Soldier No.10 The Soldier's Hope

Our reading this morning comes from 1 Samuel and chapter 21. 1 Samuel chapter 21 and we will commence to read at verse 1 through to verse 9. So the story really that we are going to look at this morning is the story of David as he met Goliath in that valley. And you remember he was offered the armour to put on the armour and go out and he said no these things are not familiar with me.

I will take just the things which are familiar which of course was that sling and five stones. So we turn to 1 Samuel chapter 21 and verse 1. David went to Nob to Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech trembled when he met him and asked why are you alone? Why is no one with you? David answered Ahimelech the priest the king charged me with a certain matter and said to me no one is to know anything about your mission and your instructions.

As for my men I have told them to meet me at a certain place. Now then what have you to hand? Give me five loaves of bread or whatever you can find. But the priest answered David I don't have any ordinary bread to hand.

However there is some consecrated bread here. Provided the men have kept themselves from women. David replied indeed women have been kept from us as usual whenever I set out.

The men's things are holy even on missions that are not holy. How much more so today. So the priest gave him the consecrated bread since there was no bread there except the bread of the present.

That had been removed from before the Lord and replaced by hot bread on the day it was taken away. Now one of Saul's servants was there that day detained before the Lord. He was Derek the Edomite Saul's head shepherd.

David asked Ahimelech don't you have a spear or sword here? I haven't brought my sword or any other weapon because the king's business was urgent. The priest replied the sword of Goliath the Philistine whom you killed in the Valley of Elah is here. It is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod.

If you want it take it. There is no sword here but that one. David said there is none like it.

Give it to me. And now if we turn to that familiar passage of scripture in Ephesians and chapter 6. We will pick up at verse 13 and read through to verse 17. Therefore put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes you may be able to stand your ground.

And after you have done everything to stand. Stand firm then with a belt of truth buckled around your waist. With a breastplate of righteousness in place.

And with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this take up the shield of faith. With which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit. Which is the word of God. The Lord will bless to us his own word.

Well we come back to this series on the Christian soldier. And I'd like you to have your Bibles open at Ephesians and chapter 6. But first of all I direct your attention to some verses in 2nd Corinthians and chapter 9. Where we read this in the third verse of that particular passage. For though we live in the world we do not wage war as the world does.

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God.

And we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. We've been thinking for some while in these studies from Ephesians of the Christian as a soldier. And on many occasions I've said that if this is beyond your own estimation of the Christian life.

Then I wonder what book you read for it's certainly not the New Testament. The idea that the believer is engaged in a battle against evil forces is almost on every page. And when the apostle takes time to present the concept of the Christian soldier at the end of one of his greatest epistles.

The epistle to the Ephesians. He does so inspired by the Holy Spirit and with a pastoral heart. Wanting to help his immediate readership.

And also those long term who will come and think through what he said. He wants to help them to be good soldiers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now Paul you remember is in prison.

He has been there we don't know how long in Rome. Maybe some smelly damp dungeon. And he's manacled at least from time to time to Roman officers.

They come with their gleaming glittering armor. And the apostle as he sees them in his cell or maybe he's allowed out for an airing from time to time. He thinks of the Christian soldier.

And how ordinary believers have been given by the grace of God. Equipment to be able to withstand all the enemies that confront the Christian church. There are many forces opposing Rome on its borders.

Thus the need for the Roman soldier for the centurion for the battalions of Caesar's army. And the same applies according to the apostle Paul to the Christian. Fighting for the Lord Jesus.

And he has many brothers and sisters. There is great opposition. But there is an armor that is able to withstand the toughest current of missiles.

That the devil might reign in upon the believer. And so he tells us to be sure. That we take on the whole armor of God.

Six pieces of armor. Three that are fixed. Three that are loose.

And now we come to the final piece of the armor. In one sense perhaps one that commands or should command more attention than any of the others. And yet I shall try to show you that every piece of this armor is equally vital for us.

He tells us in the 17th verse. Take the sword of the spirit. Which is the word of God.

Let me spend a moment or two and it's quite easy to do this. Defining what he means by the sword of the spirit. I say it's easy because he brings in his own description.

