesians 6 and verse 10, Paul said this, finally my brethren be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might, put on the whole armour of God that ye may be able to stand against the wilds of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. And like I've already said, yes, there is devilry going on in the upper echelons of society, but the battle in this nation for me is raging here, okay, it's raging here. Look, and we don't, you know, we don't want to go so far, there's no other church, but there's no other church that's soul winning on mass like we are here. There's no other church going on, going out multiple times a week preaching the correct gospel. Yeah, there's no, there's no other church doing that and for me, if you're spiritual wickedness in high places, this is where the battle is, isn't it? And the battle is for every single one of you here as well, okay, because part of the battle, part of the goal is to pull you out of church. Part of the goal is to weaken you, part of the goal is to discourage you and part of the goal is to, a big part of the goal is to destroy this church as well in one way or another. Okay, we are in a spiritual battle and the enemy, like I say, doesn't take a day off when you go home. Well, I've come out of the four walls, it's, you know, home scot-free now. No, that's a lot of the time when the battle heats up for you, yeah, okay, when you're going about your day to day lives. But if we wrestle not against flesh and blood, which it says here, an interesting point because we were talking about this the other day, where does that leave your average reprobate, your average child of the devil, children obedient, maybe it adds weight to what many believe is that each and every one of them has got their own devil inside them because we wrestle not against flesh and blood, so what we're wrestling against is spiritual wickedness, right? Anyway, let's keep going. Wherefore take unto you the whole, the whole armour of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand and that's why we're going through these items one by one. For me, this is a massively important subject, we're in a spiritual battle, we're offered spiritual armour, we've been going through it one by one, so we really understand how, why and where and what and the rest of it as to how to take on this spiritual armour, it's important. In fact, it's of even more importance to saying what I said there and not to puff us up just because we're a church which is trying to do things biblically and we've had some great teaching, many of us here from other great churches and great men of God and great pasts out there to encourage us to do things the biblical way but with that means there's a lot of responsibility on this church, isn't there? There's a lot of responsibility here because we're trying to do things which other churches aren't, that means that we're out there, we're unique, that means we're going to get hit, we're going to get targeted, we're going to get people constantly trying to discredit, trying to demoralise and because what's the goal of this church? It's not only to reach our local community, it's to reach the whole nation and that might take many years to accomplish but we want to get people out, we want to get more churches planted, we want to get people out far and why preach in the gospel, don't we? And with that means that we're going to come up against the Lord of Opposition, So, he then said in verse 14, And we've looked at the belt, the breastplate, the shoes, the shield and the helmet, so today we're going to look at the sword, we're going to finish this series with the sword, the title of the sermon today is The Whole Armour of God, number six, The Sword. Let's pray, Father, thank you for the sword, thank you for the whole armour of God, thank you that you give us what we need to be able to fight and win this spiritual battle, help us all here to want to take every armour of God, to take the whole armour of God, to not just pick and choose the bits which suit us and wonder why things don't go well for us, why we seem to lose that battle, help us to understand that we're part of a bigger battle as well, it's not just our own individual battles, it's the greater battle that we're fighting as part of this church, please help us to all appreciate that, you know, put the importance on it that it's needed and help me now to preach this last part of this series, just accurately Lord and clearly and help everyone here to really pay attention to what your word's got to say Lord, help us all to just, you know, have things to take home from this and to really apply to our lives, fill me with your spirit please Lord, in Jesus' name I pray all of this, Amen. Okay so like with all of the previous items here, we're going to get a good understanding of what Paul is picturing here, you know I'm a man of routine so I like to, you know, if I've got a formula I'm going to keep going with that, so we're going to look into what sort of sword he's picturing because there have been many kinds of sword throughout history, in case anyone's wondering, anyone interested in this sort of thing, we've had long, short, thin, wide, straight, curved, sharp, even blunt, you know, some for slashing, some for thrusting, some for speed, some for power, okay, there's a variety of swords in the world and there have been throughout history, so what about this Roman sword, because I think we, I don't think anyone here is debating whether or not we're picturing a Roman soldier here, what about the Roman sword? There was a less common, what's known as a spatha sword that was used, which was a longer sword used by the cavalry for good reason, being up on a horse etc, it wouldn't have been so effective with the shorter sword that is kind of the iconic Roman sword, but the shorter sword is by far the most common sword of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire following, and it is known as the gladius, it's the gladius sword, and many here can probably picture it because of maybe mock-ups of it as well, where it looks barely longer than a dagger, but that's not the truth, okay, it is still a reasonably length sword, according to UNRV, which is a Roman history site, it says it, and this is a bit of a lengthy article, so hopefully you follow along with me here, just, yeah, just pay attention to this because some of this is going to apply to the sermon as well, says the Roman gladius sword is one of the most iconic weapons that comes to mind when we think of a Roman legionary, I think a lot of people do picture that sort of gladius sword, although it varied slightly in size over the centuries with its short blade of about 18 inches, 18 inches is still sizable, right, I'm going about there for 18 inches, and it was two inches wide, this small sword was ideally suited to both cutting and thrusting, the opponent's armour which was nearly always inferior to the armour of the soldiers of the powerful and mighty Roman Empire, really stood a chance against the skillfully manufactured strong and lethally sharp blades of the gladius, out of all the weapons in the Roman army's arsenal, the gladius was the one which contributed most to the ruthless expansion, the conquering of foreign lands as the Empire expanded outwards for Rome, so that's quite a strong, what would you