Stand Firm

So this week is the last week in our sermon series on Standing in the Gap, the church's call to defend the unborn. And the title of this week's sermon is Stand Firm. And so we've been seven weeks studying what it means to fight against the evil of abortion in our land. We've been called to stand in defense of the defenseless. We've studied the lies that run cover for this wickedness. The things that are meant to mislead us or to distract us from the truth, the simple truth that abortion is murder, and as such it ought to be stopped now. We've also learned what visiting the orphan and the widow in their distress means for us. That's what we studied last week. We've looked at the place of prayer in this work. And this last week, we've had a worship service here in the middle of the week, calling us to this work.

And then on Friday morning, as David gave you an update, many of us were able to actually go and to see what this work looks like, what it means to be engaged in this battle. And what you'll find in battle, if you think for a moment, not about spiritual battle, but just about an enlisted man, when he's sent away, when he goes on a tour of duty, what do you always want to know? You want to know how long is your tour of duty? How long do you have to be in active service? And the reason you ask that question is because you understand things about battle. And the thing that you primarily understand about battle is that battle is dangerous and battle is wearying. And you can't just fight and fight and fight and fight and fight and fight forever without some strengthening, some sort of reprieve. And so you say, how long is your tour? And he says, nine months. And we say, okay. But if he says two years, you go, man, that's a long time.

That's a long time to fight. You're going to be tired. So am I saying that in the battle against abortion and as we fight it, that there are going to be seasons where we can take our seat on the sideline? I'm not saying that because I don't know what the circumstances in our lives will be individually or what goes on. What I am saying is that battle requires perseverance. It requires... for us to be recharged, for us to be strengthened again because we get worn out. And if you think of anything you've done that's been difficult to you, and it could be as simple as being on a sports team and getting to the point where you think you're going to throw up because of how hard the work is. When I was in high school, that was my life. I was an athlete. And the goal of the coaches was to push you to the point where you just...

were a heap on the ground and you couldn't do anymore. You said, I can't do anymore because I'm going to pass out or I'm going to throw up. I'm done. And their goal was to take you through that and to show you, no, actually, you can do more than you thought you could. Their goal was to strengthen you. And similarly, and much more importantly, we need strength and encouragement in this battle. Because the nature of the fight against abortion is... a fight against sin. And we understand that sin is pervasive. Sin is all through our world. And it's not done away with easily. Because Satan doesn't just give up his territory. And so we recognize that engaging in this battle means that we're going to have to engage for a long time, for a lifetime. And we're going to need strength and encouragement so that we can persevere in this fight, so that we don't lose hope, lose zeal or energy or faith.

In the midst of it. Because that's what people who engage in battle will say. There came a point where I was worn out. I was done. I was tired. I felt like I couldn't take another step. And this battle is no different. People get tired. David talked about some of the encouragement there. And that's real encouragement. But he also said, did you hear him? He said it was hard and it was a heavy place to be. It was difficult to stand there. And that's the nature of the battle. It's hard. And so this morning, I want us to turn to Scripture and I want us to learn where to get our strength from. I want us to actually get real strength to persevere in our fight against sin, against abortion. Wherever we find wickedness, I want us to have energy and zeal and hope and faith to persevere and to not hit the wall and go, well, I don't know what to do. This is hopeless.

Christians can't respond that way to the battle against sin because Jesus is raised from the dead and he's seated in heaven and he's sitting there waiting for all of his enemies, all the workers of iniquity, all those who pursue unrighteousness, to be brought under his lordship and to be made a footstool under his feet. Sin's not going to win. Wickedness is not going to reign forever. And so it's our place to behave in light of that and to not go, it is hopeless. And it is never going to change. And it is never going to get better. That's not our place as Christians. Our place is to look to Jesus Christ and to hope in him and in his word and the power of his Holy Spirit that he will conquer sin and death. And that he'll use his church to be a part of that work. And that's you and that's me. And he knows that we'll get tired as we're doing the work. And so we're going to be studying Ephesians chapter 6.

