SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/2/2019
10:48 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 “The Sword of the Spirit”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
6:17b
Message of the
verses: “and
the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,”
We want to continue to look at the
sermon that John MacArthur preached in 2008 on the subject of the sword of the
Spirit, which is the Word of God.
“This infallible, inerrant, complete
and authoritative Word is sufficient to accomplish all God’s spiritual purposes
in His people. We could add, too, that
it is effective. It not only is sufficient for the person in whom it ministers,
but it is effective through that person to have an impact on others. “So shall
My Word be that goes forth out of My mouth, it shall not return unto Me void
but shall accomplish what I please.” Whenever we declare the Word of God,
whenever we teach the Word of God, whenever we proclaim the Word of God, it is
effective. Or, if you like, it is powerful. It accomplishes God’s purposes,
Isaiah 55.
We could also sum all this up by saying what Peter said
in 2 Peter 1, “Knowing this first that no prophecy of the Scripture is of
any private interpretation or origination for the prophecy came not at any time
by the will of man but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy
Spirit.” There’s no other
book in existence that can claim these things. To be infallible,
inerrant, complete, authoritative, sufficient, powerful, and divinely authored
belongs only to Scripture. This is what the Bible claims for itself. As such,
it is obviously a formidable weapon.
That is why we only need one weapon...we only need the
sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. Old Testament
writers refer to what they wrote as the Word of God about 3,800 times. New
Testament writers refer to the Old Testament as the Word of God about 320
times. And they refer to the Old Testament about a thousand times. New
Testament writers also claim that they are writing for God, that both Old and
New are His words.
Now that tells you the nature of Scripture. Let me talk
for a few minutes about what it does. We said it was powerful. We said it
doesn’t return void. It accomplishes the things to which God intends it. What
does that mean? How do we sum that up? Well
let me just give you a few things you can think about. We said that’s what the
Word is, that’s its nature; let’s talk about its impact. First, it is the source
of truth...it is the source of truth. It brings people to the knowledge of the
truth. John 17:17,“Sanctify
them by Thy truth, Thy Word is truth.” It brings people to the knowledge of the
truth, the way it really is.
Secondly,
Scripture is the source of; well let’s say because I think it will help you
understand it, happiness, or blessedness. Proverbs 8:34,
“Happy is the man who hears Me.” Luke 11:28,
“Happy are they who hear the Word of God and obey it.” And that takes me back
to this morning when we talked about the burning heart, remember, of the two on
the road to Emmaus that were exposed to the explanation of the Old Testament,
said, “Did not our hearts
burn within us while He explained to us the Scripture?” This is the
burning of joy, of blessedness, the happiness that comes to one who
understands...who understands the Scripture.
Scripture also is the
source of growth. As babes, 1
Peter 2:2, desire the pure milk of the Word that you may grow
thereby. In this book you find the truth. In this book you find true joy,
blessedness and happiness. In this book you find spiritual growth. It is also the source of power.
It has a powerful impact. “I’m not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God
unto salvation,” Romans 1:16. “The Word is alive and powerful, sharper
than any two-edged sword,” Hebrews 4:12, cutting and piercing and dicing and slicing
the human heart and revealing the inmost realities. It has the power to cut
into the heart and it also has the power to heal the heart and restore it and
sanctify it.
Scripture also claims for itself to be a source of
guidance, “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light to my path,” Psalm 119:105.
Scripture also is the source of comfort, Romans 15:4
talks about the comfort of the Scriptures.
It is also the source of spiritual victory. And that’s the way we see it
in the context of Ephesians 6. So the nature of Scripture, what it claims
for itself as to its own nature, and the claims of Scripture for its own
impact, to bring truth and blessing and growth and power and guidance and
comfort and now triumph or victory. When we put on the belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness
and the shoes of the gospel of peace and pick up the shield of faith, put on
the helmet of salvation, and lastly, grasp the sword of the Spirit, we are set
for victory.
Now having said that by way of a broad look at
Scripture, let’s look more directly at the sword of the Spirit. And I guess
maybe to start with, I
would say that this is a weapon that is both defensive and offensive as any sword
is. You would have to say that a rifle is purely an offensive weapon;
it’s not a defensive weapon. You don’t sort of defend yourself with a rifle;
you use it only as an offensive weapon, shooting something far away from you.
But a sword in your hand was used perhaps more often to parry a deadly blow
than it was to inflict one. For every blow that you might inflict that would
cause the death or the wounding of your enemy, you may have staved off a dozen
or more attacks against your own life. So this is both a defensive and an
offensive weapon.
The word sword is machaira, a very
common word in the Greek and used a number of times in the New Testament. It
refers to a small sword, a small sword meaning anything from 18 inches down to
maybe a foot long, even falling into the category of a dagger, a different word
than rhomphaia which was the great long three or
four-foot long sword that would be yielded with two hands. This is the kind of
a sword that is in the hands of the Roman soldiers who came to capture Jesus
Christ. It was a machaira that is mentioned in Matthew 26:47.
This was the sword that every Roman soldier carried with him all the time. To
put it in the modern vernacular, he didn’t always have his rifle but he always
had his pistol, he always had the small weapon. This, by the way, is the same
kind of sword that Peter used to whack off the ear of Malchus. It is a machaira
according to Acts 12:2 that killed James, the brother of John. Machaira were used to slay many
of the heroes of faith. The word machaira is used to describe the slaughter of
the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11:37.
So it’s a very common weapon. It would be a lethal kind of weapon, much
like some of those lethal knives that you see carried by people who have
murderous intent in their minds. The sword which Paul has in mind is very
familiar. In this case, however, it is the sword of the Spirit, tu pneumatos (?),
may be used in an adjectival sense. It could be the spiritual sword if we use it as an adjective. Or it could be what we would
call a genitive, genitive of origin, a sword given by the Holy Spirit.
I think the context might support both, that what we have here is a
spiritual weapon that is essentially given to us by the Holy Spirit because the
Scripture is authored by whom? The Holy Spirit. We just read that, 2
Peter 1, men moved by the Spirit wrote the Scripture. So it is possible
that it could be seen in its genitive sense, that is a sword given to us by the
Spirit, it is also that it could be seen as an adjectival sense, that it is a
spiritual sword, that is it’s a sword to be wielded in the spiritual dimension.
It is a Spirit-given,
spiritual sword.”
I think that this enough for today, but I have to say
that as we continue to look at this sermon, Lord willing, that in the beginning
of our next SD there will be some things that I personally am very interested in.
Our quotation from “Love in
Action,” David Jeremiah comments on our verses from yesterday’s quote, Acts
11:23, 24b.
“We never forget those
moments when someone says an encouraging word that turns us around and heads us
in the right direction. Who in your
sphere of influence could use such an encouraging word? As I read the record of this revival, I can
almost feel the excitement in the air.
Several times, during my years of ministry, I have sensed that
extra-special outpouring of the Spirit. It is something you never forget! But here’s where Barnabas parts company with
many evangelists. Instead of climbing up
on the platform of this successful campaign, he went to Tarsus to see if he
could locate Paul.”
My Steps of Faith for Today:
I have not put this part on my
Spiritual Diaries for a while, but it is still the same steps of faith that I
began this year with, and that is to continue to think and learn about
humility.
11/2/2019 11:21 AM
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