call it, advertisement for the gladius, let's see why they say this, the history of it, let's look at the history first, like most innovations, both in ancient times and the present, new equipment and processes tend to be based on what currently exists with the aim of keeping the best parts and improving on the weaknesses, so it's not that they suddenly went, I know, let's just kind of, this sword would be a good idea, so a lot of the time throughout history it's just been based on what was before, right, the Romans were particularly adept at this, for example Roman military ships were modified and improved versions of early Greek and Carthaginian vessels, their fighting capabilities enhanced by the Romans with modifications such as the Corvus for boarding vessels rather than relying on simple ramming techniques, the gladius sword was no different, similar types of short swords were already in existence, used by civilisations older than the Romans, the xiphos was a sword of a similar length that was used by the ancient Greeks primarily as a secondary weapon once their javelin had been lost, a similar sword was also used by Spanish mercenaries fighting for Hannibal during the Punic wars in the latter part of the third century BC, during the second Punic war at the battle of Cannae in 215 BC the Romans came up against these formidable weapons on the battlefield which unfortunately for them were ideal for cutting and slashing, okay, so already we're seeing that look, a sword's just not a sword, okay, there are certain types and designs of swords and even what they're made of and how they're made which affects how effective they are, right, so it's here after being on the wrong end of these fearsome weapons the Romans realised all too well how effective they could be in the right hands, quickly adopted them for their own use, the famous Roman general Scipio Africanus is often attributed to making the gladius a primary weapon of the Republican legions after the battle of Cartagena in 209 BC, the fact that it is based on the weapon used by these mercenaries from the Iberian peninsula of Spain is one theory as to why the gladius was also referred to by the way as a gladius hispaniansis or gladius hispanicus which is a Spanish sword, right, manufacturer metal working and forging were skills that were well known in the ancient world even if the chemical processes and metallurgy were not totally understood, so I think many people look back at history and think oh you know a bunch of idiots they didn't know anything we know it all now look people knew a lot of stuff they might not have used the terms we use now and maybe kind of understood ways or at least the descriptions and etc the processes as we claim to understand them now but they did some amazing stuff in the old world okay and here it says studies of Roman gladius blades have been found have shown that they were typically made from smelting iron ore now smelting is is I think it's going with a chemical process I think it goes beyond its melting point I think if I'm right there it says while this would have still have made a hard blade that could be made extremely sharp what seems to set Roman blades apart is that their forging process also produced low carbon content still also known as mild steel rather than being an accident is widely believed by historians that the Romans knew exactly what they were doing in this regard this would have allowed the gladius to be stronger and have an even sharper edge make it a superior weapon to those that their opponents wielded one which could ultimately inflict more damage to armored bodies so it was stronger it was sharper and when we say strong you're like well stronger for what for going through armor for going through shields for for going up against other swords and and even though it was a shorter sword this was a sharp this is a strong sword and there was reason for this now then we're just briefly we're going to look at the training with it because it says here of course having the sharpest strongest weapon your hand would be of little use if you didn't really know what to do with it as such training was vital for a Roman soldier before he went into battle along with the fitness training that was required an unfit army was no use for martial fighting a Roman soldier is also trained in weapons and shield usage training props are typically much heavier potentially double the weight than the actual equipment they would use in battle in order to build up muscle and make the real things feel much lighter and easier to use so what what people do now when they train and they call it like like resistance loading and things like that this isn't nothing new under the sun okay they were doing this stuff for a long time before they they were using heavier equipment to then build up strength and to to be more effective when they use the lighter stuff unlike in some movies and tv programs where soldiers seemingly train full pelt with actual weapons and then finish unarmed in reality this would be extremely difficult to in any meaningful way without actually seriously injuring or even killing your training partner so obviously they didn't want dead or injured soldiers it says as such training took place with wooden replicas they would cause a nasty bruise if you got hit with it these blunt wooden gladius swords would not be anything like as dangerous as a metal counterparts right training could last around four months before a new recruit would even be considered for a battlefield this was because the strength of roman leader unit depended on each individual working together in formation having soldiers didn't know what to do would result in gaps and weaknesses in the lines that could be exploited by the enemy and put the whole unit at risk that being said gladius training was not just limited to newcomers just like professional sports people today training and practice is vital no matter how experienced you are the same was true of soldiers even experienced veterans would practice their skills particularly if it had been a while since they had seen action for real okay last bit on this usage as mentioned um at the top of this page of gladius was a relatively short sword of approximately 18 inches in length it was therefore used in a very different way than swords of say the middle ages where knights in suits run would wield weapons of a few feet of length in a sword fight the gladius was designed and used primarily as a stabbing weapon ideally the roman line would hold firm with shields together provided a great deal of protection remember we looked at the shield we looked at the formation how they do that the uh provided a great deal of protection for all of the men at the front who would then advance on the enemy and thrust their gladius upwards into the rib cage area of the adversary directly in front of them fighting such close-knit formation was a primary reason for why new recruits need to know exactly what was expected of them could understand each sound of the horn to change tactical formation of course this was the ideal scenario but battles tend to descend into much less neat situations this is why the gladius was also designed as a cutting weapon as well so one way was like with the shields they were stabbing through that wall of shields but also it would sometimes split