The Shield of Faith

There are a variety of Well, I invite you to turn again to Ephesians 6, where our text for today is the sixteenth verse.

Now, in order to trace a way through this verse, I want us to do as follows. I want us to think, first of all, about the identity of the individuals that Paul is addressing here. In other words, the call to arms which he has issued is a call that he issues to the Salvation Army, if we might put it that way—not the Salvation Army of the red buckets and the bells, although many of them were in this army, but rather to those who are included in Christ through the gospel. I've tried to make this distinction all the way along, because it is possible that some, in listening to the Bible being taught, are applying it without an understanding of this important distinction. He is not issuing a general call to the population of Ephesus to try and be good or brave or self-reliant, to have faith in oneself or to have faith in faith itself. He is addressing specifically those who, he says, have placed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's very important to realize this. It's possible for this passage to be taught along the lines of, Try and be as much like Jesus as you possibly can, because it will be good for you and others will benefit also.

It's not an attempt to try and become something. It is the reality that in Christ we have been made something, and that when we came to trust in Christ, he clothed us with the gospel armor. He clothed us with his righteousness.

He died in our place. We came to understand that. And if you like the theme of the Salvation Army, if they had had it available to them then, they probably would have chosen In Christ Alone as their anthem. For that is the testimony of the members of this spiritual force.

Enough said on that. We need to be clear as to the identity of the members of this army. It, of course, raises the question—and purposefully so, and necessarily so—am I in Christ a member of this army? Have I heard the word of truth, the gospel of my salvation, and have I come to believe—to believe in terms of believing in it entirely, restingly, savingly? For when the Bible speaks in those terms, it's not speaking simply about intellectual assent to an awareness of certain things that are true of an individual who has lived and died. But it is rather that which comes to rest entirely upon it. I have nothing else in my defense.

I have no possible way of making me alive. Only if he shines into my heart and stirs me up in this way, then I may be able to testify to these things. That's enough said concerning identity. Now let's look at the hostility that this army faces. Now, you will notice—and we have tried to emphasize this all the way through—that the source of this hostility is not abstract evil. It's not abstract evil. If you look at the verse, all the flaming darts of the evil won.

Not all the flaming darts of evil. So you have the definite article. Evil is an adjective, and one is the noun. He is the evil one. Who is he? Well, he's the devil. He's already been identified. The schemes of the devil.

You're wrestling here in this way. In other words, the devil himself, who came and seduced and deceived Adam and Eve in the garden, who then came and tempted the Lord Jesus in the wilderness, he, along with his allies, mentioned further up your text, attacks the followers of Jesus. That's what Paul is pointing out. Now, every follower of Jesus will know this not only because they have read it in the Bible but because they have experienced it. It's regarded by many as a kind of superstitious folklore. In fact, as you think about going out into tomorrow, back to your workplace, and you talk about these things, it takes great bravery on the part of the Christians to say, Well, you know, what we're really up against is spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places. You see, the record of the temptation of Jesus by Satan in the wilderness, the record of his temptation of Adam and Eve in the garden, and the fall of man into sin. For as by one man came sin, and so death threw sin.

You see, this is not some kind of special little idea for people who are into this stuff to hold onto. This is actually foundational to our understanding of not only biblical history but human history. How do we explain human history? How do we explain the manifold evil? How do we explain the disruption, the chaos, all that has gone on despite all the length of time of human history, all of the advances in arts and science and everything else, and yet the same amazing fountain of animosity and pain and horror and darkness? Well, the people may oppose what the Bible says, but the Bible is clear in what it says—that we're dealing with something that is not only cosmically true—you will notice that in your text—against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

It is not only cosmically true, but it is also personally true. And that's the point that Paul is making here. That's why he says, in all circumstances, the believers are to be alert to all the flaming darts of the evil one. Now, he's picking up a picture from contemporary warfare. It's not contemporary to us, but we've seen pictures and we've seen movies whereby the arrows are then wrapped with some kind of material which is then set alight, and then it is positioned in such a way as to be fired as an onslaught against the enemy, hoping to penetrate and to destroy. Oftentimes, it's not the picture of an individual archer with one little arrow, but it is the picture of a whole troop of individuals all launching their arrows at one time, coming from here and there and everywhere, so as, if possible, to soften up their opponents so that others may then come along with them and through them and penetrate their defenses and come in for the kill, as it were—come in for the hand-to-hand combat, which we noted back in verse 12—"for we do not wrestle"—and if you remember that, we said this is a word here that speaks of hand-to-hand combat. Now, obviously, we're not talking here about the physical presence of a devil in the context of my car or whatever else it is.