this morning and hear what the Apostle Paul, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, says to those who are weary. Would you please stand for the reading of God's word from Ephesians chapter 6, verses 10 through 17. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God so that you will be able to resist in the evil day and having done everything to stand firm. Stand firm, therefore, having girded your loins with truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

In addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. So this passage of scripture comes at the end of Paul's letter to the Ephesians. He begins it by saying, finally. I've been talking, I've been saying, I've been... teaching and now we come finally. What do they need to know when all else has been said? What do they need to know? What do they need to understand? What he says to them is finally, here's what you need. You need to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. That's his final exhortation. That's his parting word to them. Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Battle is difficult. It will wear us out. I was encouraged if you were at the rally,

on Thursday night by what Cal said to those who are weary. What did he say? Do you remember? He said, you who are weary need to repent because the battle's not over. Come on to the Lord and gain strength to persevere. And that's the thing you feel like you can't say to someone who's tired, which is there's still work to do. We can't quit yet. Trust the Lord and come on. Trust Jesus Christ. Be strong in him and the strength of his might. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, says Paul, but it's against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Have you considered who is their commander of all of these wicked forces? Their commander is Satan, later described in this passage as the evil one. That's who we fight against. We don't fight against flesh and blood. We fight against the devil himself who seeks our destruction and the destruction of everyone else. That's who we fight against.

And he's not interested in a truce. He's not interested in a negotiation. Not the kind that we want. The kind of negotiation we would like to see in a battle is, if we stop fighting, will you stop fighting? He has no interest in that battle. He will never stop until you're destroyed. And so if we delude ourselves because we're tired into thinking, I can stop fighting against sin. In whatever way it manifests itself in our lives or in the world around us, we've believed a lie. What happens when you're on a battlefield and you stop fighting is you die. You hear people talk about sports teams, and what do they say when the team has had their back broken? That's what they'll talk about. Well, that one player, that one thing, that broke the back of that team, and now it's all over. They've given up. They don't have a will to live, to win, to fight.

And things go from bad to worse for that team. Because their opponent continues to pursue them. They don't go, oh, you poor thing, you're having a hard time. They say, oh, you're going to quit? We'll show you what happens to quitters. And they run up the score. And everyone's made to feel sorry for the team that lost. Don't you feel sorry for the team that gets, you know, you watch college football and the team that gets beat by 63 points. And you feel sorry for them. It's like, oh, those mean people that scored 85 points against them. How mean are they? You know who doesn't feel sorry for them? The team that won doesn't feel sorry for them. You know who else doesn't feel sorry for them? Their coach. Their coach doesn't feel sorry for them. I've been on teams that have gotten their butts kicked. And it was a blessing to have a coach who didn't go, well, they really were that much better than you.

And you really didn't have any chance of winning. And so I'm just glad that you went out there and tried. I'm thankful that all through my high school, I had coaches who never were deluded into thinking that losing that way was acceptable and felt sorry for us. You know what we did the next day? He wore us out. We were tired. We were banged up. We were bruised up. We had ice and heat and places that hurt. Take all that stuff off. Get out. You're not getting out of practice on time. Get on the line. And you ran until you were just, you thought you were done in the game, but you really weren't done in the game. He wore you out. And that was a good football coach. You ought not to feel sorry. We can't feel sorry for those who are tired. And the reason I'm saying this is because we want sympathy when we're tired. We want someone to say, it's okay for you to fail in any way you fail.

You can sin in whatever way you happen to sin, and it's okay because you're tired. We can't expect those who are tired, those who are weary, those who are battle-worn to press on. But that's not what Paul says here. He says, finally, be strong. He's speaking to those who are tempted to give up, those who are weary, those who don't want to fight anymore against sin and the devil. And he says, be strong in the Lord and the strength of his might. Stand firm. Numerous times in this passage, that's what he says. Stand firm. He doesn't come to them and say, if you can, would you please try? Stand firm. Do it when you feel like you're ready. He says, stand firm. Keep fighting. Don't quit. Because he understands what happens when you quit. Set abortion aside for a minute. Because that's not the only application of this text.