up into a more open fight when they need to be able to cut as well right and slash with it and legionnaires practice so much at one-to-one combat using their shield quite often in a battle the nice defensive shield line would be broken in the melee of fighting and there came the need for one-to-one close call to combat even if it was just for a short period before the line could be reassembled using the shield to repel an enemy's blows while using the gladius to stab and slash was a brutal yet effective fighting technique having a better weapon stronger armor more effective training and greater discipline all combined to prove to prove far too much for pretty much every enemy that stood in the way of the roman army now i know that's a bit of a kind of simplified just nice easy to listen to description of it but ultimately that gladius sword was effective okay it was strong it was sharp it worked for their formation it that the roman army was was well it was formidable wasn't it and it's funny that paul is giving us this picture of a well-prepared soldier in a time when the soldier of the day was pretty much as good as it got wasn't he okay and these soldiers are still legends to this day and paul's giving us this description their armor and weaponry was a big part of the success of the roman empire and can help us understand our spiritual armor for me what is our spiritual sword then because we've seen what the physical sword is what he's picturing here and and he's picturing a sword which by the way you've just listened to the to hebrews 4 and verse 12 and we we've just been picturing a sword here which is sharper than any other sword out there okay and our spiritual sword ephesians 6 17 said and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of god the word of god is our sword and i know about you but when i reach for a sword i want the smelted iron yeah i want the low carbon steel the mild steel i want the purest sword i can get out there right not some soft little alloy niv some skinny flimsy little esv not not some blunt nkjv right no i reach for the sharpest and strongest two-edged sword which which like with this roman gladius here has lasted the test of time okay you know the sword that we use here in this church and sadly is being used less and less around this nation around the world it is is a sword which has lasted the test of time it's battle tried and tested for over 400 years okay it's been it's been taken around the world for 400 plus years now and it's tried and tested isn't it it's seen victories in many areas it's seen souls saved all over the world for hundreds of years and it came from the manuscripts that were tried and tested for well at least 1600 years before that if we're talking about the new testament and look i reach for my king james bible because everything else is a cheap alternative we'll give you a cheap security for cheap false security that's what it will give you we reach for our king james bible here and and i know about you but i've taken this sword to battle i've taken this sword to battle this king james bible well actually i have taken i've taken this sort of battle many times from behind this pulpit and i've got i've got a sword in my bag that i take to battle which is identical yeah it's that same gladius it's that same sharp two-edged sword and i've taken it to battle many times i put it to the test you know what it's never let me down it's never let me down my sword has never let me down when i've used it properly when i've used it in the right way it doesn't let you down and when if you remember you don't have to turn it but when david was offered soul's armor to fight goliath in first samuel 1739 it says and david girded his sword upon his armor and he has said to go for he had not proved it and david said i'm sorry i cannot go with these for i have not proved them and david put them off him he basically said i'm not going to battle with this stuff i've never proved them i've never got victory with this stuff that no one's ever got victory with any of these new bibles yeah david said look i'm not i'm not going to fight that massive great lump over there with something that i've got no idea how effective it is and we've got a battle we use something that we know a hundred percent is effective don't we we know that we have our king james bible and look look let alone david let alone had he been offered some dodgy knockoff you know weird version of a sword okay let alone that he was just like i've never used this i don't know and we know that the the sword that we have the word of god is tried and tested it's pure it's true yet still how many people will get their heads turned by the lies of the easier to read the easier to to understand said here and take the helmet of salvation and the and the sword of the spirit which is the word of god and you know what my king james bible do you know it's not just my sword it's the holy spirit sword as well and he's he's pretty particular about his armory too by the way okay the the holy spirit doesn't go oh yeah i'll use anything no the holy spirit is particular about what he uses turn to john chapter 16 he said in matthew 4 4 it is written man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of god and you know what i don't know about you yeah but when i when i hear these false versions the holy spirit groans within me it really does i i get i i feel the vexing when i hear that junk when i read it on some article when i hear someone quoting a false version i just you know kind of get a little twitch it doesn't sound right it's wrong sound like a real sword some sort of fake sword doesn't it you feel that don't you feel that little twitch you feel that inside you well the thing is i might be able to swing a sword a bit you know i've kind of watched a few movies i'd like i remember me and my brother had a couple of fencing swords when we were young we used to like sneak out in the garden when it was pitch black and no one could see it so like try and beat each other up with them yeah we had like we had a fair idea how to like hurt each other you know and come back with like kind of marks of this it looked like pretty lethal even with the turnover end and the cap on the end and and i can wield one to some degree but i'll tell you what the holy spirit is a master isn't he the holy spirit is a master he knows every move he knows every counter to every move he knows every parry he knows every star every response he knows it oh you know there's a lot in swordplay yeah there's a lot of different styles and different sort of swordplay that you'd use on different terrain and different levels and and different types of sword you know the holy spirit knows it all the holy spirit is an absolute expert and he does want to fight for you but he's like that he's a backup yeah that the if only you know we would use yeah he's a perfect backup he's like that that old master from the kung fu movies yeah that is an absolute expert yeah i'm only this is only a really carnal energy all right so don't start going he's he called the holy spirit a kung fu i don't but i'll tell you what he's that master he's an expert that knows absolutely every move and he's sometimes you need him to just suddenly jump over your back and karate kick the enemy right and and look he wants to fight for you but you