Sword of the Spirit

I'd like to begin the message here by having you turn with me to Judges, Chapter 7, as we begin the sermon message. And it records a very fascinating story. I think a story a lot of us have heard, but to review it, it's just a very inspiring story. It records the story of Gideon and a 300-man army. You know, actually, when this whole thing started, it started with a lot more than 300 men. At the beginning of this situation, Gideon and 32,000 Israelite troops, which seems like maybe a lot, were gathering together and coming near Imidianite camp, but they were severely outnumbered. They were severely outnumbered over 4 to 1, nearly 4 to 1, by Imidian encampment of 135,000.

Well, Gideon was ready to go to battle, but God said no, he had other plans. God was about to show his people just how powerful that he is. In verse 3, God told Gideon to, well, let anyone who's afraid of the upcoming battle go home. And of the 32,000 men, 20,000 of them took the opportunity to leave their ranks, and that left 10,000 remaining. But God was looking for a smaller group still. So he took 10,000 of those men down near to a stream, and he said, everyone that drinks water, but laps it like a dog, those are the ones that will remain.

And so finally, only 300 men remained. So only 300 men, Gideon and his little army of 300, went against 135,000 Midianites. Unsignal, verse 20, they blew trumpets, they broke pitchers which were covering their torches, and they shouted, the sword of the Lord, and of Gideon. And then the unthinkable happened. These 300 men, holding not swords, but torches and trumpets, routed the entire Midianite camp. Scripture records that God said, every man's sword against his companion throughout the whole camp. That's in verse 22. They turned on each other with their swords. And so, before the Israelites even had a chance to draw their swords, God plunged the enemy camp, the Midianites, into chaos and confusion.

And they were defeated. The Israelites defeated their enemies that day by a miracle. By a miracle of God. You know, I think this story teaches us a very valuable lesson. It is God that gives the victory. It is God that gives the victory. It's His sword that is going to deliver us. Now, the sword of the Lord and Gideon were one and the same sword, in a sense. It was God's sword, and Gideon was holding on to it. Let's notice in the Scriptures that God has given us a sword. Ephesians 6, verse 10. Ephesians 6, verse 10. Now, back in the month of June, I started a six-part series on the armor of God.

And we've covered five of those particular sermons so far. We still have one to go. Well, let's take a look here at Ephesians 6, verse 10. We'll read up to verse 17, which talks about the piece of armor that we're going to cover today. He says, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord. You know, it's God's might. It's His strength. We saw the example with Gideon in his army. They were strong in God, the sword of the Lord.

Be strong in the Lord and the power of His might, and put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. And God is inspiring through Scripture here that our enemy is a lot more powerful than 135,000 Midianites. And God talks about putting on the whole armor of God in order to stand. Verse 12, where we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but we're wrestling against principalities, and against powers, and against rulers of the darkness of this age.

That's who our enemy is. It's spiritual. Spiritual enemy, against spiritual hosts, spiritual armies of wickedness, so we know clearly who our enemy is. Verse 13, therefore, understanding who the enemy, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand in the evil day, and having done all the stand. And then, verse 14, He talks about the belt of truth. That's the first one that we covered. It's been quite a long time ago. But the fact that God's Word is truth, and that God's church is the pillar and ground of the truth, and that we have a responsibility to understand what the truth is, to pass it on to the next generation, to live it.

And that's one of the pieces of the armor that we talked about. The second in verse 14, the breastplate of righteousness, which covers vital organs, protects vital organs, that there is right, and there is wrong. There is black, and there is white, and the world and our enemy tries to gray those, and kind of mesh them together. But God says there is right, and there is wrong, and choose the right.

There is righteousness. It does exist, and it's an important piece of armor. We covered that. Verse 15 talks about having our feet shot with the preparation of the gospel of peace, the good news. There's a coming kingdom of peace. It will begin, and there won't be any end. And blessed are those that are peacemakers, because they're going to be called the sons of God. So God says, you, wherever you go, wherever you travel, it's your intent to be peaceful with all men, as much as is in your power. We talked about some of those things.

Verse 16 talks about the shield of faith, which will quench all of the fiery darts of the wicked. Not just some, but all. So that's an important piece of armor. Faith, and we talked about faith as having trust and belief in God, no matter what. Even if it doesn't make sense to you and to me, that God says, look to me, look to me, and obey. And then we talked about the helmet of salvation in verse number 17. That our elder brother Jesus Christ has set the example that there is no other name under heaven, by which we must be saved.

And He's the way, and He's taking us back to the Father, as an older brother does. And how important salvation is, it is through our elder brother Jesus Christ. And then we come to the latter part of verse number 17. And the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. He explains it right here, He defines it right here. The sword of the Spirit, which is God's Word. And we heard quite a lot about that in the first message today.

And now it's Mr. Ewell's turn to take some of the Scriptures that I wanted to utilize in my message, because I know I've done the same for you at certain times. I think you'll see how that ties in. They'll tie in pretty well here as we go along.

Brethren, the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Today we're going to consider the sixth installment now of this series. This will be the sixth and final installment of the armor of God. We're going to cover that today in reference to Christian warfare. You know, all the pieces of the armor, which we've examined so far, are really defensive in nature. And the sword is really the only piece that is an offensive piece of armor. Now, it can also be defensive as it deflects another sword attack that's coming at it, but it also has the ability to wheel around and to attack.

It's an offensive weapon. So this particular piece is certainly defensive, but it's also an offensive piece, and it's a weapon. The sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. Let's talk about the sword for a moment in military warfare at the time this was written. The Roman soldier. They had a sword. They called it a gladius.