Consider your own fight against sin in your own life. Just pick a sin, any sin, and tell me what happens when you stop fighting against it. What happens is it consumes you. It might have been making some ground during the battle, and there was some give and there was some take, and there was a struggle. But when you quit fighting, it rules your life. And so we cannot quit, give up, because we're tired. And it feels impossible. Some of us, we don't even want to engage in a fight against sin because we heard that the people who fight against sin, they get worn out in fighting against sin and it's hard. And we go, I don't want to get tired. They look really tired and miserable and they bear on their body the brand marks of Jesus in some way or another. And we go, I don't want that. That's hard for me. I don't know if I can do that. I think that I will continue to negotiate this much and no further when it comes to my sin.

I know I shouldn't, but I'll only do this, but I won't go that much further. And we believe a lie if we think Satan's going to honor those terms. Because that's not what happens. We go this far and then further. On down to its end. And so Paul's not being insensitive or difficult or unloving to the Ephesians when he tells them who are weary, be strong. Put on the full armor of God. The last thing you want to do when you're tired is wear. Just consider going to work all day. And I don't care what kind of job you have. If you wear a tie and a suit coat every day, or if you wear work boots and knee pads, I don't care what you do. When the work day's over and you're tired, what do you want? You want to take off your uniform. I want to take my boots off. I want to take my tie off. I want to hang up the work gear. And I want to relax.

And the reason I want reprieve is because I'm tired. Because I've worked hard all day and I'm ready for rest. You who are married, how much of your marriage problems are a result of this problem? Both mom and dad have been working hard all day. And when they come together at the end of the day, both of them want to take off their work gear. Mom's been working at home, working wherever she's working, doing what God's given her to do. Dad's been out. killing it, working hard out in the field. And he comes home and he goes, I just want to chill. I just want to veg out. I just want to, I don't want any more work. I want the work gear put off. And then what happens? Kids, the work's not gone, is it? You hustle the kids off to bed at 645 because you need a break. Well, that's fine, except they're going to wake up at 530 tomorrow morning or they're not going to sleep for the next three hours and you're going to fight with them and your spouse. All because you're tired and you don't want to work anymore.

You don't want to wear the uniform of a laborer. And so what we tell husbands is, listen, when you get home, your work's not done. If you want to take off the uniform of a banker or a programmer or an electrician or whatever you do, fine, take that uniform off, but you get to put on the uniform of a husband and a father and you have work to do. You don't get to come home and do nothing. Because if you do, you're unfaithful. And every one of us understands the intense desire or temptation to do whatever it is that we want to do when we come home. Some of us might want to watch TV or get on Facebook. Some of us might want to go cut the grass. You know what I want to do? I just want to go outside and I want to listen to a podcast, put my earbuds in and just mow the grass and not be bothered. I'm doing work. And I say, well, you're not doing the work you should be doing because you're getting away from it. Finally.

Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the full armor of God. Why? Why do I have to? This is what husbands would say. Why do I have to come home and deal with this? Why does my wife need me? Why didn't she get the kids all taken care of? Why is there more work to do? He tells us in verse 11, he says, put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. The devil does not observe your... demilitarized zone where you don't have to fight. He doesn't say, oh, well, you can have that ground. I won't come over there. He jumps the fence. Okay? He's there. And he's plotting and scheming for your destruction in that place. And so for us to decide, I'm not going to fight anymore in whatever way we do that, men and women, mothers, fathers, single, married, we're all going to do it differently. Kids do it. I've been working hard all day. You don't let me play.

