The Believer's Armor, Part 7: The Sword of the Spirit

This incredible, matchless, incomparable book is the final weapon, the final element of armor given to the believer in the battle against Satan. And the sad fact is that so many Christians do not really know how to use it. Welcome to Grace to You with John MacArthur.

I'm your host, Phil Johnson. You've probably heard this statement applied to warfare or chess or even football, that the best defense is a good offense. But whatever the battle, the reality is you need both elements to win. That's especially true as you resist the satanic forces that war against you as a Christian. And today on Grace to You, John MacArthur is going to show you how to use the one weapon that God has given you that is both offensive and defensive. It's the super weapon known as the sword of the Spirit. So follow along now as John continues his classic Grace to You study, the believer's armor. We want to examine the last piece of the Christian's armor. Verse 17. Finally, as Paul expresses what is needed for the believer to overcome Satan and his host, he says, take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Old Dr. Guthrie said, the Bible is an armory of heavenly weapons, a laboratory of infallible medicines, a mine of exhaustless wealth.

It is the guidebook for every road, a chart for every sea, a medicine for every malady, and a balm for every wound. Rob us of our Bible and our sky has lost its sun. One writer said, the authorship of the Bible is so wonderful. There are words written by kings, by emperors, by princes, by poets, by sages, by philosophers, by fishermen, by statesmen, by men learned in the wisdom of Egypt, educated in the schools of Babylon, and trained at the feet of rabbis in Jerusalem. It was written by men in exile, in the desert, in shepherd's tents, in green pastures, and besides still waters. Among its authors we find a tax gatherer, a herdsman, a gatherer of sycamore fruit.

We find poor men, rich men, statesmen, preachers, captains, legislators, judges, and exiles. The Bible is a library filled with history, genealogy, ethnology, law, ethics, prophecy, poetry, eloquence, medicine, sanitary science, political economy, and the perfect rules for personal and social life. And behind every word is the divine author, God himself. Of the authorship of the Bible, John Wesley said, the Bible must have been written by God, or good men, or bad men, or good angels, or bad angels. And then he said, but bad men and bad angels wouldn't write it because it condemns bad men and bad angels. And good men and good angels wouldn't deceive by lying as to its authority and claiming that God wrote it. And so said Wesley, the Bible must have been written as it claims to have been written by God, who by his Holy Spirit inspired men to record his words using the human instrument to communicate his truth. I don't know if we even understand the fullness of what it means to have the sword of the Spirit.

I'm quite confident we don't. This incredible, matchless, incomparable book is the final weapon, the final element of armor given to the believer in the battle against Satan. And the sad fact is that so many Christians do not really know how to use it.

We fall victim to Satan because of an ineptness with the sword. Do you realize what kind of a book this is? Do you really realize what you have in your hand as you glance at its words and its pages?

Let me just tell you. Let me tell you what the Bible claims for itself. First of all, the Bible claims that it is infallible. That means that it is without error in total. That the sum of it all makes no mistakes. That it is faultless, flawless, without blemish. In Psalm 19, 7 it says, the law of the Lord is perfect. In its total it is infallible. Secondly, in its parts it is inerrant and that means that there is no error in it. In Proverbs 30 verses 5 and 6 it says, every word of God is pure.

Every word. Add thou not to his words lest he reprove thee and thou be found a liar. And so his word is infallible in total, inerrant in part.

Thirdly, it is complete. Revelation 22, 18 and 19 says, if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. And if any man shall take away the words of this book, God shall take away his part from the tree of life.

In other words, you can't add to it and you can't take away from it and that means it is complete. Fourthly, the Bible is authoritative. In Isaiah chapter 1 and verse 2 we read, hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken. When God speaks, everybody better listen.

That's what it means when it says it's authoritative. Further, the Bible is sufficient. In 2 Timothy chapter 3 it says that it is sufficient to make you wise unto salvation. It is sufficient to make you perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. This book can bring you to salvation and bring you to perfection.

There is nothing other than that that is needful. So the Bible is infallible in total, inerrant in part, complete, authoritative and sufficient. Sixth, it is effective. It is effective when it speaks things happen. The Bible changes things. The word of God works transformations. In Isaiah 55, so shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth. It shall not return void but shall accomplish what I please.

It is effective. Listen, if I didn't believe that, I wouldn't preach it. The reason I preach it is because I believe it will do what it says it will do.

Seventh, it is divine. 2 Peter 1 21 it says that the scripture did not come from any private interpretation. It came not from the will of man but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. It's God's book. Now listen, a book that is infallible, inerrant, complete, authoritative, sufficient, effective and divine is a book that ought to be cherished.