They called it a gladius, is what it was. It was a fearsome tool in the hands of a skilled warrior. And you know, it wasn't very long. It was only 12 to 20 inches long, and it was sharpened on both sides, so either way that it was wheeled, it could cut. And since it was only 12 to 20 inches long, it implied that you're dealing with things in close range. Close combat with your foe. The Spirit of God has given the Christians, you and me, a powerful weapon.

A marvelous weapon. And I know we use that word awesome too much, but it is an awesome, powerful tool that God has given to us. I want to clarify what is meant by the Word of God here in this context, because I think it's important. In Ephesians 6 and verse 17, where that phrase, the Word of God is, and we look at that word, it's not logos.

Now logos in the Greek means the Word of God in its entirety, but that's not the word that's used there. The word that's used there is rima, and I'll spell that for you. It's R-H-E-M-A. R-H-E-M-A. Now, rima refers to God's word, but it refers to a specific portion of God's word that pertains to the specific subject or the specific situation.

Okay, so it's still talking about God's word, but a specific part of God's word that applies to a specific situation. It's a particular passage that is relevant to the need at hand.

With that clarification in our minds, we can see how the Word of God compares wonderfully with a sword, for whether it's used defensively or whether it's used offensively, a single verse or a passage well understood and rightly applied is an extremely powerful tool in spiritual warfare. Let's notice Hebrews 4 and verse 12.

How powerful a weapon is the sword. Hebrews 4 and verse 12. Because we're going to notice here that there's another scripture which talks about the Word of God and it's being likened to a sword. Fascinating concept here. So we're setting the stage here that God's word is pictured as a sword. Ephesians 6 talks about the course of the Word of God as a sword as an offensive piece of weapon, also defensive and likened to a sword. And so it does here also in Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 12. So let's read it.

Wow! There's a whole list of things here in just this one verse. Brethren, there's a whole list of things here that we can see here. First of all, it talks about that the Word of God is living. It's not a dead word. It's God breathed. God spoke it. He's alive. He continues to share. He thinks the same. He's had eternity to come up with understanding of wisdom and knowledge and truth.

And it lives. This Word lives. It's a living Word. It can change our lives. James chapter 1 and verse 18. I'll refer to it. You can turn there if you like. James chapter 1 verse... Well, let's go ahead and turn there. Let God's Word speak for itself here. I've still got time. Joanne says, Dave, there's a clock back there.

You don't need to go over time. Just glad it's behind you. But I know a lot of you got watches, so it doesn't make any difference. James chapter 1 verse 18. I like this verse a lot. And there's a couple of renditions in a different way of saying it, different translations that I think make it a little bit more clear. The New King James isn't bad, but I'll read that first and then I'll mention the way it's translated in a couple of different translations.

James chapter 1 and verse 18. Of His own will He brought us forth by the Word of truth. You don't want to know what God's will is? By His will, He's brought you and I forth. And there are some translations that say, He begat us. There are other translations that say, He birthed us. How? By the Word of truth. How powerful is this Word? It can change us. It can fashion us. It can mold us. It can make us something different than what we were before. This Word of truth is powerful that we might be a kind of first fruits of His creatures, His creation. That's what God's doing with you and me.

He's creating sons and daughters that are like Him. That's how powerful this Word is. Should have had you keep your finger back in Ephesians 4 verse 12. Brethren, God's Word is living. Let's go back there. Ephesians 4 verse 12. Wasn't planning on turning to James 1 verse 18. So I should have had you keep your finger here. It's living and it's powerful. It has the ability to birth us into the family of God.

It can change us. It's sharper than any two-widget sword. So it's powerful. It can cut either way, no matter how it's swung. It can cut. And notice, even piercing the division of soul and spirit and joints and marrow. That was covered pretty well, I think, in the first message today. It's like a fine-tuned surgical instrument. Even coming to the point that it's a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart.

Wow, that's a fascinating concept all of its own. It's God's Word as a discerner between the thoughts and intents of our hearts. It gets down to the crux of the matter. We're going to talk about that later. You know, all the things in this verse are fascinating concepts about how powerful this sword is. Let's turn over to Matthew 4 in verse number 1. Matthew 4 in verse number 1. We've talked about the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God as being an offensive as well as a defensive weapon. Let's take a look at a sword fight.

A spiritual sword fight between Jesus Christ and our enemy, the devil. In Matthew 4 in verse 1. I don't know if you ever thought about it this way, that this was a sword fight that was going on in this particular context. You know, I've seen movies over the years and I imagine you too, where you've got these forces of good against evil.

And they have this culmination at the end of the movie. There's this dramatic sword fight. Either between one army or the other, or between an individual, the good guy and the evil guy. And there's a couple of movies that come to mind over the years for me. I don't know if any of you have seen The Scarlet Pimper now. There was this dramatic sword fight at the end. Or The Count of Monte Cristo. James Cavizio, I think, is one of the stars in that, if you know who he is.

At the end, there's this bam and clang and they're going at each other here. Both of these movies end in dramatic fashion with a sword fight. Let's take a look at a sword fight here in Matthew 4. It's like a sword fight here. We'll pick it up here in a little bit of a context here. In the latter part of Matthew 3, Jesus Christ is about to begin his ministry.

