Sermon
The Doctrine of the Kingdom of God - Part 9
The Battle Gear of the Kingdom - Part 6
March 28, 2004
Pastor Donald Sheley

We have been in the middle of a series of messages that have had to deal with a vast subject of the Kingdom of God. And we've learned that in the Scriptures when the Bible refers to the Kingdom of God, it refers to something very spiritual. Paul says the kingdom is not eating and drinking, but it's joy and it's righteousness and it's peace in the Holy Spirit. So the Kingdom of God is the rule and reign of Christ within the human heart, and that's God's Kingdom. Ultimately it'll, I'm sure, concluded in a glorious ending were there's a new heavens and a new earth, but Jesus chose to start His kingdom within the hearts of men and women.

Remember when the religious leaders came to Him and said Jesus tell us about Your kingdom, and He said it doesn't come with observation. You can't see it coming, but my kingdom is within you. So as a result, when we accept Jesus Christ, as many have done throughout this day, and said Jesus, I want You to become my Savior and I want to serve You, what we're inviting is His presence within us and the kingdom has come.

Now what we have learned in our lessons thus far...when the Kingdom of God, which is righteousness and joy and peace within us, because that becomes the desire of every Christian to be at peace, to love God, to do what's right, to enjoy that which is pure, that which is holy, but we live in a world whose systems and values are so much different and a result, we are as Christians living in conflict with much of the world around us. We choose to be honest and dishonesty is approved. We choose to be right and wrong is often exalted. So we live in a world that's totally opposite of what we believe in as Christians inside of us.

Paul recognizes that when we are living...and the Bible tells us very clearly that Satan is the god of this world, we are really as Christians...we're aliens in foreign territory. We're walking through Satan's world and yet God's world is inside of us. And Paul says that because that's so there is a spiritual conflict that goes on. And that's true. When you're a Christian and you try to do what you believe is right, we have a world that mocks us and laughs at us because their system and their values are different. So Paul says we're wrestling in a spiritual battle, not only against flesh and blood, but against the very powers of evil that surround us.

And then Paul does something very beautifully. You remember much of his life, much of his ministry, he was shackled to a Roman soldier. And shackled to a Roman soldier he probably hour after hour sat there and looked at that soldier with all of his armor. He noticed he had a helmet and he had a breastplate and he had shields and shoes, and Paul thinks spiritually. So Paul takes those pieces of armor from that Roman soldier and he gives them spiritual meaning, spiritual value.

He notices around that soldier that there is a belt that pulls everything together, that cinches up everything tight. It's where he can put his dagger. It's where he pulls in his breastplate. So Paul said the belt is truth. The very core of life is truth, and that's why Jesus said I am the way, the truth, and the life. Old Pilate asked, what is truth? It's truth that ties life all together with meaning and reason. So Paul said put on truth, make that an essential part of your Christian living. Don't live in the shadows, but live in honesty and integrity and authenticity, live in Christ and live in truth.

We talked about the breastplate. Last week we talked about the helmet, and Paul in his Thessalonian passage says that the helmet is the hope that's ours as Christians. So in this battle you always keep your focus on the end goal, and our end goal is someday in God's own time we're going to spend eternity in His presence. That's our hope as a Christian. So Paul has implied that even in the midst of battle make sure that I don't take my eyes off the goal, which is heaven, and I'll have the strength to carry me through the difficult moments of the battle.

Now today he talks about the sword. He sees that sword but he notices that that Roman soldier has not only a large sword, sometimes 4.5 to 5 feet high, which he just simply used at random when he walked in and flayed it in the ranks of his enemies, but the Roman soldier also had a little dagger. It was only about 2.5 feet long. It was sharp. I had a man who spent many years in the service who came up to me today and he said, you know Pastor, I've studied about swords and he showed me the design of that old Roman sword the dagger; but once it entered into the body of its opponent it left a gash that would never heal.

So Paul is saying...that sword what will I give to it, what kind of Christian application? So he says the sword is like the Word of God; it's like the Bible. What he's implying is that the Bible is a tremendously important part of our Christian living. The writer to Hebrews says this book is alive, it's active, it cuts to the very core of life, it's effective, it's energizing, it's alive! And it's really true. When you put your faith in Jesus Christ and invite Him to be your Savior, something happens about this book. All of a sudden with the Spirit of God within me I'm able to understand what His Spirit meant when He wrote these pages, and all of a sudden the sword becomes alive.

I told you of many times as people have given their lives to Christ I have the joy of giving them a Bible, and it's always thrilling to me to watch how quickly that Bible ages real quick. Because what has happened is that person now with the Spirit of God living within them this book becomes alive; it becomes meaningful. It has eternal truths. It's challenging. And the writer of Hebrews says it cuts to the very intention, to the very core of our being; and that is true. This is God's Word these are not just the opinions and the wisdom of men. These are the words and the opinions of Almighty God.