For one other reason, it is also determinative. What a person does with the Bible reveals his relationship to God. Jesus said he that is of God hears God's words. Ye are not of God, therefore you hear them not. If you listen to the Bible, it shows you belong to God.

If you don't, it shows you don't. The Bible then becomes a determiner in a sense of a man's eternal destiny and his relationship with God. What an incredible book.

There is no book in existence in the universe that can make these claims and substantiate them. Only the Bible. What does the Bible do for you? What does the Bible offer you? What resources does it bring to you?

Well, let me just suggest a few. First of all, it's the source of truth. And John 17, 17 says thy word is truth. It's the truth about life, death, time, eternity. The truth about heaven and hell. The truth about right and wrong. The truth about men and women. The truth about old people and young people. The truth about children. The truth about society. The truth about every relationship between God and man. Every relationship between man and man. And every relationship between man and creation. It's the truth about everything.

It's needful. Secondly, the Bible is the source of happiness. We see the world around us chasing happiness like mad.

Just furiously chasing happiness. And the simplicity of scripture is this. Proverbs 8, 34. Happy is the man who hears me.

The simplicity of the statement of Jesus in Luke 11, 28. Happy are they who hear the word of God and obey it. That's happiness. The Bible then is the source of happiness as well as the source of truth.

Because frankly no man is happier than he who discovers truth. I was watching an interview with a lady who had been raped. And the interviewer said to her, what have you learned through this? And she said, oh, I've grown through this.

And the interviewer said, well, that's really wonderful. That's what life is all about, growing. But I agree life is all about growing but not growing in the way that they think. Growing in the knowledge of the word of God. Because Peter says grow in grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

How do you do that? Again, the word is the source of growth. In Peter he says, 1 Peter 2, 2, as babes desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby. Listen, the Bible is the source of truth. The Bible is the source of happiness. The Bible is the source of growth. And then the Bible is the source of power. We're really impotent in our lives if we don't use God's word. The Bible is the source of our power.

The word is alive and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. Remember the Bible is the source of guidance, Psalm 119 105, thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. The Bible is the source of comfort, Romans 15 4 talks about the comfort of the scripture. The Bible is the source of perfection, 2 Timothy 3 16, that the man of God may be perfect. The Bible is the source of so many things.

This incredible book that never has an error, never makes a mistake, is always sufficient and complete and authoritative and effective and determinative, can bring to your life truth and happiness and growth and power and guidance and comfort and perfection. And one other thing, the Bible is the source of victory over the enemy. And with that we arrive at Ephesians 6 17.

It is the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God that gives us the weapon against our enemy. And beloved, that's why I preach the word of God. That's why we systematically teach the word of God. Because you see, it wouldn't even matter if all of those other things I said about the Bible were true, if you never learned it. You would have at your disposal a resource never used. And so we believe systematically week after week after week in teaching the word of God.

Why? Because it gives you the source of truth, the source of happiness, the source of growth, the source of power, the source of guidance, the source of comfort, the source of perfection and the source of victory. Now we know in Ephesians 6 that we're in a war, right? That was made clear to us in verses 10 to 12. And if you look back at verses 10 to 12 you will reiterate again the war that we're involved in.

We're wrestling against Satan and his demons. As Christians we have been given a resource in Christ. We are literally blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavens. We know how we are to live. That's laid out in Ephesians 4, 5 and 6. We know what our resources are.

That's in Ephesians 1, 2 and 3. The reservoir is there and we've learned how we are to apply it. Now we are facing the reality that Satan resists that application. Satan tries to stymie our productivity.

He wants to stop us from living out our position. And the way we overcome his hindrance is to have the armor on. And we've discussed the belt of truthfulness in verse 14 which is commitment. And we've discussed the breastplate of righteousness which is holiness. And we've discussed the shoes of the gospel of peace which is confidence in the Lord's power and presence. We've discussed the shield of faith which is believing God. We've discussed the helmet of salvation which is confidence in the eternal salvation yet to come. And now we come finally to the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.

Now listen. The previous armor has been primarily defensive. But now we come to a piece of armor that is both defensive and offensive. I've heard people say that this is offensive.

It is more than that. It is defensive as well. Now the word sword here is a very interesting term. It is the word in the Greek machaira. And it's a very common word in Greek, a very common word even in the New Testament. The other word for sword, ramphaya, it refers to that large broadsword. It could be as long as 40 inches plus, longer than a yardstick. A great broad two-edged sword that was wielded with two hands.

That is not in view here. This is the more normal sword carried by the soldier, the machaira, anywhere from 6-inch long daggers to 18-inch swords or so. They were put in a sheath or a scabbard by the side of the soldier and were used in hand-to-hand combat.