He's been baptized, I think in verses 13 through 16 or so, by John the Baptist. He has not yet begun his ministry, but he's about to. And in verse 17, there's a voice after he's been baptized from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

So some people hear the voice, which is a confirmation that the person standing before them was the Son of God. Let's pick it up now in Matthew 4, verse 1. After this happens, Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. And what does Jesus do? He fasts. He fasts. It says, when He had fasted for 40 days and 40 nights, afterward He was hungry.

Jesus Christ, although He was the Son of God, was also the Son of Man. He knew what it was like to be hungry. You know, when He went to the Samaritan woman at the well, He was weary. He sat down. Jesus Christ was the Son of Man. He knew weariness and He knew hunger. And it says, He fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. Now, I know when I fast for 24 hours. I know some of you are fasting today.

You know, that can be a challenge. And I think the longest that I've ever gone, personally, without food, is like only 2, I think maybe 3 days. And it gets to the point that the only thing on your mind is food. And so now here, Jesus has done this for 40 days and 40 nights, and it says, He was hungry.

Verse 3, now when the tempter came to Him, He said, If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread. Now, after 40 days, you could imagine Jesus Christ saying, well, yeah, I am the Son of God. So I can command these stones to become bread. But you see, the devil was tempting Jesus Christ, wasn't he? He was tempting Him. But I want you to notice, in responding to Satan, the devil, in this encounter, that Jesus Christ reaches for the sword. He pulls out the sword. He's humbled Himself for 40 days, and He goes straight to the Word of God.

He reaches for the sword in verse 4, and He answered, and He said, It is written. What's he quoting? He's quoting the Word of God, the sword. He quotes Scripture. It is written that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. So now, Satan, he hasn't quoted Scripture yet, but he realizes that Jesus is quoting Scripture. So he quotes Scripture. He comes back at Jesus with Scripture, in a sense. Verse number 5. Then the devil took Him to the holy city. He set Him on the pinnacle of the temple.

And he said, If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written. He wields the sword of the Word of God. It is written that He shall give His angels charge over you, and in their hands, they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. So he says, If you are the Son of God, jump. Jump, because it's written that His angels are going to bear you up, lest you cast your foot against a stone.

You won't be harmed. You'll be protected. Just jump. How does Jesus Christ respond? Slam, right back at it with the sword, with the Word of God. He says in verse number 7, but it's written again. It's written somewhere else. You shall not tempt the Lord your God. So Jesus Christ comes right back with the Word of God. In fact, in every single encounter, every single instance, Jesus utilizes the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Every time.

He says in verse 7, It is written again. You shall not tempt the Lord your God. And that's exactly what the devil was doing. He was tempting God. Now Satan continues on in verse number 8. He takes him up into exceedingly high mountain. So he's not quoting scripture here, but he brings in his own thoughts. He brings in his own ideas. He brings in his own words.

I guess he will. His own sword. And it says, he took him to an exceedingly high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms and all of their glory. I think a comparative scripture in the Gospel of Luke says that he saw it all in a moment of time. It's like it's all flashing before his eyes, where he sees all of the glory. You know how it can be impressive when you put everything together in the right order and then show it all in a very short period of time.

And it says, in Jesus saw their glory. And Satan says in verse number 9, All of these things I will give to you if you will fall down and worship me.

So this isn't scriptural. Satan's not quoting scripture, but these are his words, his thoughts. This is what he wants.

He wants to be worshipped. He wants Jesus Christ to fall down and worship him.

He said, if you do that, we can make this easy. I can give you everything, all the glory that you have just seen flash before your eyes.

How does Jesus respond in verse number 10?

Jesus said to him, Away with you, Satan. And again, he attacks with the sword, defends with the sword, for it is written. He quotes scripture again, doesn't he, in this encounter? He quotes scripture. He utilizes the sword. It's written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.

He says, I'm not going to fall down and worship you.

It's written that I should worship God and God alone, and him only shall I serve.

And so he says, get away. And Satan leaves. Verse 11, the devil left him, and behold, the angels came and ministered to him.

Brethren, all the parts of the armor that we've been covering in the last six months, in Ephesians 6, are important. But today we're going to focus on the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

And I got to thinking, I have to ask myself this question, how good am I with the sword?

How good am I with the sword? Because, you know, I don't think I'm as good with the sword as I should be.

You know, I've got to think about that myself. Now, we have the example of Jesus Christ here in Matthew 4, don't we?

It's very important when we have an encounter with the enemy, that we follow the example of Jesus Christ.

He said in verse 4 here, did you notice? He said, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Now, that's noteworthy because at the time that Jesus Christ said that, the only word of God was really the Old Testament.

None of the New Testament had been written up to that time.

Jesus said, man shall live by every word of God, Satan, and so should you and I.

You know, Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 8, verse 3. Let's just go back there for a moment. Deuteronomy 8 and verse number 3.

I think in a way, Jesus Christ gives us an example, you know, and we utilize the sword that we realize we should be quoting God's Scripture. And it's every word of God that we live by. We just don't pick out something and then apply it out of context.

You know, the enemy quoted Scripture, but it was out of context. It wasn't rightly dividing the word of truth. He was trying to tempt Jesus Christ. So you and I can't just pick out something and apply it out of context, but we have to look at every word on a topic. So let's take a look at Deuteronomy chapter 8 here. God is referring to His people, the children of Israel, and He says in Deuteronomy 8, verse 3, So He humbled you and He allowed you to hunger.

So God hungered, Jesus Christ hungered, didn't He? For forty days and forty nights, He allowed His people at that time to hunger.

He intentionally humbled them.

He intentionally allowed them to hunger. Why? Why?

We'll read that in a little bit here. And He fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know.