But nevertheless, the extent to which his devilish impact is almost tangible should not be set aside. The evil one has an almost unlimited arsenal into which he can reach and from which he can fire. One of his favorite arrows is in a simple question, Did God Really Say? Did God Really Say? Well, of course, no, he didn't actually really say what he asked. He said, You can enjoy everything here, but don't touch this. The evil one came and said, Did he really say that you can't eat any of the fruit of the garden? No. Don't put words in his mouth.

He still does it. Have you noticed Jehovah's Witnesses on the street? Diligent people. Do you know, they love the word really.

Here's their pitch. Find out what the Bible really says. Find out what it really says. You may have heard that it says this, but we'll tell you what it really says. The flaming darts of the evil one are subtle, trying to get us to doubt his word, trying to get us to question his love, trying to get us to resist his will. And the picture is not of thoughts that are self-generated or cultivated from within, but the picture is that which is by way of accusation or insinuation that comes out of nowhere. Out of nowhere. Or, as they say in a baseball analogy, out of left field.

I don't really know about what that means, and so I had to look it up. And then I realized that it's not actually a very good analogy, because the definition of out of left field is something which is unexpected, odd, or strange. So it doesn't fit this.

Only in part it fits it. Because the attacks and the arrival of the arrows of the evil one come unexpectedly, but they're not strange. In fact, what would be strange would be the absence of the attack. Hence Peter, when he writes to his readers in his first letter, says, Do not regard it as strange, this fiery trial through which you're going. Don't regard it as though something strange were happening to you. Now, Christian biography lines up with human experience, making it clear to us that some of the choicest servants of the Lord Jesus have battled with all kinds of flaming arrows. Doubt, depression, unholy, unworthy, unbidden thoughts.

Surely there is a measure of this in what we refer to as panic attacks. Surely there is a measure of this in the awareness that comes to us of deep-seated feelings of guilt that drag us from the sixteenth of September back through a decade or two decades or three decades or as far back as you can go, and out of nowhere on a beautiful sunny day when everything is fine and we're singing together, here it comes. Where did this come from?

It was a flaming dart. The evil one says, You call yourself a believer? Don't you remember?

Well, the sad part is, yes, I do remember. God, however, does not remember. That's why we sang what we sang when Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within. Upward I look and see him there who made an end to all my sin. So the response to the evil one is as we're about to discover.

Flaming darts, wither imaginations, desires, passions, jealousies, lusts, temptations. The evil one will employ everything and anything that seeks to undermine our identity in Jesus and our unity in Jesus. Our identity in Jesus and our unity in Jesus. Remember, he's writing to the church. He's already written to them and encouraged them to maintain the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. And he recognizes that one of the ways in which the evil one would score a great victory in Ephesus would be if he could get them, first, to doubt their identity in Jesus, and then secondly, to disrupt their unity in Jesus. If I may just say, in passing, God has been very good to us as a church in this regard.

But we don't take it for granted, and we don't presume upon it. I was with a minister just in the last few days from down south, and it was very clear to me that the sorry tale of the last five or six years of his life could not ultimately be explained in terms of kind of corporate disruption or in any superficial way. The church in which he had served had clearly been under a sustained spiritual barrage. And from what I could tell, they had responded to it in a way that was naïve and really unhelpful.

And as a result, it had led to chaos and disruption and sadness. Well, that brings us then, if the hostility is there, to determine what then is the activity that is called for. How is the hostility to be handled? Well, as he's already pointed out, the first thing is it's not to be handled in our own strength. As Luther in his great hymn puts it, if did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing. We're not the right man on our side, the man of God's own choosing. In other words, the only way in which we can deal with this hostility is to find our strength, our spiritual resources, in the Lord Jesus, reminding ourselves that Christ has won the victory, that the evil one is a defeated fall.

Newton, in a seldom sung hymn, has one verse which goes like this. When Satan appears to stop up our path and fills us with fears, we triumph by faith. He cannot take from us, though oft he has tried, the heart-cheering promise the Lord will provide. He has provided us with the armor, and here is what we're to do. We are to take up—notice the verb—to take up this shield of faith. Having fastened on the belt, having put on the breastplate, having put on the readiness of the gospel, shoes, take up. So the breastplate is fastened to you, the belt is foundational to you, and the shoes are on you. Any soldier who is now enlisted and engaged in warfare, even if he is having a cup of tea, he is breastplate, belt, shoes on. When the alarm sounds, he reaches for the shield.

And that's the point. Take up this shield of faith. Now, this is not a little shield like a little Frisbee kind of shield.