He identifies what he's thinking about when he says the sword of the spirit is the word of God. And in the book of Revelation you will discover that from time to time. References made to the word of God as the means whereby the early Christians.

Were able to withstand the oppression of the devil. And enter into territory that he occupied. And take it up for Jesus Christ.

In other words they were successful in the ministry of conversion. Bringing others to a knowledge of Jesus as Savior. Now what is it that is the converting instrument? It is none other than this sword.

The sword of the spirit. The word of God. He's speaking about the Bible.

And the Bible is a very remarkable book. The Roman soldier's sword was a most remarkable tool. Cheap metal was not allowed in the forges of Caesar.

For making, for manufacturing this most important piece of equipment. That the centurions all had. And I want to argue most definitely this morning.

That the Christian sword the word of God is of tremendous quality. You heard our brother read earlier from the book of Samuel chapter 21. David speaking of the sword of Goliath.

Goliath was felled that overgrown Philistine. When David was in more tender years. And the sword that Goliath had was kept as a sort of museum piece.

A trophy of the victories of Israel over against their enemies. And on one occasion when David is bereft of the sword. He asks one of his men to go and get the sword of Goliath.

And he says there isn't a sword in Israel like that one. It is so wonderfully manufactured. And that my friend is almost prophetic of the word of God.

There is not a book like this one. The quality of this book makes it utterly unique. So the Apostle says take the sword of the Spirit.

Which is the word of God. Now every sword at the literal level needed a smith. To ensure that the sword was manufactured properly.

And the Apostle tells us who is responsible for the manufacturing. Of the inverted commas sword of the Lord. It's bound up in the definition that he gives it.

The sword of the Spirit is the word of God. In other words it's the Spirit himself. Who is responsible for the manufacturing of the sword.

Now you see it's this that makes it very unique. Referring I hope you're following me to the Bible. Who wrote the Bible? Well you say forty odd men and a smatching of women folk.

Also had influence in the composition of scripture down the years. And you've got the Old Testament and the New Testament. Sixty six books in God's holy word.

Alright so far so good but who wrote it? Who was responsible for the stimulus of these people. Setting down what came to be the word of God. Well the Apostle Paul says the sword of the Spirit is the word of God.

It is the Spirit who stimulated these men and these women to set down Holy Scripture. And I can demonstrate this for you. The mark of the Spirit upon the word of God quite easily.

I turn you for example to 2 Peter. And the end of the first chapter. Reference is made to the miracle of the manufacture of the sword of the Lord.

Right at the end of the chapter. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man. But men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Actually the fisherman doesn't take us into the blacksmith shop. Remember Peter has his early years of experience as a businessman on the Sea of Galilee. He ran a fishing industry and he did it most successfully.

And here he is employing a verb that speaks of shipping. It's a nautical term. He speaks of those who have set their sails.

And the sails are directed so that they will pick up the velocity, the force of the wind. And as the craft goes along the Sea of Galilee. So it has as its stimulus the natural wind that blows upon that lake.

Now says the Apostle. When the word of God was written. It was men who hoisted the sails of their minds.

And picked up the power of the Spirit. And the result was that what they had to write was not what they themselves had schemed up. It was manufactured by.

It had the stamp of the Holy Spirit upon it. Now the Apostle Paul in the same vein. Writing to Timothy in one of the great 316 verses.

One of the great 316 references of Scripture. You know John 316? Well here is 2 Timothy 316. The Apostle speaking in the same area.

Talking of the manufacturing of the sword of the Lord. That the word of God tells us all Scripture. 2 Timothy 316.

All Scripture is God breathed. And is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. So that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Scripture you see is not just an ordinary book. It is something I repeat that has as its authority God. And what is being written up is none other than God's revelation.

And this revelation is so important to the Apostle. That the man of God, the soldier of God, the person who would be fully equipped. In being able to withstand the assaults of the devil.

Must be well educated, well versed in Scripture. So I ask you do you understand these things? The quality of the sword. The sanctity of the sword.

The parity of the sword. What do I mean by that? Well the sword has equal importance with all the other pieces of the armor. Now you see it's most important that before we dealt with the sword.

We dealt with the other five pieces. You say why? Why have you spent such a long time on this series? People sometimes ask me that. And my answer is this.