Why did He do all these things? That He might make you to know that man shall not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

So Jesus Christ is telling you and I, as we utilize this sword, which is His Word, the Word of God, that we have to understand we live by every word, every word of God. That's what His Word says.

Now, I think there are some points to ponder as we think about this. We think about Matthew 4, which we've just read, as the devil wields His sword, sometimes with Scripture, that He misapplies it.

Misapplies it. We have to be careful that we don't misapply. And we have to see the example that when Jesus Christ has this encounter, He utilizes the Word of God.

I'd like to mention a story that happened a few years ago. I think it ties in maybe pretty well with how good you and I are with the sword.

There was a lady, she's in the Southern Minnesota congregation, and she told me a story about several years ago, when she was still married back in about 1979 with her first husband, that they were attending church together. Worldwide Church of God at that time, they were attending church together. They attended together for about seven years, and then suddenly it got to the point where He began to slide. His morality slid. He began to think that He didn't want to go to church anymore. He began to want to get into various vices. And then He tried to put pressure on her to leave.

And she said, no, no, I still have the understanding that this is the truth of God. I still feel that I need to obey these commandments. And He continued to put more and more pressure on her until finally He said, you know, I've given you all these blessings. I'm providing you this home. I'm providing you these furnishings. I'm providing you a quality way of life.

He says, look at all the things I've provided to you. He said, will you choose the church over me?

Will you choose the church over me?

How do you think she responded?

How do you think she responded? Well, again, that was back in 1979. Will you choose the church over me?

And she said, Dave, I don't know why I responded in the way that I did. She said, I think God inspired me in the way that I answered.

He told me, He said, will you choose the church over me? And she said, no, but I will choose God over you. Isn't that interesting, brethren? You see, the worldwide church of God, as we know it today, really doesn't exist in the way that it did. If she would have said, yes, I will choose the church over you, that church in a sense has changed. It's different than what it was.

She said, I don't know why I said it that way, because that's not the way He phrased the question.

You know, this sword coming at me is, will you choose the church over me? But she said, no.

But you know, she answered according to the Word of God, didn't she? She answered according to basically the first commandment, that you shall have no other gods before me.

She utilized the sword, didn't she? It is written, you shall have no other gods before me. She basically quoted the first commandment. What if she would have said, I will choose the church over you?

That wouldn't have been really the proper answer.

That wouldn't have been utilizing the sword correctly.

See the subtle difference, brethren?

There's a subtle difference. The Word of God goes straight to the heart of the matter. And she went to the Word of God, and she rightly applied it. She rightly divided it. She rightly divided it.

We need to understand, I think a lot of us do, but let's turn over to 2 Timothy 2, verse 15. 2 Timothy 2, and verse 15. This is a powerful tool that God has given to us. It has to be rightly used. 2 Timothy 2, verse 15. These are important scriptures that God wants us to understand as we go forward to help us to deal with situations that may come our way, because they're going to come our way. And probably we already have, for a lot of us. Things such has happened to this member here, and what's happened to many of you over the years.

2 Timothy 2, verse 15.

It says, Be diligent. I think the old King James says, Study to show yourself approved, or to present yourself approved to God, a worker who doesn't need to be ashamed.

Apparently, we can misapply the Word of God, and it's a shameful thing.

But be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who doesn't need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth.

So apparently, that Word of Truth can be wrongly divided. It has to be rightly divided.

You saw how our enemy wrongly divided it, when he quoted Scripture, but he was tempting. He was tempting our Savior to do something wrong.

It's wrong to tempt your God. So brethren, I think we see here it can be wrongly divided. Notice there's a danger right here in this context of wrongly dividing the Word of Truth. It has repercussions. It has damage. Verse 16, very next verse. But shun profane and idle babblings, because they're going to increase to more ungodliness. So this begins to lead to ungodliness. Notice there's a specific example right here in the first century church in verse 17. And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenias and Philetas are of this sort, who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past, and they are overthrowing the faith of some of God's people.

Further, not everyone was agreeing with what these two were saying, but here's two men that were not properly dividing the Word of God. And notice the consequences. They were overthrowing the faith of some.

A lot of us have gone through experiences in the past, situations that we've been tempted with when it comes to doctrinal issues or other things.

We've had experience that have happened to us as individuals. We've had experiences that many of you could share that are sitting right here in this room today.

Let me share a personal story with you.

When I first began to attend the church, it took a while because my family for a while was keeping Bible studies at home. My mother and my father began to understand. We had a lot of the church literature. We were reading through many of the booklets. We were going through the Bible study correspondence course. We were having Sabbath services at home every Sabbath. And after a while, we began to realize, well, you know, we need to be attending church somewhere. Just sitting here at home wasn't the best. We heard about how not to forsake the assembling of ourselves earlier in the message, the first message today. So we started to attend Rochester, Minnesota, congregation. This would have been probably late 1971, early 1972.

And I still remember the very first message that I heard.

To this day. Can't remember a lot of them in between, but I remember that one.

The minister was saying, he was going through God's Word, 1 Corinthians 11, saying that Jesus Christ didn't have long hair.

Doesn't even nature itself, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 11, teach you that it is a shame for a man to have long hair.

And I'm thinking, well, then why did Jesus Christ have long hair?

If it's a shame for a man to have long hair? I thought, wait a minute. Jesus Christ didn't have long hair because He would have been following the Word of God.

You know, brethren, every picture that I have ever seen of Jesus Christ, He's got long hair.

Every single... That's all I'd ever known. The thought of Him having short hair had never even entered my mind.