This shield is four feet long by two and a half feet wide. It's like walking around with a door. In fact, in warfare, in the Roman times, a wife might say to her husband, Make sure you come back with your shield and not on your shield. Because they would use the warrior's shield as a mechanism for carrying him dead off the field of battle.

Make sure you come back with it, not on it. Now, what does this mean, in essence? Let me give it to you in a sentence. We are taking up the shield of faith when we are trusting the gospel to shield us from Satan's lies. We're taking up the shield of faith when we are trusting the gospel to shield us from Satan's lies.

Trusting individually and initially. Proverbs 35, every word of God proves true. He is a shield to all who take refuge in him. Question, am I taking refuge in him? Other refuge have I none, hangs my weary soul on thee.

He's a shield to all who take refuge in him. Trusting in the gospel at the same time consistently and corporately. The Bible makes it very, very clear that there are times when our faith falters.

That's why we sang as we did. That there are degrees of faith even between us as we sit side by side in the seats. And when our faith falters, we may well be tested to introspection, to look inside of ourselves and try and scramble for an answer.

But Paul is saying here, no, don't do that. Take up the shield, looking to Jesus. He is both the author and the finisher of your faith. William Gouge—who I mistakenly was going to attribute the quote to earlier, but they were both together at the Westminster assembly—Gouge writes in his diary, When I look upon myself, I see nothing but emptiness and weakness. But when I look upon Christ, I see nothing but fullness and sufficiency.

It's wonderful. The Bible actually refers to those who are weak in faith. It refers to those who are strong in faith. Jesus comforted those who were of little faith. He commended great faith when he found it.

Jesus said to Peter on one occasion, Peter, I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And in his pride he collapsed. He had been given the warning, Watch and pray, so that you do not enter into temptation. He neither watched nor prayed and collapsed. It wasn't the absence of the warning.

It wasn't the absence of the provision. It was the reaction of Peter. And some of us, I think, may be tempted to say, of some of the flaming darts that come our way, well, you know, I think I can absorb one or two of these. I don't have to get too concerned about it. It doesn't seem to be harming anything. I can let it burn for a bit.

That was Augustine, when he said, Lord, make me pure, but not yet. I'll just let this one burn for a little bit. I kind of like it. It's cozy.

No. When troubles assail and dangers affright, Though friends should all fail and foes all unite, We raise the shield and we rouse the troops. This is the importance, loved ones, of being a family as well.

Families can gather together as nuclear families, but a church family's so important too. Because when we find ourselves under unbelievable attack, we can say to our brothers and sisters, Hey, would you bring your shield over here and help me? Raise the shield, rouse the troops.

Sunday school songs help me always. Rouse then, soldiers, rally round the banner. Ready, steady, pass the word along. Onward, forward, shout the loud huzzahanna, Christ is captain of the mighty throng.

When Jim Elliot and the rest of them were down there in Ecuador, before they came to meet their demise at the hands of the cannibal savages, you remember what they sang. We rest on thee, our shield and our defender. We go not forth alone against the full, Strong in thy strength, safe in thy keeping tender. We rest on thee, and in your strength we go. We go in faith, our own great weakness feeling, and needing more each day, your grace to know. Well, I think that is the honest testimony of a member of the Salvation Army. And I trust it's your testimony today.

I want it to be mine. The shield of faith provides every one of us with a strong defense in the midst of spiritual battle. That's today's message from our series called Strength for the Battle on Truth for Life with Alistair Begg.

We know that God's word gives us a strong defense against the attacks of the enemy. That's one of the reasons why Jesus instructs us to take the message of the gospel to all of creation so that people can hear God's truth and in the process can find saving faith. Your monthly giving as a Truth for Life truth partner makes the daily Bible teaching from Truth for Life available to a worldwide audience. So if you have never bridged the gap between listening to Truth for Life and partnering with us, we want to invite you to do that today by becoming a truth partner.

It's easy to sign up. You can simply go online at truthforlife.org slash truth partner to join with us in this gospel mission. When you do that, you'll play an enabling role in the work that Jesus has set before us. And to express our gratitude for your partnership with us, we invite you to request the book we've been mentioning called The Whole Armor of God. This is a book that will prepare you for the spiritual battle that is described in Ephesians chapter 6. Again, find out more about becoming a truth partner when you go to our website, truthforlife.org slash truth partner.

I'm Bob Lapeen. Thanks for listening today. If you have ever wrestled with fears and doubts that aren't grounded in truth, you could be battling against the lies of the devil. And tomorrow, Alistair explains three crucial ways that the helmet of salvation protects our minds from Satan's targeted attacks. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.