have to give him the sword to do so he will only fight for you with the correct sword okay he's not jumping over your back and fighting for you with some sort of joke sword with some sort of papier mache sword yeah john 16 jesus said to his disciples i have yet many things to sound to you but you cannot bear them now howbeit when he the spirit of truth has come he will guide you into all truth for he shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak and he will show you things to come he shall glorify me for he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you all things that the father had the mind therefore said either he shall take of mine and shall show it unto you so verse 13 there saying the spirit will train you he'll prepare you'll fight with you if you give him the sword because the sword is the word of god and it's whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak but it's what what is it that he hears it's the word of god okay so he will use that if you give him it go back to hebrews 4 while you turn there ephigia 6 17 said and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of god the word of god the sword of the spirit is the word of god hebrews chapter 4 it starts by talking of entering into his rest resting on the seventh day picturing salvation being resting from our works yeah verse 10 says for he that is entered into his rest he also had ceased from his own works as god did from his verse 11 says let us labor therefore to enter into that rest lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief what does he mean let us labor to enter into that rest well it is a slight play on words it's an exhortation to get saved to overcome the world first john 5 5 says who is he that overcometh the world but he that believes that jesus is the son of god but just in case the second part of the verse makes it clear that you fall by unbelief right it says let us labor therefore to enter into that rest lest any man fall after the same example of what not working out unbelief right okay verse three though makes it clear that it's just belief verse three there in hebrews 4 says for we which have believed do enter into rest as he said as i have sworn in my wrath if they shall enter into my rest although the works were finished from the foundation of the world so look a feature is too nice it's not of works okay but the point here is to not fall after the same example of unbelief what's the example of unbelief referring to well it's back to the subject of the previous chapter chapter three okay and if you will see on about here just just gonna nod and agree okay where we go now but have a look yeah chapter three in verse 14 says for we are made partakers of christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast into the end so if you've really put your faith in christ and you will always have faith in christ right verse 15 says well it is said today if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts as in the day as in the provocation sorry so when you hear the word of god the gospel don't harden your hearts it's his voice isn't it okay verse 16 for some when they had heard did provoke how be it not all that came out of egypt by moses so the example is those that came out of egypt by moses that's what we're seeing the example of unbelief but with whom was he grieved 40 years was it not with them that had sinned whose carcasses fell in the wilderness to whom swear he that they should not enter into his rest but to them that believed not so we see that they could not enter him because of unbelief that's what the example is talking about okay the unbelief that's why verse 11 back in hebrews 4 says let us labor therefore to enter into that rest look you want to make sure that you put your faith in christ lest any man fall off the same example that's who it's referring to the children of israel here the same example of unbelief chapter 3 15 said they hardened their hearts didn't they and verse verse 12 then says four for the word of god is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart now the word of god can save but it can also harden hearts it can capture and it can destroy can't it that's our sword and if and and here this is why i read that fairly lengthy article if you remember the description of the roman gladius our spiritual sword has some interesting similarities it said rather than being an accident is widely believed by historians that the romans knew exactly what they were doing in this regard this would have allowed the gladius to be stronger and have an even sharper edge make it a superior weapon to those that their opponents wielded and one which could ultimately inflict more damage to armor and bodies our spiritual sword is quick we've just read here which means it's alive which is why it's so powerful and sharp okay because it's alive it's alive which makes it powerful and sharp look the word of god's amazing isn't it sometimes you read the word of god and it's like how on earth do i just happen to be reading this part of the bible which just applies to me right away and solves that problem i'm having right now solves that question rebukes me reproves me whatever it is it's amazing it's it the fact that it's alive that it it just applies to life as clearly today as it did yesterday as it did a hundred years ago as it did a thousand years ago as it did two thousand years ago as it did three and a half thousand years ago it is is amazing and it's a reason that it's so sharp but it can just cut you like that can't it it can cut through the nonsense in the world today same as it cut through the nonsense in the world three and a half thousand years ago it's amazing but first peter 125 says but the word of the lord endureth forever and this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you because it's not just that it's preserved it endures it's active it's it's relevant isn't it okay the word of the lord endureth forever it's not just that it survives endures it keeps going it keeps it keeps having that same effect that it did thousand years ago it's so sharp that it cuts through the lies of liberalism doesn't it it's so sharp that it just cuts through it like that you you could be getting your head turned slightly by the latest liberal propaganda and then you just read something the word of god it just cuts it like that doesn't it i mean just one verse one verse could just cut it to shreds and it's amazing how it does that yeah same with the lies of the false prophets because look there's a lot of false prophets out there in various ways whether it's you and we were talking about this recently whether it's and i think our pastor likes to call him professor fat bottom down the university who's just sitting there you know trying to just convince kind of the teenagers and and the and the kind of young 20s and everything of you know all sorts of just marxist brainwashed nonsense and the rest of it and these are false prophets really in one way or another look that that whether it's the school teacher because the devil will send these people in to places where they can access the young where they can affect where they can affect not just kids but they could just affect society in one way or another and the obvious place is where they're training people for life isn't it send them in and of course