You know, I was probably about 16 years old at this time, 15 or 16. The thought of Him having short hair had never even entered my mind.

And all of a sudden, this minister pulls out a Scripture in the Word of God and says, Paul says, doesn't nature itself teach you that it's a shame for a man to have long hair?

A couple of things. Number one, how strong the deception's been.

It's everywhere. Most church denominations professing Christians around the world feel that Christ had long hair.

But number two, how powerful the Word of God is to set us straight.

A simple example of long hair in Jesus Christ.

To the Word of God saying it's a shame for a man to have long hair.

Would Jesus Christ have had long hair if it's a shame for a man to have long hair? I don't think so.

The Son of Man. I don't think so. Face them with the Word of God says. That's just one example. We'll cover another one or two as we have time as we go along.

But about the fact that God's Word is sharper than any two-edged sword, and we have to think about it sometimes as an offensive weapon as well when we're challenged and held an account for what we believe. When someone says, okay, we're all going to heaven when we die.

What scriptures come to mind?

What comes to mind where we could say it is written?

Where do we find it? That it is written? How do we counteract a false teaching so that the truth can be known? And understood? Where do we go? Because the Word of God is truth. And you know, sometimes in these encounters, people don't even quote scripture. They just throw out a phrase. They'll throw out an idea. Well, you know the law's been done away, haven't you heard that?

Jesus Christ fulfilled that. Haven't you heard somebody say that over the years? You don't have to keep God's commandments any longer. Those laws have been done away.

Really?

Well, show me that then.

Where is it written?

Where is it written?

Brethren, maybe you've heard that, well, the Old Testament, you know, we can just toss that away.

You know, if you were stranded on a desert island, you really hope you've got the New Testament because that Old Testament has been done away. You can just toss it. You know, there's not anything of value there to it.

Well, brethren, is that true?

Is that according to the Word of God? We can just toss out two-thirds of what's here in this book.

Let's take a look at a Scripture here. Let's take a look at a Scripture. Let's turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter 10.

We've already covered the Scripture that Jesus Christ said that man shall live by every word of God.

We don't just look at one thing here. We don't look at a phrase. We review several Scriptures on the topic, and then God begins to give us complete understanding. 1 Corinthians chapter 10. We're talking about the fact that there are some people who believe that the Old Testament has no value any longer.

1 Corinthians chapter 10 in verse 1 says, More, brethren, I don't want you to be unaware that all of our fathers were under the cloud. They all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and they all ate of the same spiritual food, and they all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them or went with them, and that rock was Christ.

So there was a God being that was with the children of Israel in the wilderness, and that God being was Jesus Christ.

Just as a side note, a few years ago, our son had gone to ABC, and he said, man, there's so much I didn't know.

He was talking to his sister, our daughter, Kelly, and he said, you know, until I went to ABC, he said, I did not know that the God being that was working with the children of Israel back in the Old Testament was Jesus Christ.

She says, no.

She didn't know it either.

She didn't know it either.

You know, but here it is right here in Scripture. And there are other Scriptures that show that too. It's kind of a sermon in itself.

But our daughter said, no. So she didn't know. But let's read on, verse number 5. But with most of them, God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Now these things became our examples.

Brethren, how can they become our examples if we toss them away?

How can they?

These things became our examples. Why? To the intent that we should not do what they did so we can learn from them.

Verse 7, don't become idolaters as some of them were.

The people sat down to eat. They rose up to play. Verse 8, don't commit sexual immorality. There's a lot of that going on today. As some of them did. And in one day, 23,000 died.

Don't let us tempt Christ as some of them did.

And were destroyed by serpents, by the snakes that bit them, and they died.

Nor complained as some of them complained. And then they were destroyed. God did not appreciate their complaining.

Verse 11, now all of these things happened to them as examples. Not examples for them, examples for us. Notice, and they were written for our admonition. But then they were written for us. Our admonition. And the admonition can also be rendered or translated instruction. They were written for instruction for us. Upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Sounds like it's right up to the people to the end of the age.

Now, if God's word says that there are things in the Old Testament that were written for us, then I don't think I should pay too much attention to somebody says that we should throw them away. Do you? I'm going to trust this word here. I'm not going to trust somebody else's opinion. Now, if they've got a scripture that says it is written, that's something else. But where is it written? Because it's written right here in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 that they're written for us.

Let's turn over to 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 14. 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 14.

2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse number 14.

Paul is writing to Timothy. He says, but you must continue in the things which you have learned, and you have been assured of, knowing from which you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures.

What were the Holy Scriptures back then?

They were all the Old Testament. There wasn't any books of the New Testament that had been canonized yet. Oh, there were some letters like this one that was eventually going to become part of the Word of God. But there wasn't anything at that time other than the Old Testament that Timothy had to read.

So what we're talking about is what would have been at that time known as the Old Testament. Notice, which are able to make you wise for salvation. Brethren, even the Old Testament is able to make us wise to salvation.

Through faith, which is in Jesus Christ.

Verse 16, notice, all Scripture. Kind of ties into Matthew 4, verse 4, where Jesus said, every word of God is what we live by. It says here, all Scripture, referring to every word of God, is by inspiration of God. As we heard, God breathed.

It's alive.

It's powerful.

And it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, to correct us, and for instruction in righteousness. And that includes the Old Testament. Verse 17, that the man of God may be complete. That's God's goal, creating a complete Spirit being. That the man of God may be complete. All Scripture. At this time, that was written, it was the Old Testament. But all Scripture. You know, if we have to... If somebody turns to us and says, Ah!