That's how kids do it. I've been doing what you said. And you told me that if I did what you said, that I'd get to do this. And there's mommy feeling bad because she's like, well, I did tell you we could go to the park if you did that. And you have done that. But the fact is, you also did this and that and the other thing. And that's broken. And the fact is, it took you twice as long as it should have taken you to do it. And it's dinner time now. And you can't go to the park. And I know I said you could go to the park. And the kid has a fit. I don't want to work anymore. I don't want to prepare for dinner. I want to go to the park.

None of us want to press on. All of us have need of perseverance. In every area of our life, because that's where Satan is, he's everywhere. And he's plotting and scheming for our destruction. And so in every area and in every place, it's our responsibility and duty and privilege before God to fight in our battle armor. If you take it off, that doesn't mean you don't fight. What it means is you're vulnerable. What do you think when you're watching a football game and the guy's helmet comes off? You think, boy, I hope his head doesn't get squished like a grape. There's a reason he's supposed to wear the helmet. He's vulnerable. What I think is, you should cut your hair and you should tighten your chin strap because I used to wear them and I know that you don't care about your head. That's why it flew off. There's a way to keep your helmet on, but he doesn't want to. And we see his vulnerability. Or some of us might think, oh man, what a man. Look, he's out there with...

He didn't even stop when his helmet came off. And I say, yeah, well, wait till he gets hit where he's vulnerable. And you won't want his part in life. We're to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. We're to put on the full armor of God. Psalm 46 says this, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble. Can you identify in your life times of trouble? You have times of trouble. We live in a time of trouble. Abortion is our trouble. It's one of our troubles. It's a very, very big trouble. God is our refuge and strength, the very present help and trouble. Therefore, we will not fear. Why won't they fear? Because God is their strength and their refuge. And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar in foam, though the mountains quake at its swelling pride, we will not fear. That's the import. That's the gist of Psalm 46. No matter what happens,

We will not fear because the Lord is our strength. He is our shield, our defender, and our protector. Those who find their rest in him and run to him for safety will be safe. So put on the full armor of God so that you'll be able to stand firm. We can reason the other direction. What happens to those who don't put on the full armor of God? Do they stand firm? No. It's that simple. No, they don't. They can't. There is a place that scripture tells us to go for strength and for security and for refuge and for help. And when we reject that place, which is the Lord God himself, when we reject that, we have exposed ourselves and we will not be able to stand firm. Practically, one of the outcomes of that is you will become more weary.

And it would be understandable that you would become more weary because you'll be more exposed. You remember when David went to fight Goliath? And he says, I'm going to go. How dare that heathen, that Philistine, defy the armies of the living God? I'll go fight. And what did Saul do? What would Saul say? He says, if you're going to go fight, what do you need? Here's my armor. Put on my armor. You've got to have armor to go into battle. And David puts on the armor and it's too big because he's a kid and this is grown man's armor and he can't move and he can't do it. And so he says, I can't wear this stuff. And it was extraordinary. God had something to teach us that was extraordinary in sustaining a boy against a giant without armor. You and I, we're normal people and we need to put on the armor of God or we will be made vulnerable. David didn't say, I don't need armor.

He put it on and he said, I can't move in this armor. I'm a kid. To the shame of all the men, including his older brothers, who wouldn't go fight Goliath. But he put on the armor. And because he couldn't wear the chain mail and the stuff of a grown man doesn't mean we should go without armor. The armor that we put on is not metal. It's not something that weighs us down. The purpose of armor is to protect us. And the armor that we put on, we're able to carry. We are unlike David in that example. He was unable to carry his physical armor. We're commanded to carry the armor of God, to put it on, to strap it on, knowing that it will not impair our ability to fight, but actually it will help. It will actually help us fight better. The first thing that we're told regarding the armor of God is that we're to gird up our loins with truth.