they're sent into the churches as well they're sent into the schools they're sent into the colleges they're sending to the universities these people are everywhere okay they're everywhere but the word of god just cuts through it doesn't it when you've got old professor fat bottom trying to tell you you know all sorts of nonsense about maybe you know the world is it's gonna it's just gonna burn up it's we've got to keep it got to keep you know the the pollution down and all this sort of stuff you know we just know what the word of god says don't we that while the earth remain you know seed time and harvest you know cut like summer and winter all of it shall not cease will it and it just takes a verse just takes a verse of the bible to just cut through that nonsense but also with the lies of false doctrine as well the lies of false doctrine there's false doctrine everywhere but when we just apply the word of god when we read the word of god when we know the word of god we can just smash through it cut through it just destroy it stab it and get rid of it and the word of god is amazing it's it's so powerful as well that it smashes the imitation sword to pieces doesn't it it smashes it look this this king james bible is so powerful that you put it next to your niv your esv your rsv your you know what whatever v it is it it just smashes it it destroys it there is no comparison and when people try and criticize try and tell us that they show me the error show me the error in my king james bible because you cannot because it's pure because it there is it will destroy your false book it will destroy your joke quran it will it smashes it out of the park i mean if you put them up against each other it literally just cuts it into within within probably a few verses at the beginning of the bible because the quran is nonsense the the bag of adegeta's nonsense the whatever other the the the babylonian tolma i mean it destroys it absolutely destroyed they're all destroyed because it has a power that none of them have and why because there's no imperfection in it it said here the gladius was designed and used primarily as a stabbing weapon ideally the roman line would hold firm with shields together providing a great deal of protection for all of the men at the front who would then advance on the enemy and thrust their gladius upwards into the rib cage area of the adversary directly in front of them so the sword was used primarily in a group setting to stab at the enemy through that shield sort of protection they then said of course this was the ideal scenario but battles tend to descend into much less than each situations this is why the gladius was also designed as a cutting weapon and legionaries practice so much at one-to-one combat use their shield so it was also great at cutting and dividing in one-on-one situations alongside the shield and what did hebrews 4 12 said for the word of god is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the divided sunder of soul and spirit of the joints of marrow is a discernant of the thoughts and intents of heart our sword pierces through the lies of devil every sunday from around pulpits around the world look there are of course yeah it's getting rarer to find the good churches it seems and maybe it's always been like that i don't know i don't think so but it's still around this around the world people stand behind pulpits and they cut through the lies of devil from the sanctity of churches like ours which are basically like those walls or of shields those shields of faith and and from behind that protection of the pillar and ground of the truth of that wall of faith of the people in the church we're just stabbing at the enemy stabbing at the enemy stabbing at the enemy it destroys the advancing enemy and it also protects those that are taking refuge look you come into a church like this and you're already being protected by that sword just thrusting out and stabbing all those lies out there stabbing all that false doctrine stabbing all those false ways stabbing all of that just liberal nonsense worldly junk and we're stabbing it from behind the pulpit every week every time someone gets up behind this pulpit and use the king jay's barber they're just stabbing at the lies out there aren't they and it also cuts through the closest enemy the flesh doesn't it so it's not just that it's stabbing out there through the shield it's cutting through our closest enemy like dan preacher well back the flesh right and and it severs it it it shows you where your heart is doesn't it when you sit here and you hear that he hear the word of god preach it shows you where your heart is it's a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart because you'll hear something preaching the word of god and you know straight away you you feel pricked don't you you feel pricked you think okay i can feel that now i could i'm gonna have to swallow that now and it starts to cut through what's the flesh and what's the spirit when so often we're trying to convince ourselves that what is fleshly is actually the spirit yeah oh no no that's okay that's okay then the word of god comes cut yeah actually that's the flesh is it that's the flesh trying to convince me to live like that that's the flesh trying to convince me that the way i do that is okay that's the flesh trying to convince me that that this particular pursuit of my this particular way of living this particular way of thinking is actually wicked and it's actually the opposite to what the word of god says it cuts through it and and it cuts straight down the middle of us but we also use it to charge forward in the one-to-one melee don't we so it's not just that we've got it from behind our shield wall here but we charge forward in the one-to-one melee without our sword there is no fight is there look you you go out and we've said this many times you go out to take the battle to the enemy by preaching the gospel if you're not taking your sword with you if you're not preaching the word of god you're doing nothing you can stand there and debate with people all day long debate about evolution debate about the existence of god debate about this and that you're not doing anything without the word of god no one's getting saved without the word of god you convince them of the evidence for god you could have those stupid hour two hour long debates with evolutionists and all the rest of it none of it's doing anything none of it is doing a thing unless you're preaching the word of god okay you have to preach the word of god to get people saved we have to take it out and and look when we go when we take it out we do cut through the work salvation don't we we cut through it with the word of god when you're preaching but you're preaching all the many verses that we'll preach here you know for by grace he's saved through faith when you're preaching whosoever believes in him when you're preaching you know all these many many verses that we all love here look but to him that worketh not but believes on him that just five now godly is faith he's going to write this when you're doing that you're just cutting through work salvation aren't you and some people don't take it too well some people do yeah but we carry on cutting through it don't we and we divide soul and spirit as well don't we really because really you're dividing