That's what's in view. In fact, by the way, machaira is the word used to describe the swords in Matthew 26.47 that were in the hands of the Romans who came to capture Jesus while He was in the garden. It was the normal Roman soldier's sword. It is the same word used to speak of the sword with which Peter cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest. It is the same word used, machaira, to speak of the sword used in Acts 12 to kill James, the brother of John. It is the same word, machaira, sword used to speak of the sword used against the heroes of the faith in Hebrews 11. It is the normal sequence of sizes in this machaira concept that was the everyday routine sword used by soldiers. But in each case, it seems apparent that a machaira had to be used in a rather precise way to be effective. Now, Peter simply cut off an ear with it.

I'm sure if he'd had a ram faya, he'd have come all the way from the ear to the tip of the guy's toe. The machaira had to be used as a precise weapon. Now, this is the sword that Paul has in mind. It was the normal sword used by the Roman soldier.

Now, notice this. Verse 17, he says it is the sword of the spirit. To pneumatize, of the spirit, it could be translated. It literally could be translated by the spirit or else it could be translated in an adjectival sense, spiritual. You have all of these options.

Perhaps the best two are these. First of all, we can use it as an adjective and take the spiritual sword. Small s, not referring so much to the Holy Spirit, but the spiritual sword. Because we know well that Paul said to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 10, 4, that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but spiritual.

That's his implication there. And so we are using a spiritual sword. The fact that verse 12 says we are fighting spiritual wickedness. He's talking here about a spiritual sword. Of course, all of this is spiritual.

We have really a spiritual belt and a spiritual breastplate and spiritual shoes and spiritual shield and a spiritual helmet. So that could be used in that sense. And by the way, 2 pneumatous is used in an adjectival sense in Ephesians 1, 3 and 5, 19. So that would be a fair way to translate it in the context of the book. But perhaps better, because it would be more consistent with the rest of the armor, is to translate it in what we call a genitive of origin.

In other words, it's referring to where it comes from. Sword given by the Spirit. So that it is the sword of the Spirit in the sense that the Spirit has given it.

And if you put both together, you get this idea. Our sword is spiritual because it was given to us by the Holy Spirit. Now when you became a Christian, you received the sword.

In what sense? You have the Bible. You say, well even an unbeliever has the Bible. Yes, an unbeliever has the Bible but does not have the resident truth teacher, the Holy Spirit, who can make the Bible meaningful, right? That's why the natural man understandeth not the things of God. That's why in 1 John it tells us in chapter 2 that we have an anointing from God and we know all things.

We have a resident truth teacher. It is the Spirit of God living in the life of the believer who makes the Word of God available to that believer. And so when you become a believer, you receive the Word of God and the Spirit of God and in conjunction you have the sword. And so the sword becomes ours as believers. But now it's a matter of how we learn to use the sword. And all Christians possess the sword. We have it here and we have the resident Spirit of God so that it is a spiritual sword. It becomes a weapon. Listen, beloved, the Bible in your life is a weapon.

No question about it. It's a weapon. It's only a matter of whether you know how to use it. And learning how to use it is dependent upon how diligently you get involved in studying the Word of God. That's why the Apostle Paul spent three years in Ephesus and said, I have not failed to declare unto you the whole counsel of God.

Why? He wanted to teach them how to use the sword. He wanted to give them the whole thing so that they would be able to use it effectively. So we have a spiritual sword, a sword not forged in human anvils or tempered in earthly fires. A sword that has a divine origin, a powerful, effective, amazing weapon that is all of those things that I said earlier about the Bible, incomparable, matchless in the hand of a believer, so powerful that nothing can withstand it and nothing can overpower it.

Always remember reading King Arthur and the invincible sword. It pales in light of the invincibility of the Word of God in the hand of a righteous saint who knows how to use it. The Word then is our weapon. And it's powerful. It's powerful in Romans 1 16, it says, I am not ashamed of this, so powerful.

He says, I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God and the salvation. You wield this sword and people will get saved. You will literally use the sword as it were to tear away souls from the kingdom of darkness. With the sword you can cut a swath through Satan's dominion.

Powerful. It can be used in judgment. In Hebrews chapter 4 where it says, The Word of God is alive and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

The word discerner there comes from krno, which means to judge by sifting out the evidence. The Word of God becomes that which judges people. You preach the Word and it brings to bear on their life the judgment of God and it sifts and weighs their life in the balance of the authority of the Word of God to show them the fact or reality of their sinfulness.