Well, just reading it could make you uncomfortable. Loins, we're talking about loins. You're supposed to do something with your loins. We don't need to talk about loins. But that's the first thing they're told to do. Putting on the full armor of God means girding up your loins. What's that mean? Well, at that time, what that meant, given the way people dressed at the time, which were in long robes with belts around them and nothing underneath them, what it meant was if you're going to go to fight, tie up your... Tie up the excess material of your robe. Tie it up like a diaper around your waist. Why? So that you can move freely. Prepare yourself for battle. Gird up your loins. Stretch out and get ready to move. You can't fight with a skirt on. You guys realize that boys can run in shorts a whole lot better than girls can run in skirts because of the nature of the clothing.

And at the time, the men and the women wore long garments. Tie them up. Get ready for battle. Gird up your loins with truth. Prepare yourself to go into battle. What they're being told is, prepare yourself to go into battle first with the truth of God. Don't be a fool and think that you could fight in the battle with a long tunic on any more than you can fight this battle with your own wisdom. You're to enter into this battle. You're to gird up your loins and prepare for it by establishing yourself in the truth as God's revealed it in his word. Gird up your loins with truth. It removes the restrictions that we're going to face so that we're not encumbered in the battle. The second thing he tells them to do is put on the breastplate of righteousness. Okay? What righteousness? Your righteousness? Does Satan come to you and talk to you about your righteousness?

and how good you are and how worthy you are and how well you've done, does God come and talk to you about your righteousness and say, you really have done well. You really are excellent. It was extraordinary for him to say what he said about Job. Have you observed my servant Job, this righteous man? There's none like him in all the land. And even when Job was tested, we saw that he wasn't perfectly righteous. And at the end of the book of Job, he realized that he wasn't as righteous as he thought. So what are you supposed to do? You're supposed to put on the righteousness, not of yourselves, you don't have any, but the righteousness of Jesus Christ. It's his righteousness that will protect your heart. That's what a breastplate does. It protects your vital organs. It's like a bulletproof vest, okay? A bulletproof vest has two purposes. One, to protect your vital organs. It doesn't cover your shoulders or your abdomen. It covers your vital organs.

And the other thing it's supposed to do is do that work in such a way that you can still fight. If it went down to your wrists and down to your ankles and up to your ears, you couldn't fight, could you? And so it has the purpose of protecting your vital organs. And that's what a breastplate does. It has the purpose of protecting your vital organs. And you need to learn that that is where Satan will attack you. He will attack you. He will assail your heart. He will say, you are not righteous. You are not worthy for this. You have sinned. You have done this. And it disqualifies you from engaging in this way because you are a hypocrite. And you need the righteousness of Christ to protect your heart. You can't claim your own righteousness. You can't say, no, no, I am righteous enough to fight this battle. No, you're not. No, you're not. If you are righteous enough to fight this battle, then you don't have any need for Jesus Christ. You have no need to be a Christian. You have no need to be here.

or to do what he says. You need the righteousness of Christ, and you need it to protect your heart and to guard it against the attacks of Satan and his manipulations. You're to put on the breastplate of righteousness. Satan's attacks will come at you personally. And all he'll do, do you know what those attacks will sound like? They will sound like him telling you the truth about yourself. This is who you are, and this is what you've done. And what can you say? No, I didn't. No, I'm not. Why lie? In that moment, he's telling the truth about you. But God knows the truth about you too. And God sent his son to change the truth in his eyes and consequently in this world about you. And so that's what you say to Satan. And that's how you handle the temptations is to say, apart from Christ, that's true of me. But I'm not apart from Christ. I have his righteousness. And that's why that's not true of me anymore. They're next told to prepare their feet.

with the gospel of grace. Shod your feet in preparation of the gospel of peace. You know, we all have boots and shoes and everything. Some of you, you know, don't like to wear shoes. You know what happens to people who don't wear shoes? What happens to your kids when they don't wear shoes? We have less socks to wash. Our shoe budget is less. But our Band-Aid budget goes up. Because what happens to kids who don't wear shoes? They stub their toes. We were playing kickball at my house a couple of days ago. And we have a raised garden in our backyard that's made out of limestone. And it was second base. And so one of my sons goes running over there to catch the ball. And what's he do? Bang. Kicks the limestone. The rough cut limestone. And that hurt, right? Really bad. And I'm looking at him going, shoes, son. Closed hold sandals. Where are they at? Very sorry you hurt your foot. You know, and you can look at his feet. And his feet are wounded from...