the two and you're showing what's look what's physical what what will you know what will maybe make you physically endure and make you live maybe a happy life and then we're also showing them what's spiritual and we're showing them the only way to heaven and that's faith in jesus christ and we we show the difference between the physical eternal life but often we are hardening hearts too okay and that's that's the sad truth that when we go out and preach the gospel when we go out and take our swords out to battle we're often hardening hearts at the same time now it's not something to shy away from it's just the way it has to be turn to deuteronomy 18 while i read john 12 48 you turn to deuteronomy 18 john 12 48 says he that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words hath one that judgeth him the word that i have spoken the same shall judge him in the last day it's a word of god that judges it's a word that people are judged by from the commandments when those books are open to whether or not they believe the gospel okay it's all judged that's what's going to be judging people they're the books that are going to be opened on that final judgment and that's what they're going to be judged by is by the word of god okay it's a word that judges people and it's a word that shows people that the sin is in the first place deuteronomy 18 is speaking of the coming christ and it says this in deuteronomy 18 and verse 18 i will raise him up a prophet from among their brethren like unto thee and will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak unto them all that i shall command him and it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name i will require it of him so we're not just so winning some people go oh we're so warning you know we're also doing with soul condemning okay we're so condemning when you're going to preach the gospel you're so condemning as well okay and that's just the way it is oh i don't want to go out and preach the gospel i'll tell you what if you don't go out and preach the gospel you ain't going to be so winning either but some people need some soul condemning and the truth is that everyone here who's gone out and preached the gospel will have people that as a result of you preaching the word of god to them have probably gone away and been rejected because they've rejected there are people that have heard it clear as day and rejected and rejected and they've already been rejecting that knowledge of god and they reject it clear as day and that's sometimes the last time okay but that's the way it is you're going out with a sharp sword it is a very it's a powerful and a sharp sword it's not oh well let's just hope i can get some and say you're doing a lot of damage as well with that sword but it's the damage that has to be done okay verse 12 said for the word of god is quicker powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit of the joints and marrow and is a discernor of the thoughts and intents of the heart you know when you preach the gospel people i mean we had it today where where you're out and you're and you're getting out the word of god and you start preaching the word of god and you just see the animosity just come on people's into their their heads and hearts and comes out of their mouths just by preaching the word of god it shows the intents of their heart the pride the the you know the kind of they're just the way they just try and try any way to discard it they're trying to find anything they can come out with all sort well the originals were written in arabic i was told today no they weren't they just say anything because i don't want to hear what the word of god has got to say because it's showing the thoughts and intents of their heart it's alive it divides the wheat from the chaff okay it's it's powerful it's razor sharp so we better make sure that we know how to use it right yeah if if we have such an effective weapon we have a weapon that can save that can destroy that can cut through the lies that could defend your family that can that can do all these amazing things we better make sure we know how to use it it said uh here in that article i wrote i read to you earlier of course having the sharpest and strongest weapon in your hand would be of little use if you didn't really know what to do with it how true is that right as such training was vital for a roman soldier before he went into battle so we have in our hands a legendary sword a sword that has proven to be the greatest in history you know when you look into like swords of history there's all these the sword of this the sword of there the sword of that the legendary sort of this we have the most legendary sword today you have it in your hands but do you know how to use it do you know how to use it do you do you study it do you pay attention in every training session do you sit here and pay attention or does your mind start wondering while you start planning your busy week ahead do you sit here and pay attention or do you just think well as long as i look like i'm listening that's kind of part of it no we want to be we want to be paying attention though you want to know how to use the sword and look are you learning from other battle hardened warriors around when you go out soul winning with with your soul winning partner are you just thinking about how you would do things and how you and how you're are you listening to them and thinking okay that's a good way of wielding your sword i like the way you cut down and divided that that that joint and marrow there i like the way you separated it i like you know yeah i could incorporate that as well i like the way you dealt with that awkward situation i like the way you parried away that blow and counter attacked and shoved it in their ribs am i going a little bit is that not a good idea when you're selling it get some to listen i'm kidding but look you know we we can learn from other battle hardened warriors can't we we can learn things a lot i'm always learning when i'm soul winning i like going out with different people here and hearing different ways of dealing with things the different ways of doing things we should all be learning from each other as well you can learn from the other battle hardened warriors but or are you skipping training with a sick note sick note from matron yeah skipping training with with a little sick note as to oh i can't be there today well look some say this is what some say they'll go well i study at home brother in don't worry i don't have to be in the training session and look church is a training session okay get that right church you're learning how to use that sword you're hearing those verses preach you're hearing them applied to your life but many will say well i study at home because because i listen to my favorite preacher i listen to a better preacher at home i don't really need to come to church yeah you'll hear that sort of thing but here's the thing if you can get some extra training then great okay look listen to your favorite you'll preach the good preacher listen to it learn from it yeah nothing wrong get the extracurricular in the best warriors the best people that do above and beyond they go home and they carry on studying they carry on learning and carry on training nothing wrong with that but look you need to make sure obviously with that