That if you have listened carefully Sunday by Sunday or taken the tape. And gone through what I have been teaching. You will see how each piece of the equipment has led to the next one.

And how it's most important that first of all you have on the belt of truth. An understanding in general sense of the Christian faith. How you must have on the helmet of salvation.

The shield of faith. The breastplate of righteousness. All the time that we've gone through this armor.

I have been defining what these words are. Faith, righteousness, peace and so forth. Here is a commentary if you like.

An ABC on the Christian faith. You ignore it to your own dishonor. You make yourself weak by failing to understand what Paul is teaching.

In regard to the Christian soldier. But I'm off on a digression. I said why does the sword have parity with the rest of the armor? Well for this reason.

That if you came to the sword without the other pieces of the armor. You could be in great difficulty. I would say to you that the reason for the cult today.

Those who claim to believe this book. But whose conclusions are against historic Christianity. And the gospel as taught by the Lord Jesus Christ.

The reason why we have the cult. Is that these people have come to the book. They've taken the sword.

But they never understood anything about the helmet of salvation. They never understood anything about the shield of faith. And the righteousness which is the breastplate.

You can use the word of God. You can use this sword. In two ways.

To your advantage. And to your utter disadvantage. I tell you that the leaders of the sects.

Mary Baker Eddy or Eddie Baker. I always get the lady's name mixed up. Sung Myung Moon.

Again not too easy to pronounce. All these people responsible for the cults that are bursting at their seams. In the 20th century.

Are illustrative of those who have gone for the sword. But they have no time. For the rest of the armor.

To work it out piece by piece. The A B C. Putting the armor together. Until you are ready to take up that supreme piece of equipment.

The sword. Oh the apostle Paul. He defines it for us.

The quality of the sword. The sanctity of the sword. He reminds us that the sword has parity with the rest of the armor.

So he repeats. Take up the whole armor of God. Put it all on.

But let's move on. And that quickly. Not just the definition of the armor.

Let me speak to you. About its demonstration. I mean by that.

How it is to be. How it is to be used. Let me take up the last thing that I was saying for a moment or two.

Mad men can use a sword. In a most destructive fashion. I'm not suggesting that he was mad.

But do you remember the untimely death of King Saul? How did Saul die? Recall at the end of the book of Samuel. It will tell you. He fell upon his sword.

The sword that should have saved him. Flew him. No time to go into the history of that event.

You can look it through yourself. And work it out. Do you remember Peter? How in the garden of Gethsemane.

When our Lord is arrested. Peter unsheathes his sword. And lops off the ear of Malchus.

The high priest servant. People can use a sword wrongly. The sword of the word of God.

As I indicated a few moments ago. Can be used incorrectly. It can be used to harm others.

And that's the reason why it's not just necessary for me to define the sword. But to demonstrate how to use it. After all you have to learn how to drive a car.

Don't you? If your dad gives you a Jaguar XJ whatever. And says here's the key. And so you get in it.

You might do the same thing as I saw on television last night. Those of you who are watching the program. A young fellow took his dad's car.

Hit reverse and pressed the accelerator. And went straight into the guy behind him. He didn't show the face of his father later on.

You need instruction in the use of your sword. So let's just attend to this for a moment. Here is our saviour.

And remember that the armour. Is the Lord's armour. It's powerful armour.

The great illustration of its usage is. It's just studying the life of our saviour. Well here we discover him at the beginning of his public ministry.

I turn you to Matthew in chapter 4. Matthew's gospel chapter 4. Let me set up the context as you're finding the scriptures. Here our Lord is in the wilderness. The great baptism has been submitted to.

The voice has come out of heaven. This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And now the saviour is taken from the waters to the wilderness.

From the baptism to the buffeting. He is there in the presence of the devil. And the devil slips alongside.

Forty years. Forty days have gone. Without food.

Without water. Our saviour who is human as well as divine. Is at his most frail.

At the former level. And it's when you're frail. The devil comes along and he tempts you.

And so he says to the hungry saviour. Verse 3 of Matthew 4. If you're the son of God. Tell these stones to become bread.

That's a demonic temptation. Here is our saviour with all the pangs of hunger. Here is a young fellow with.