That Old Testament, it's been done away. You can just throw it out.

Well, that's not what God's Word says. That's not what He says at all. Verse 17, that the man of God may be complete. So it takes all the Scripture, all the words of God, that we live by in order for us to be complete.

You know, once we begin to build on a foundation that says, only a part of the word of God is what we focus on, then we begin to wrongly divide the word of truth, don't we? We begin to wrongly divide what the Scripture itself tells us we should do.

Back in 1973, I'd been attending, oh, for a year and a half to two years or so, there was an attack by our enemy on the church of God and the people of God.

With heresy, heretical teachings, that the laws had been done away, that the law was abolished, there was a lot of talk.

Some said it wasn't necessary to keep the Sabbath, some said it's no longer commanded to keep the Holy Days. These things have been done away. But again, where is it written? Show me that.

You know, these are things that we have to think about.

Let's turn over to 2 Corinthians 2, verse 17.

2 Corinthians 2 and verse 17.

Let's just look from the Word of God itself to show that some people have wrongly divided the Word of Truth, they've wielded the sword and misapplied it. And maybe that's obvious, but maybe some haven't thought about it in this way before. But we're going to read a couple of Scriptures here. 2 Corinthians 2 and verse 17.

It says, we are not, as so many, peddling the Word of God. I think the Old King James, if you have it, says, corrupting the Word of God. For we are not, as so many, that corrupt the Word of God.

Paul is saying to the Corinthian church, there's quite a few out there. He refers to them as many that are corrupting the Word of God.

They're quoting it and misapplying it.

And he says, there's not a few, but there's many. And Paul says, we are not to be like that. We have to be very careful the way that we wield the sword.

For we are not, as many, so many, that corrupt the Word of God, but as of sincerity, but as from God, that we might speak in the sight of God in Christ. Wow, there's a lot here in just this last part of verse 17. Paul says, I feel like I'm under the Father's spotlight. I'm doing all of this in His sight. I feel like I'm under the spotlight of Jesus Christ.

Paul says, I take this seriously. I do it sincerely. There's nothing in it for me. I'm not peddling it. I'm not trying to get financial gain from what I'm doing here. But I'm doing it sincerely and honestly and truthfully, the way that God brought it, the way that He breathed it, as if it was coming from God Himself. I'm relaying it to you.

And I'm doing all of this in His sight.

Wow, that's a great approach that Paul had, wasn't it?

He thinks of it, man, when I convey this Word to someone, it's as if God's with me.

And I need to do it sincerely, for the right reasons, and in the way that He inspired it. He took that as a tremendous responsibility that He had before God and before the brethren.

And those of us that speak here need to be thinking about that, too. That's a sobering responsibility. But you know, brethren, it's just not those that are here behind this lectern. It's all of us. It's all of us that are living by that Word of God and utilizing it defensively and or offensively, depending upon the circumstance, to make sure we do it in the way that God intended it, the way He breathed it. And sincerely, without any twisted motives, but sincerely, as if God is sitting in the chair here with us today. That's a big responsibility that we all have, isn't it?

Let's go on here. Let's turn over to 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 2. 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 2. Just a couple of pages over, a couple of chapters over here.

This Word of God. 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 2. But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness or handling the Word of God deceitfully.

Wow, it's possible to handle the Word of God deceitfully, in a deceitful way.

Not properly dividing it.

Not applying it correctly. Mishandling the truth of God.

That seems pretty sobering to me and maybe to you as well. To handle the true Word of God in a deceitful manner. But notice, by manifestation of the truth. Paul says that's what I want to do. I want to make it clear. Manifestation, manifest means to make it clear, to make it understood, to make the truth known. Make sure that what is conveyed is true and it's made clear. By manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience. Notice again, in the sight of God.

He said, I know God sees everything. We're all transparent to Him. He says, when I do this, I'm doing it as if God is there with me.

I'm trying to make sure I relay it all in a truthful way.

That the truth is manifested.

So, brethren, how are you and I doing with the sword? How are we handling the sword?

There are some that, when they train as swordsmen, they're really, really good. They work at it. They train at it. And almost, get a little cocky with it. They take it out of the sheets, twirl it around, put it back in, pull it out. They're really, really confident.

But you know, Jesus Christ, God says, through Jesus Christ, we need to remain humble when we have an encounter.

Jesus fasted. He humbled Himself.

God says, we need to remain humble when we have an encounter, where we need to utilize the sword of the Word of God, and to have a humble approach in utilizing that sword, that powerful weapon with meekness, really, and fear. Let's turn over to 1 Peter 3, verse 15.

1 Peter 3.

It says there, 1 Peter 3, verse 15, But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense, always be ready.

God says, to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you.

Notice how we're ready.

With meekness.

And with fear.

With meekness and fear.

Follow the example of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Do you think that He felt just confident and guaranteed when He went into that encounter with Satan the Devil, that He was going to be able to win?

I think there's a reason why He's asked to draw on that strength, to humble Himself, to be close to God, and to the truth of God.

And in every single thrust of Satan the Devil, whether he quoted Scripture or his own words, Jesus responded with the Word of God every time.

Every time.

How He had a humble approach.

So how are we doing?

How are we doing?

Brethren, I don't know when the next attack is going to come.

I'm not trying to scare anyone. Don't get me wrong. I'm not aware of anything that's out there. Okay? Any false doctrinal issues or anything like that. I don't know when the next attack is going to come to us as a church. But if our enemy is really there, and I believe that he is, that means he's planning the next attack right now.