you're not learning from some clown teacher okay no good if you go along to like you know the kind of like the fake the fake instructor out there you're not going to learn anything good right it's going to be the opposite you'll learn something that's going to hinder you you're going to come out with things that are wrong and maybe many of us have done that before i had some false teaching come out with a verse or something and just completely been undone by it yeah it's just messed up i've done it before so when he had maybe said something slightly off and and suddenly it's just just messed up because it's something that i've remembered from a false teacher from the past or something okay so yeah no no good if you're listening to a clown but if you listen to someone good great get the extracurricular in and of course we should be doing our own practice you should be there in you know maybe not quite in front of the mirror but the version of you should be looking in your spiritual mirror right at home you should be learning it you should be reading it you should be studying it you should be doing your own training as well but it's extra you need to be on board with your unit don't you you have to be on board with your unit we're a unit here we're a unit a solid defensive line who need to know how we're all doing things together yeah we need to be on board with each other it said here in that article fighting in such close-knit formation was the primary reason for why new recruits needed to know exactly what was expected of them and could understand each sound of the horn to change tactical formation look the truth is every church is going to do things slightly different aren't they i preach on the lord's supper this morning you know there's there's there are churches that even even are very similar to our churches that all believe and do things differently on that now if you if you never listen if you didn't turn up this morning or you didn't turn up on wednesday night we preached something else you don't know what we believe here okay then suddenly next thing you know you're teaching something else which then you're not on board with the unit now you don't have to agree with everything that's taught here but you need to know what's being taught don't you you need to know what's being taught otherwise you don't understand the sound of the horn you don't understand why for example we do the lord's supper once a year you don't understand why many things why we do things that way you don't understand why we so win a certain way here which maybe they won't do over in the us in certain situations with certain people because it's all very different okay and and you have to be on board with the unit and look when you're doing your own thing swerving services maybe as well it's not just you're missing something vital from for me here maybe you're missing something vital from the holy spirit because what is it that every time i get up here yeah and preach and every time one of the men preaches and men's preaching and every time someone covers for me here and preaches behind this pulpit what is it that usually someone's someone's praying for them they're saying something along the lines of lord please fill them with the holy spirit lord please fill them with the holy spirit so they can and that's my prayer look i'm before i even get up here and i'm standing on the side of this room here i'm praying to god please fill me with the spirit please fill me with the spirit because i know on my own i'm not teaching you anything i'm not preaching anything on my own and then i get up here and someone usually preach it uh pray something about me being filled the holy spirit they'll get up here within by the time i've done the introduction i pray again for the holy spirit to fill me so when you're skipping church and you're not in church and you're not listening to the services you might be missing something which the holy spirit wants to teach you as a church as part of the unit as part of that defensive and that offensive unit it's important stuff i said earlier at the beginning sermon there's a lot of responsibility on this church yeah there's a lot that we can do and when we do and when we're not there we're not paying attention we've got no interest and look i understand yeah i appreciate that the it's not easy for many people some people literally cannot get here for one reason or another okay whether it's a midweek service whether it's the morning whether it's evening whatever else there are extenuating circumstances okay but if if you're not and and it's a backup if you're not even listening online you could be missing something that the holy spirit really wants you to know the rest of your church is on board with the rest of your church the holy spirit's filling me to preach something that the church needs but no i was busy listening to someone else that week oh or maybe not i was busy you know well no i had a busy week you know i needed to wind down that night i need to wind down and watch the netflix instead i can't be all church the whole time you know i needed to wind down and do nothing i need to wind down and read a novel i want whatever it is look three services three hours a week unless i go a little bit over but we need to be on board with that stuff don't we and look because who's your instructor really it's the holy spirit okay that's who it is that's who that's who i'm hoping to be filled with that so i'm hoping that it is going to be preaching through me to the church what they need to hear in this church the people of this church and we have a lethal weapon we have a lethal weapon don't we look that weapon can do amazing things yeah we need to we need to train we need to regularly train that article said that even the old veterans were regularly training in the roman army okay and sometimes they might not have seen battle women sometimes you've been out so many you just haven't really seen that battle have you or sometimes you haven't seen maybe sometimes you haven't been through a bit of tribulation for maybe a little while maybe it's been a month or two maybe there's not been much maybe it's been a few months maybe it's been a while i don't know i don't know what the length of times are with it and that's when you need to train even more because a lot of the people it's i'm going through a hard time i need to get into church no no you need the training in between to help you deal with that tribulation for when it comes and that's so often is when people are the furthest from church when life's going easy when life's going good and look i don't want to just it doesn't always come back to being a church because it's a whole lot you should be at home studying this bible studying this sword if you had the legendary sword the sword that they all talk about the sword that's lasted the test of time the sharpest the strongest the best sword out there and you had it at home i'm sure you'd be looking at it wouldn't you you'd be looking at it you'd be wow you'd be looking at the reflection you can look at your reflection in this bible you would be studying it i reckon you'd have a few in the mirrors wouldn't you you would are you doing that with your king james bible because that sword ain't doing you no good that legendary sword ain't doing nothing but the king james