Not wearing shoes. And in battle, if you knew that your enemy didn't wear shoes, what would you put on the ground? Glass? Thorns? I mean, you'd have your embattlements against their artillery, but out where they need to get up to to shoot from, you know what I would do? I'd send you, before they got there, out into the woods and tell you to cut down every thorny thing from the fall that you could find. and scatter it out there where they had to walk. That's what I'd tell you to do. Because one of two things will happen. They won't walk over it, and that will protect you. Or they will walk over it, and they'll be injured. And then they won't pursue you, because they can't walk. And so we're told to shod our feet, to put on the shoes of the gospel of peace. Why? Because we're going to have to walk through and over dangerous, treacherous ground.

And we need to be able to walk over that ground, bringing the gospel of peace. What happens to the messenger whose feet get all cut up? The message doesn't get delivered because he cannot carry it. And so we're to prepare, we're to understand that the gospel is a gospel of peace. It establishes, through the blood of Jesus Christ, peace between us and God and between us. and our neighbors who do wicked things. They don't cease to be our neighbors because they're wicked. The gospel is to establish peace between them. And they, like I said, are going to lay out thorns for you. They're going to make it miserable. They're going to attack you. They're going to call you names. They're going to say nasty things. They're going to threaten you. They're going to expose your children to things that you would not like your children exposed to. These are the thorns. Are you going to prepare for them with peace?

Are you going to go into the battle knowing that you're there to establish peace? You're not there to be right. You're not there to grind them into the dust. You're there to bring peace. You're there to tell them there can be peace with you and the God who made you through his son in the midst of them attacking you. As David described the young lady across the street, what is your natural inclination when someone attacks you? Starts calling you names, starts slandering you and lying about you. Is peace your inclination? Not unless you've prepared for it. If you've prepared for it and you go, this is what's going to happen and I'm ready, then you'll bring peace. But if you haven't prepared for it, you're going to get sucked in. You're going to be yelling back. When Jesus was attacked and he was maligned and he was slandered and lied about, He didn't respond in kind. He remained silent. When Pilate pushed him about it and said, do you not know that I have the authority to set you free or kill you? He says, you wouldn't have that authority lest my father in heaven gave it to you. And then when he is on the cross and they're hurling abuse at him and spitting on him and mocking him and blaspheming God, what's he pray? Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. He understood what his purpose was. His purpose was to bring peace, to establish peace through his death.

Peace between God, his Father, and us, and peace between us and our fellow man, our neighbor, our brother. And so our purpose in going into the battle against sin is to establish peace. It's not to be right. It's not to be smarter. It's to establish peace. And we're only able to do that through the gospel. And so we have to prepare ourselves to enter, to move, to carry peace, the peace of God with us. Verse 16, he says, In addition to all of that, take up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. So a shield is all of these other garments of battle are particular. A shield is a universal, one-size-fits-all kind of defense and offense. Why do I say that? Well, because you move a shield around to where the attack's coming. If someone's swinging a sword at you, You put the shield up. If someone's shooting arrows at you and they're coming down like this, you put the shield up. If someone's trying to take your feet out, you put the shield down. You can move it around. You respond with your shield to the environment. It does you no good to hold your shield over here if the attack's coming from over here. You turn. This is what faith does for us. Faith is able to catch and to extinguish, says Paul, all of the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Faith does this in two ways. One, it protects us before, as a shield would. It catches the dart. The other way that faith works is by healing the wound. Shields don't work that way. These things are an analogy. But faith works by resetting what we believe, by reminding us of, reorienting us to what is true and what is right. And when Satan's lies have gotten to us and gotten past our defenses, And they're stuck in us and they're burning and they're hurting and they're doing their work. Faith gives a godly perspective to that suffering, to that pain, to that hardship. You don't do this for no reason. You're not without hope in this. What's been said about you or said about them or said concerning this situation isn't true. God is true, though all men be liars. You only believe that by faith.