The next verse he says that's why Hebrews 4.13, No creature can hide himself, but everyone is made naked before God's Word. God's Word comes like a sword resting souls from the kingdom of darkness. God's Word comes like a sword piercing into the hearts of men, splitting them open, sifting the evidence and showing them their own sin and guilt before Holy God. This is a powerful weapon. It is so powerful it can bring truth into error. It is so powerful it can bring happiness into sadness. It is so powerful it brings light to darkness and shows you the way. It is so powerful it changes sorrow into joy. It is so powerful that it changes stagnation into growth. It is so powerful it takes an infantile person and makes him mature.

This is a powerful thing. This is what we hold in our hands, the sword of the Spirit. Let's pray again. Father, we thank you for your Word. I can't help but think that in a sense the whole armor of God is nothing but a picture of Jesus Christ. Christ is the truth, like the belt of truthfulness. He is our righteousness, our breastplate. He is our peace. His faithfulness makes our faith a reality. He is our salvation.

And He is the living Word of God. Father, I know that this means that the moment we trust Christ, we receive the armor. I think of the words of the Apostle Paul who said, Wake up, cast off sin, and put on the armor of light, and then went on to say, Which is?

Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, Father, in my heart I know that summing up all of this armor, summing it all up and winning the battle, we must put on Jesus Christ. We must be covered with His truth and truthfulness, with His righteousness, with His peace, with His confident faith in the Father, with His ultimate salvation, with His very life as the living Word.

Father, help us to appropriate those resources. This is Grace to You with John MacArthur. John is the Chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary. He has titled our current study, The Believer's Armor. John, as you continued your study from Ephesians 6 today, you actually hit on many different portions of Scripture. Psalm 19, Revelation 22, Isaiah 1, Luke 11, and John 17, just to name a few. So talk about that strategy, looking to multiple passages in order to understand one particular part of God's Word. And is that a technique that is best left to pastors and Bible scholars, or is that also something that lay people who study Scripture can do for themselves? If you study the New Testament, and even the teaching of our Lord, you know how often he used the Old Testament.

He would reach back to the Old Testament. The Apostle Paul, all the New Testament writers, reach back to the Old Testament. So they understand that the truth revealed to them in the New Testament is also connected to truth revealed in the Old Testament, and that's because you have one author.

So the Bible becomes its own best interpreter. And early on in my ministry, I realized that the New Testament writers would draw the enrichment of their revelation from the Old Testament. And so I thought, I now have the New and the Old Testament, and as I'm going through any given passage, I want also to explain that given passage by the rest of Scripture.

So it's a commitment that I made at the beginning of my ministry, and there are a number of reasons for it. The Apostle Paul said, The things written in the Old Testament have happened unto you as examples. So we have a full illustration book in the Old Testament to illustrate the truth of the New Testament. So why wouldn't you use those illustrations that are designed by God to bring complete, full, ranging understanding to things in the New Testament?

So when you use biblical illustrations to illustrate, they not only have interest, they not only have clarity, but they have power and authority because they are the Word of God. So I think when you want to understand the Bible, you have to understand sections and passages in the greater context of all of Scripture. That's one of the reasons that I wrote many years ago now the MacArthur Study Bible.

The notes in the MacArthur Study Bible help you do that. There are 25,000 footnotes on every page of the Bible, and they will inevitably take you from a passage you're reading, give you an explanation, take you to other passages that elucidate and clarify. If you don't have a MacArthur Study Bible, you need to get one because it's essentially a biblical library in one volume, and you will use it in a way that will do exactly what I've been explaining, help you to explain the Scripture by other Scripture. That's right, and friend, you can think about the footnotes in the Study Bible this way. They help you grasp the fine details in God's Word, and that helps you see the big picture.

You will see, as John said, that Scripture explains Scripture over and over. To order your copy of the MacArthur Study Bible, contact us today. Call our toll-free number, 800-55-GRACE, or visit our website, gty.org. Besides all the features that John mentioned, the MacArthur Study Bible comes with a section that shows you how to get the most out of your time in God's Word.

The Study Bible is also available in several English and non-English translations, and in softcover, hardcover, and genuine leather. To order, call 800-55-GRACE, or go to gty.org. Now, turning the corner a bit, if you know of someone thinking about life after high school, keep in mind what I mentioned earlier in the broadcast, that John MacArthur serves as Chancellor of the Masters University in Southern California. It's a four-year liberal arts university that is committed to the authority of Scripture. To learn more about the Masters University, look for their link at our website, gty.org. That's the Grace To You website. We have a link to the university at gty.org. Now, for John MacArthur and the entire Grace To You staff, I'm Phil Johnson, encouraging you to be here tomorrow when John will look at the most effective way to defeat Satan's attacks. John is continuing his study of the believer's armor with another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time, on Grace To You.