Whatever it is. I don't know what direction he's going to come from.

You know, in the meantime, individually, personally, we may be attacked.

Satan will say, throw it all away. It's not worth it.

You know, God wouldn't expect anyone to do what you're doing.

Just give up. Quit. You know, I don't know when that attack is going to come.

Undoubtedly, it will.

Will we be ready? How will we be with the sword?

Let's go back to Hebrews 4, verse 12.

I want to thank Mr. Ewell, because I'm going to...

He kind of introduced this for me.

And I think it was inspiring for me when he went to Hebrews 4, verse 12, and talked about how also the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, also applies to us.

Not just in our dealings with others, not just in encounters with false teachers, or false brethren, but also it discerns our heart too.

Let's notice that.

Hebrews 4, verse 12.

Jesus was tempted, and we can be tempted.

It says the tempter came to Jesus in Matthew 4. It's going to tempt him to do something that he shouldn't do. Well, worship Satan, ultimately.

But we can be tempted as well, brethren.

And we need to be able to be ready when that happens. Ephesians 4, verse 12. If I said Ephesians, I meant Hebrews. Hebrews 4, verse 12. For the Word of God is living and powerful.

We've already read much about that. How it lives, it's powerful, it's sharp, it pierces to the division of soul and spirit, it has the ability to change us, it has the ability to birth us into the family of God. And it says of joints, it can divide joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. This sword, which is God's Word, can show us something that's wrong in us.

It can show us something that's wrong in ourselves.

A motive, you know, can lose our temper.

There's a scripture in Proverbs that says, greater is the man who can rule his own spirit than he who takes a city.

You know, sometimes, and maybe you talk to yourself every once in a while, like I do, you think, you know, Dave, where are you going? It is written that, better is he who rules his own spirit than he who takes a city.

Well, you've probably been like me, and you've lost your temper.

You know, we can be tempted to do that, and we can succumb to that temptation.

We can be tempted to be selfish.

But it is written that we should love our neighbor as we love ourselves. So, God's Word comes right back, doesn't it? Cuts, sharper than any two edges, so right to the heart and the core of the matter.

We can be tempted, sexually, sexual immorality. That's a strong temptation for a lot of people, not everyone, but for a lot of them. That's a big one.

Look at David. Look at other scriptures, references, Samson. You know, that was one of the things that the tempter used to get to some men that, well, like David, one of the most righteous men that was there.

But it is written.

You know, where do we turn?

We can be tempted to complain.

But it's written, don't complain like they complained, in 1 Corinthians 10.

We can be tempted to quit or give up, can't we? We can be. But it is written. Once we put our hand to the plow, don't look back as hard as it is. Keep going forward.

Whatever the temptation may be, brethren, to give up, to quit, to get high, to get drunk. But it's written. The drunkards won't be in the family of God.

It's written.

Brethren, this Word of God can even be a discerner in the intents of our hearts.

It can.

Tell you a story.

Don't tell a lot of personal stories, and I probably won't, but I'll tell you one.

Tended to do something wrong.

This was probably back in about 1979 or 1980. It was out in California. I was working for an accounting firm.

And I had this little... My first real car was just a little Honda Civic. It was yellow. Two-door. Cool. You know, five-speed shifter manual. It was fun. Cute little car. But then Honda Motor Company came out. I think it was the 1980 model coming out late 1979. The new Honda Accord.

Whoa!

Now, this car was good-looking.

Very good-looking car. Very attractive car. Very much in demand.

The dealers were selling them way above manufacturer-suggested retail price. They were in so much demand, they could do it, and they could get it.

Well, I found one.

I know this doesn't seem like a lot of money today, but in today's dollars, it would be a lot of money. It was an annual salary to me.

Well, I'll tell you what it is. You know, probably snicker. It was, at that time, my annual salary. And the price of this car. $9,000.

I went to the bank real quick. I knew this thing wasn't going to last long. I went to the bank quick, and I said, would you give me a loan? They said, we'll give you 80% of that $9,000. But he cautioned me. He said, this is a lot of money for you.

But he said, I'll give you the loan.

So I called up the guy that was selling the car, and I don't know how this exactly worked. I think he bought it from a dealer, and then he was going to sell it for more money. It was an investment for him. So he said, well, I've got to have $500. The first $500 holds the car. So I wrote a check, and I handed it to him, and I said, I'll get the rest of the money for the loan. But, you know, here's the deposit. Non-refundable deposit.

So I'm thinking, okay, I've got it held. Now all I've got to do is come up with my 20%. Well, I didn't have 20%.

I've been saving my second tithe, though.

And I had...

Here's how I reasoned. Okay? The human mind working.

I will borrow from my second tithe, and add it to the loan, give him his money.

And then I'll sell my car, and I'll restore the second tithe fund with the proceeds for my second tithe. Two-door, yellow, civic.

But it was pretty close to the feast.

There were a couple of things that I started to think about. I said, second thoughts on it. Number one, I don't think I should be borrowing for my second tithe. That's supposed to be set aside for that purpose.

And number two, what if my car doesn't sell?

I won't have any money to go to the feast.

Now, I really wanted that car.

It was a nice car. It was very much a demand. It was going to be so cool to drive that car down the road.

But I said, I can't do it.

I can't do it.

So I got on the phone, I called the guy, and I said, the story I'm about to tell you is going to be a very unusual one, but it's true.

I said, I realized I'd given you a $500 check, and you told me it's a non-refundable deposit, but I said, I can't go through with the deal.