bible is the king james bible is going to change your life the king james bible is going to help you win the battle the king james bible is going to help you defeat the enemy the king james bible is going to help you get people safe the king james bible is going to help protect you and the king james bible is going to help you succeed in life and it's going to help you win this spiritual battle go back to ephesians chapter 6 ephesians chapter 6 and verse 13 ephesians 6 13 says this wherefore take unto you the whole armor of god that you may be able to withstand an evil day and having done all to stand and by the way this is the last time we're going through this for a while yeah so for those of you they're like man i'm done with all this arms and arms and stuff don't worry i'll come up with some new analogies for the next one move on to like sports also stand therefore having your loins girt about with truth and having on the breastplate of righteous so we had the belt yeah we had the belt which was which was our loins girt about with truth and ultimately what's the truth the word of god okay we want to be surrounded by it we want to be immersed in it and here's the thing without that belt on are you going to have the sword no without having without having our loins girt about and immersed with truth without having our spiritual belt on we've got nowhere to put our spiritual sword okay we need that belt and he said and having on the breastplate of righteousness that's a breastplate of it's not just firstly yeah there is no righteousness without christ righteousness imputed unto you but then we also need to work for our own righteousness to have that protection that comes from that in life that's being upright that's having integrity and and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace okay and that's that's the shoes that's being prepared to go out and preach the gospel that's going out and doing it that's that that's going out and actually taking the battle to the enemy okay without the gospel you aren't in a battle above all taking the shield of faith wherewith you shall be able to quench all the five darts of the wicker we looked at the shield didn't we the shield of faith okay that that's that that just i know what the word of god says i know and i'm going to put my faith in it and and having that faith that comes from that yeah having that shield that comes around you from having that faith having that confidence having that boldness that comes from having your faith in the word of god and take the helmet of salvation the sword of the spirit which is the word of god the helmet the helmet like we said was that that that knowledge that focus on your salvation that confidence in your salvation that reminder of your salvation that whatever happens you have eternal life and then we got the sword and notice here what they all what what really do they all rely upon the word of god every single one of these comes from the word of god then ultimately the sword of the spirit is the use of the word of god and it all just comes back to the body it always comes back to the bible doesn't it it comes back to the word of god that living word of god and and look it's so important isn't it yet sadly how many christians around the world today haven't even opened their bible sadly how many churches around the world today probably haven't even opened a real bible how sad is that but how many christians will go sadly there'll be people that walk out of this church today and will wake up tomorrow and maybe tuesday maybe wednesday and maybe further and won't even open their bible won't even get out their sword which is part of their loins being go out about the truth it is part of the belt it is because all his commandments are righteousness it is the breastplate it is it is how you're going to preach the gospel without the word of god it is having your feet shoved in preparation of gospel of peace it's faith in the word of god which is the shield of faith the helmet of salvation is having that hope that comes from the word of god and then ultimately it's sort of the spirit which is the word of god and it all comes down to the word of god and and if you take nothing else from this series just take i need to read my bible okay nothing else you're like i can't even remember most of that and i just heard him going on about romans and fighting and stuff and you know armor and i started switching off you know just just forget it all and read your bibles read your bibles and come to church yeah there you go job done okay man forget that six part series i should have just said that in an announcement shouldn't i okay and look we need to take that whole lot okay and and why do we want to take the whole lot why do we need to to have all of these articles of armor so that we're able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand it's for your own good it's for you and you might be sitting oh well i don't know i don't really need all that stuff you know as long as i come to church tick the box go home do the business carry on with whatever else i'm doing in life look you will fall might not come straight away you will fall okay it goes without saying because you know how i know that because the bible says that okay because the bible says that you're standing against the walls of the devil and because the devil look without the armor of god you've got no chance okay we have to take it um on that we're going to finish up in a word of prayer heavenly father thank you for the whole armor of god thank you for um you know that how you just you know set it out make it clear give us those visuals give us that kind of comparison that we can make to that roman soldier and you know so we can kind of have an understanding and a picture of what it is that we protect yourselves with and you know how that applies in our spiritual life um well i mean the word of god's amazing and you know ultimately it all comes down to the word of god but just how that works how we how all those similarities how all those comparisons can be made to you know to physical warfare to physical armor um it just is amazing and the more you study the word of god the more amazing it is help us to all want to go away and study that word of god help us to study our sword help us to learn to use our sword help us to practice with our sword help us to to take our sword to battle help us to not just sit at home and look at our sword help us to to to use it as you'd want to use lord help us to go out and slay the enemy and divide that that soul and spirit and and and divide those joints and divide that flesh and and just help us to to perfect ourselves and help those around us with the sword um lord help us to to have a good week now help us to get home safe and sound help us to all return on wednesday and for those that don't to make sure that if they're literally unable to get to church they at least listen to to our you know wednesday evening service um you know there's different as people know here there's there's different types of sermons preached different types of messages that you want our church to hear lord it's not just a kind of once a week special help everyone to listen to pay attention to grow to learn and um and to return at the least on sunday for another day in your house jesus name for all this amen