All the pangs of sexual desire. And the devil comes along. And he proffers the possibility of him.

Somehow or other. Yielding to and getting satisfaction from. What he knows is illicit.

How do you cope? I mean after all that illustration is very ripe isn't it? For the majority of us if not for all of us here. Well the saviour shows you. He unsheathes the sword.

And he goes straight to a passage in Deuteronomy. That meets this particular need. And he quotes to the devil the very word of God.

You see this is the difference between the belt of truth. The belt of truth is your general understanding of the Christian faith. The use of the sword is when your grasp of scripture.

Is so precise that in any tempting situation. You can get the right verse just to use at the correct moment. And that is what the saviour did.

And so he repulsed the devil. But then he comes along again does the evil one. And he tempts him.

Again no time to go to the triplet of occasions. When the saviour is accosted by the evil one. But sufficient to say that every time.

Our Lord in the use of his sword. Is able to repulse the evil one. And you see what you read in verse 11.

Then the devil left him. And angels came and attended him. Peter commenting on that later on.

Says resist the devil. And he will flee from you. This is why it is so important my dear friends.

For us to understand that what I am sharing Sunday by Sunday. How many times do I need to say this. Is a vital practical consequence for all of you.

You see here is a little lady with arthritis in her fingers. She is going through pain all the time. Here is one of my dearest friends with constant pain in her neck all the time.

She is a Christian. And yet pain is a debilitating thing. Pain can sometimes knock your spiritual equilibrium.

So you wonder whether you will ever balance upright again. How do you cope? You haven't got the emotion of the meeting. There is nobody waving their hands around.

There is no one around who can minister to you personally. You are on your own. It is in the hours of the night.

And nights can be very long when you are in pain. And the devil comes. Because you are frailest then.

And he pounces. What do you do? You have your mind starved. With the word of God.

And even though it doesn't resolve your situation and the pain remains. At least you retain your spiritual sanity. Our Saviour time and time again has to use the sword.

You know those Pharisees were pretty clever people. You will discover in Luke's gospel. That they came with all their knowledge of the word of God.

And they tried to tempt the Saviour. Good master. Says one of them.

Tempting him. What is the greatest commandment? And the lawyer was going to get the argument that Jesus put up. And tried to knock it down.

And so what does the Saviour do? Well he takes him to the commandments of scripture. And he speaks out the word of God. And once more he wields the sword.

This is a teacher. Showing us how to use that mighty piece of equipment. But not only do you get in the Bible examples of the teacher.

But also examples of the taught. Here is Paul and he is in Thessalonica. You discover it where are we? Acts chapter 17.

And there are certain Greeks that he wants to reach with the gospel. Now how do you reach men and women with the gospel? You do so by using your sword. So we find Paul in the Jewish synagogue.

Going first of all to his people before he goes to the Greeks. Grecian Jews I suppose these folks would be classed as. 17 verse 2. As his custom was Paul went into the synagogue.

And on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the scripture. See the point. He is so knowledgeable in the scripture.

You see but the scripture is only for the professionals. The pulpiteers. They need to.

They need to immerse their minds in scripture. Not me who said that. Who said there was any difference between the man in the pulpit and the person in the pew.

Between the clergy and the laity. These are all artificial distinctions. We are all to be what my good colleague and brother Jim Packer calls beavers for the Bible.

Burrowing into it. Absorbing its truth. So that in days when we have an opportunity to tell others.

Then we seize the opportunity and we give reason for the hope that is within us. Do you know of John Tyndale? Sorry William Tyndale. Do you know of him? Great man of God.

12th century. He was around when England was bereft of Bibles. You know the Catholic Church didn't let people have Bibles.

In centuries gone by they have changed their tune. During the last 50 years or so. But it is a very very recent change.

Nobody was to have the Bible. Only the priest. And often they couldn't even read it.

That's true. And William Tyndale said. I want the day to dawn in England.

When every plough boy has his own copy of the word of God. And dear old Martin Luther. There he was the most frustrated monk that there's ever been in any monastery.

And the reason for his frustration. Well he doesn't know if God's gracious. He doesn't know whether his sins have been forgiven.