I said, this may sound unusual, but I said, every year I save 10% of my income to go to a religious festival in the fall. It's called the Feast of Tabernacles. And he said, and I told him, and I said, and I really am going to have to borrow from that fund to be able to buy your car. And I said, I feel personally that's the wrong thing to do before my God. So I said, I can't go through with the deal. And I said, you know, the check is yours to keep, according to our agreement.

And he responded in a way that surprised me.

He had respect for my belief.

He had respect for what I was willing to do.

He said, don't worry about it.

He said, and he said, the $500, he said, I'll tell you what, I'll just tear it up. Or he said, or do you want me to send it to you?

I said, if you trust me enough to not go through with the deal, I'm going to trust you enough that you just tear up the check. I don't need to see it. That check never cleared my bank.

That check never cleared my bank.

Brethren, you see how we can be so easily tempted, so easily tempted and rationalized in our minds.

Let's turn over to 2 Corinthians 10 and verse 3. 2 Corinthians 10 and verse 3.

It is written, Command an assembly to go to the feast. Save the tithe. It's a commandment.

Put it aside.

You know, there's another second part of that story.

I should tell you this too.

About six months later, a car came up for sale.

Nearly half the price.

It wasn't a Honda Accord, but it was a really neat Nissan.

I mean, it was really decked out with a lot of features. It was a top of the line. It was used, but it had only about 5,800 miles on it. And it was loaded. It had more features than that Honda Accord had for nearly half the price.

Thought I'd better throw that in.

2 Corinthians 10, verse 3.

For though we walk in the flesh, brethren, that's what we are. We are flesh and blood, but we're not warring against the flesh. Wow, we've got an enemy that's a lot stronger than 135,000 Midianites.

For though we walk in the flesh, we don't war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they are mighty. God's Word in His armor that we've been talking about, in His sword, which is the Word of God, is powerful.

It's really powerful, more than we realize.

It's mighty, to the pulling down of strongholds.

Brethren, what if I would have bought that Honda Accord?

You know, just starting to deviate.

Where's that going to take me?

Where's that going to take me?

I'm so glad. And I was so blessed later, not necessarily my time, but at God's time, so much blessed with a car that was almost twice the car for half the money.

Verse number five.

Casting down arguments and every high thing that assaults itself against the knowledge of God and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. He's talking to the Corinthian brethren. He's talking to you and me. He's talking about God's Word being applied to our lives, that we're even using the strong Word to cast down strongholds and bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, where there's going to be blessings forevermore. A few years ago, we got a couple of men that are very strong leaders, influential leaders in the Sri Lankan congregation.

Two years ago, they talked to the pastor that was there at that time, and they said, we're having a hard time finding a job.

It's really a trial in Sri Lanka because Saturday is just another workday. It's just another school day. Almost everybody works. It's hard to find work in Sri Lanka if you do not work on Saturday.

They came to the minister.

We don't know what to do.

We need to have work, and the only thing that's available is to work on the Sabbath.

How do you think the minister responded? How would you respond if somebody asked you?

He said, the way that the minister responded was exactly what they needed to hear.

He said, show me where it's written that we can do that.

You know, if you can show me where it's written, that we can work on the Sabbath.

They couldn't show him.

They hung in there a little while. They both have got finding. They hung in there a little while. They both have got fine jobs. Everything's fine. There are pillars in the church. They serve the brethren there.

James 1, verse 22. James 1, verse 22.

The sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, is an incredibly powerful tool in all aspects of our life, whether it's applied to ourselves, whether it's applied to our enemy.

It's there for us as a tool.

This is talking about when we look at the mirror of the Word of God, we look into His law, we look into His commandments. James 1, verse 22.

There's God's Word talking to you and me. Can't just be a hearer, we have to be a doer. And if we're not doing that, we're deceiving ourselves. But for if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he's like a man observing his natural face in a mirror.

He observes himself, he sees himself, but then he goes away and he immediately forgets what kind of man that he was.

But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty, interesting phrase of freedom, and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

Utilizing the Word of God to examine ourselves like David did. Look in the mirror. Look in the mirror. Now David had an incredible attitude. He said, God, show me my secret sins. Examine me. He didn't even just examine himself. He asked God to examine him.

Quite an example.

Further, as soldiers in God's army, it's our responsibility and duty to use His Word to discern truth and to follow it, or to teach it.

It's an all-powerful sword of God that's able to cut to the very division of joints and marrow. And when wielded by a servant of God, whether offensively or defensively, nothing can withstand its ability to get to the heart of the matter, to the core of the matter, and to uncover the truth.

Let's wrap things up.

Further, through Scripture, we see that God wants us to be firmly ingrained in our hearts and in our minds that we're truly engaged in a war. And we will be.

Until the day that our body lies in the grave, or until Jesus Christ, we hear His voice at the return of Christ. That we're engaged in a war between God's army, and being a soldier of Christ, and our enemy, Satan the Devil.

And we're constantly on the front line of this war.

And God wants us to understand something. He wants us to understand, I need you to put on my armor.

The sword, not only the sword, but all of the pieces that we've been covering here.

Although Gideon and his 300 men were greatly outnumbered against 135,000, God was with them. Their strength was in God.

But the outset of that attack, these 300 shouted, the sword of the Lord, and of Gideon. It was the one and the same sword. And God delivered them by His mighty hand.

God tells us to put on His armor, the same armor that He wears, because it will make us strong in Him, and in the power of His might. And God tells us to put on all of it, including the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. It's living, and it's powerful, so that we can stand in the evil day.