The Bible says that God by His holy spirit moved upon man and those men recorded for us this divine book, and through all the battles of the ages this book still stands; it's still the bestseller of all-time. Why? Because it's God's Word. It's alive.

Now here's what Paul says: he talked about the breastplate, he talked about the helmet, he talked about the shield, he talked about the sandals; these are all defensive pieces of armor. Now he moves to the offensive, and here he mentions to the Christian this is our offensive tool.

When that Roman soldier was in training they gave much attention...he learned skillfully and precisely how to handle that little dagger because when he's got the dagger he's face-to-face with his enemy and if he misses the enemy is going to get him. So the precision and the skill of which that soldier handled that little sword meant life-and-death. It had to be precisely handled and thus they were highly trained in the use of that little sword. And here's what Paul is saying, as Christians you and I need to know this book, because when Satan comes to us at times of temptation, we've got to have an answer.

Illustration: Jesus is out there in the desert with Satan and He's been tempted and Satan says, if you'll do this... Jesus said, it is written...and immediately Satan's dagger stops. He can't move it because Christ stopped that thrust with a word from the Scriptures. Another temptation comes and Jesus said, it is written...another thrust stopped because God's Word stops that attack -- and a third time. So what Paul is saying is part of winning this battle over the enemy of our soul is knowing this book and how to use it precisely and skillfully. Not just a general knowledge, but really to take this book and to memorize it and to learning those passages that when we find ourselves tempted or Satan trying to distract us, we understand a verse that counters that.

I have an interesting gentleman in our congregation. I think he's of Egyptian background but he reads his Bible out loud 2 to 3 hours a day in the original Aramaic and the Arabic. He came up to me after one of services today and he said, you know Pastor, I appreciate what you said today. He said, I have the joy of reading the Bible from the original text. It's so true, he said, when you see the power and you sense the thrust, the meaning of these great passages of Scripture, you realize what a marvelous, marvelous weapon we have in our hands.

Now here's the assignment that comes to us and we're almost done, Paul says study to show yourselves approved a workman unto God that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Paul said there is a solemn obligation that's placed upon all of us as Christians to study this sword, to be a marksman with it so that we know how to rightly divide the word of truth. Now you know the original language of the New Testament is Greek and when he uses that phrase 'rightly dividing the word of truth' it's a very picturesque statement in the original Greek.

It's the picture of making a road right through from one point to a distant point straight, no matter what, it goes through. It's the construction of a straight road -- rightly dividing. Then it's also the picture of a farmer with a plow and he sets his point at the other side of the field and he takes that furrow and moves that plow as precisely as he can so the furrow is straight.

I was up in Northern California the other day watching farmers as they were planting and they were rightly dividing the field because ever so precisely those trees were planted. And there's another meaning to rightly dividing -- it's the picture of a stonemason building a structure and cutting those stones to precisely fit within the structure so the building is perfectly balanced.

Old Calvin picked up the thought of rightly dividing and he said it's the picture of a father dividing the food portions to his family. In other words, here's a dad with 14 children and he's got a meatloaf and he's got to make sure that every child -- now I came from a family of five boys and I watched my Dad rightly divide many, many times the limited portions of food.

The thought is this, Paul says study, be diligence, to show yourself a swordsman that you rightly use the word of God. He means when Satan comes have a truth so pointed it goes straight at his spear and stops him. It means taking truth, the Scriptures, and so molding them into an argument with others so that God's word precisely balances that conversation or that presentation and God wins. It's handling the word of God precisely. It's building that building precisely. It's making the road and the furrow as precise as you can. And Paul says, you study, you study to rightly divide so that when the moment comes, when Satan comes, because you may only how one chance to take that Word and drive it. Because if you don't have an answer, you'll usually fall.

Ladies and gentlemen, I believe with all my heart that one of the reasons why most Christians have a difficult time living out their Christian faith is because they know so little of the word of God. And Paul is saying if I'm going to win in this spiritual battle, I've got to make sure how with precision and skill to answer the enemy of my soul when I'm under attack. This is our offensive weapon. We must learn how to use it. Got the point? It's our responsibility. To the amount that we learn how to handle His word will be the degree that we'll win our spiritual battles. That's it. Let's pray.

Lord Jesus, thank you for the Scriptures. And we ask You to forgive us for being so negligent about how to skillfully and precisely use Your Word in the spiritual battles of life. In many cases we don't have a Scripture verse to reply with because we don't know how to use our Scriptures as we should. And thus, we are often defeated. Would You challenge every one of us here today, dear God, to fall in love with Your word, to memorize portions of it, areas that we need to defend off the enemy of our soul. We want to be more than conquerors, we want to be victorious in our Christian living, and we can do that when we surround our hearts and our minds in our hearts with Your Word. Help us dear Jesus, it's in Your name we pray. Everybody said, amen. God bless you folks.