And then one day he finds a chained copy of the Bible in the monastery. He leaves it over to Romans. And he begins to read.

How the righteousness of God has been displayed through Jesus Christ. How that on confessing Jesus as Lord. You might have your sins forgiven.

The just shall live by faith. And Luther was one of the first to start to dance. As a result of understanding the simplicity of the Gospel.

And he brought Europe and the Vatican to its knees. To what? The use of the sword. The use of the sword.

Is it so vital for us to understand that this great book. The Bible is God's powerful weapon. In enabling us to come to a knowledge of him.

And to do exploits as soldiers of Christ. Let's move finally and quickly to my last D. Determination. Don't you feel that in our text.

Sometimes texts not only are worth studying. But they're worth feeling. I regret that I can't hear the voice of the Lord Jesus.

The tenderness in his tone at times. The sternness. And that goes also for the other apostles.

Inspired to write scripture. Here's Paul and he says. Take.

Look at verse 16. In addition to all this. All that I've given before in terms of instructions of the armour.

In addition to this. Take up the shield of faith. And verse 17.

And take the helmet of salvation. And the sword of the spirit. Be determined about it.

Why? Well you see my dear friend. The reasoning is obvious. The sword is your immediate weapon of defence.

Now all the other five pieces of equipment are in one sense defensive. But so is your sword. It's immediate one.

Here comes an assailant you see. And he's got his sword. So what do you do? Well you watch Robin Hood haven't you? I don't mean that you saw him in the flesh.

But you saw TV caricature of the great man of Nottingham. And how he put to flight the sheriff. Marvellous stuff that.

Read it through. It's myth but nonetheless it's good. And he used his sword.

You know you can see it can't you? Alright so I'm not a very good actor. But you've got the idea of what I'm trying to say. Your sword first of all it parries the blows.

Before you need to use your breastplate or your shield. You've got your sword as a defensive weapon. And similarly the word of God.

The sword of the spirit. It's a defensive weapon. It's your immediate means of defence.

Not your only means but it's your immediate means. And what's more? It's your means of attack. You see there's no other piece.

There's no other piece of armour. That's an attacking piece. They're all passive.

But not the sword. You attack with the sword. Do you remember Gideon and his men? They stormed the Midianites and they let out that great cry.

The sword of the Lord and of Gideon. And that's been the cry of the Christian church down the centuries. The sword of the Lord and of Jesus.

You see it's this that puts the Hindu to flight. In North India. It's this that corrects the Muslim in Pakistan.

It's this that brings the agnostic, the materialistic westerner to his knees. The sword of the spirit. You may be a very fumbling speaker.

You may feel that your theology needs a lot of tidying up. But don't you appreciate, my friend, that with the grain of faith you have and just the morsel of understanding that you've got God can combine those two and make you one of the great soldiers in the advance of the Christian gospel. Don't sell yourself short as a believer.

God can use you wherever you are. In your nursing home. In fashionable glory.

In not so fashionable other parts of the town. Wherever you're situated. Whether you're high up as an inland revenue inspector.

Whether you're a lowly teacher. It doesn't really matter. God can use you.

He has got a mission field for you. And he gives you a sword. He says, take this sword.

It's a good sword. There isn't one like it anywhere else. It's unique.

It has the stamp of the Spirit upon it. It has parity with every other piece of equipment. See the illustration of it in use.

Watch the Lord Jesus. Watch the early army that followed him. How they employed and wielded this weapon.

And with determination. Take the sword. The gospel.

Empowered by. Because it's the sword of the Spirit. The Word and the Spirit.

Not the Word on its own. That brings you legalism. Evangelical fallacism is the worst form of religiosity.

Not just the Word on its own. Not just the Spirit on its own. That will take you into mysticism.

And you'll go the way of George Fox and his group. Though George Fox himself was alright. The founder of the Quakers.

The sword. And the Spirit. Together.

The Word of God. The God of the Word. Alongside you.

Helping you as a young Christian. To be able to withstand as an older friend. To be able to send the devil into flight.

As a skillful soldier. You do battle. For the Savior.

The sword of the Lord. And of Jesus. I offer it to you.

In His name. Use it. And be proud of it.

And may God help you. Amen.