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Book: Ephesians
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Ephesians 6:17
I. The sword of the Spirit.
A. The sword as a defensive weapon.
1. As a defensive weapon it helps keep the enemy at a
distance from you.
2. As long as you are swinging your sword he cannot get
too close.
3. We see how that word of God is used as a defensive
weapon against sin.
a. David said, "Thy word have I hid in my heart
that I might not sin against Thee."
B. The enemy usually attacks in three different areas.
1. The lust of the flesh.
2. The lust of the eye.
3. The pride of life.
4. Some times in one area, sometimes in all three.
5. With Eve in the Garden, she saw that the fruit good for
food, pleasant to the eye, and desired to make one wise
a. The taste was exciting to the senses, the lust
of the flesh.
b. It looked delicious. The lust of the eye.
c. It would make her as God. The pride of life.
6. In the case of the temptation of Jesus again it was in
all three.
a. Knowing that Jesus was hungry, he suggested
that he turn stones into bread. The lust of the
flesh.
b. He showed him all of the kingdoms of the world
and the glory of them. The lust of the eye.
c. He suggested that he leap from the pinnacle of
the Temple so that when He landed safely, all
the people would exalt Him because of His feat.
The pride of life.
C. Note the defense of Jesus against every attack was the word of
God.
1. "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but
by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."
2. "It is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and
Him only shalt thou serve."
3. "It is written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."
D. Satan tore down Eves defense with a challenge of the word of
God.
1. "Hath God said?" questioning the word of God.
2. "You will not surely die." Contradicting the word of
God.
3. Today there are many who are not sure of the word of
God, thus they are defenseless against the attacks of
the enemy.
4. This tells me that I must have confidence in my sword.
E. When Satan would tempt be to lust after the flesh, the
scripture comes to mind, "Flee youthful lusts."
1CO 6:18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the
body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his
own body.
a. What a classic example Joseph is in this battle
against the flesh.
GEN 39:12 And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me: and he
left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out.
PRO 5:3 For the lips of a strange woman drop [as] an honeycomb, and
her mouth [is] smoother than oil:
PRO 5:4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.
PRO 5:5 Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.
PRO 5:6 Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are
moveable, [that] thou canst not know [them].
PRO 5:7 Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the
words of my mouth.
PRO 5:8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her
house:
PRO 5:9 Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the
cruel:
PRO 5:10 Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours [be]
in the house of a stranger;
PRO 5:11 And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are
consumed,
PRO 6:23 For the commandment [is] a lamp; and the law [is] light; and
reproofs of instruction [are] the way of life:
PRO 6:24 To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the
tongue of a strange woman.
PRO 6:25 Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take
thee with her eyelids.
PRO 6:26 For by means of a whorish woman [a man is brought] to a piece
of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life.
PRO 6:27 Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be
burned?
PRO 6:28 Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned?
PRO 6:29 So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife; whosoever toucheth
her shall not be innocent.
PRO 6:30 [Men] do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul
when he is hungry;
PRO 6:31 But [if] he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give
all the substance of his house.
PRO 6:32 [But] whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh
understanding: he [that] doeth it destroyeth his own soul.
PRO 7:1 My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.
PRO 7:2 Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of
thine eye.
PRO 7:3 Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine
heart.
PRO 7:4 Say unto wisdom, Thou [art] my sister; and call understanding
[thy] kinswoman:
PRO 7:5 That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the
stranger [which] flattereth with her words.
PRO 7:6 For at the window of my house I looked through my casement,
PRO 7:7 And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths,
a young man void of understanding,
PRO 7:8 Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way
to her house,
PRO 7:9 In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night:
PRO 7:10 And, behold, there met him a woman [with] the attire of an
harlot, and subtil of heart.
PRO 7:11 (She [is] loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house:
PRO 7:12 Now [is she] without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at
every corner.)
PRO 7:13 So she caught him, and kissed him, [and] with an impudent face
said unto him,
PRO 7:14 [I have] peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my
vows.
PRO 7:15 Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy
face, and I have found thee.
PRO 7:16 I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved
[works], with fine linen of Egypt.
PRO 7:17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
PRO 7:18 Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us
solace ourselves with loves.
PRO 7:19 For the goodman [is] not at home, he is gone a long journey:
PRO 7:20 He hath taken a bag of money with him, [and] will come home at
the day appointed.
PRO 7:21 With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the
flattering of her lips she forced him.
PRO 7:22 He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the
slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks;
PRO 7:23 Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the
snare, and knoweth not that it [is] for his life.
F. Should Satan tempt you in looking at pornography, the scripture
comes.
a. Be not deceived, God is not mocked for whatsoever a man
soweth that shall he also reap, and if we sow to the
flesh, then of the flesh we will reap corruption.
JOB 31:1 I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon
a maid?
b. "Keep thine heart with all diligence for out of it are
the issues of life."
MAT 15:19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders,
adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
G. Should Satan tempt you with the pride of life.
PRO 6:16 These six [things] doth the LORD hate: yea, seven [are] an
abomination unto him:
PRO 6:17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent
blood,
PRO 16:18 Pride [goeth] before destruction, and an haughty spirit before
a fall.
PRO 18:12 Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before
honour [is] humility.
ISA 2:11 The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of
shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in
that day.
ISA 2:12 For the day of the LORD of hosts [shall be] upon every [one
that is] proud and lofty, and upon every [one that is] lifted
up; and he shall be brought low:
MAT 23:12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that
shall humble himself shall be exalted.
II. The sword is the first part of the armament that can be used in
offense.
A. With the word of God I can now go on the attack against the
enemy. In they often say, "The best defense is a good
offense."
1. I am no longer just defending myself, I now move
against the enemy.
2. In the book of Revelation we read of that group that
are on the earth during the great tribulation and it
declares that they overcame Satan with the blood of the
Lamb and the word of their testimony.
3. John wrote, "I have written unto you young men, because
you are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and
you have overcome the wicked one."
a. The secret of their strength in overcoming the
wicked one was the fact that the word of God
was abiding in them.
B. The word of God is referred to as the sword of the Spirit.
1. This is because the Holy Spirit is the author of the
scripture.
2SA 23:2 The spirit of the LORD spake by me, and his word [was] in my
tongue.
MAR 12:36 For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The Lord said to my
Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy
footstool.
ACS 1:16 Men [and] brethren, this scripture must needs have been
fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake
before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took
Jesus.
ACS 28:25 And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after
that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by
Esaias the prophet unto our fathers,
2PE 1:20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any
private interpretation.
2PE 1:21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but
holy men of God spake [as they were] moved by the Holy Ghost.
2TI 3:16 All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is]
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness:
HEB 4:12 For the word of God [is] alive, 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.
JER 23:29 [Is] not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a
hammer [that] breaketh the rock in pieces?
C. What does all this say to us?
1. If we want to defeat the enemy and his attacks against
us, we need to fortify ourselves with the word.
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