How do you stand in the face of people calling you all kinds of names and hurling all kinds of abuse at you and your children and threatening you in all kinds of ways? You don't stand there by having better argumentation than them. You don't stand there in your pride knowing that you're better than they are. You stand there by faith. You endure it by faith. A shield protects us as we advance in the fight. If you were to study how battles would have been fought, at this time, you'd understand how men would make a shield wall. We would all get in, shoulder to shoulder, hold our shields, shield to shield. And some of us would get down. And some other people would reach up above. And then there'd be another row behind holding them up. And we would come as a wall of impenetrability as we advance. That's what a shield is for. It's an offensive weapon. It's not simply a defensive weapon.

And faith is what allows us to pursue the battle, not simply defend it off. He tells us also to put on the helmet of salvation. We have to secure our hope of salvation. It has to be fixed in our heads. We have to know what you're fighting for. You're to gird your loins with the truth, and you're to remember it. You're to keep your eye focused on it. You're to see it. You have to see what's not there yet. If you were down at the abortion mill, you could... There was lots to see. I didn't see half of what David said. And I didn't learn about it until he told us what happened. I saw some of it, but not all of it. But the question of why are we doing this? And it's not working. And the majority of these women went through with killing their child. Why are we here and what are we doing? Is there any hope in this work? Is there any hope of overcoming sin and the devil? That's the temptation that you're going to be faced with. Do you believe that there's hope?

of overcoming sin and the devil. Down at the abortion mill, in your own hearts, in your marriage, with your children, at work, wherever it is. So long as you live in this world, is there any hope of overcoming the devil and his schemes? It has to be fixed in your mind as a protection to you, like a helmet, that there is salvation available. And that all who call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, they will be saved. Their sins will be forgiven. Satan is a thief and a liar, and he will seek to take that away from you. And to say, that's not true. Are you sure? Did God really say? All of these things that we're to put on, all this armor, for the most part, except the shield, has been defensive. The shield couldn't go both ways. It's meant to defend you as you advance. But we have no weapon yet in this armor. We have nothing to attack with. And so Paul ends with what we're to attack with. The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of the God. That is our tool. That is our weapon.

That we have. And you say, well, people say that they don't believe in the word of God, so how can I wield a tool that they don't acknowledge? And I say, they don't get to invalidate it. If God blesses his word as it goes forth to the end that they repent, they can't resist it. They can't turn away from it. I didn't know the context of the young lady that was yelling across the street, but I saw them counseling across the street, and then I saw them come back over, and I saw her countenance. What changed her? How sweet all these people were? Maybe they were nice people. How attractive we all are? No, it wasn't that. How wealthy we all are? Nope. How cool? Hmm. What did they say to her? They proclaimed God's word to her. They used the sword that God's given them, the word of God. And she was changed. And she says, oh, I see. I want in on the action. That's the power of the word of God. And if we lay down our weapon,

and think we can pick up something else, we've disarmed ourselves. What are you going to pick up and fight with instead of the word of God? I'm going to fight with a gun. That's not a part of the armor of God. I'm going to fight with plastic explosives. I'm going to blow things up. I'm going to attack people. I'm going to blow up buildings. Do you understand? That's not the weapon of our warfare. It's not mysterious how we're supposed to fight. We are to fight by showing up in the context of abortion. We are to show up and we are to bring our armor to protect us and the word of God to attack with. And that's what we're supposed to do with it. The point of a sword is not to keep it in its sheath. It's not to let it get all dusty and rusty. The point of a sword is to use it.

And so that's what ought to happen down there. That's how we fight. We don't fight against flesh and blood. We fight against Satan and his schemes. And even Jesus, when he was tempted by Satan, how did he fight? He fought with scripture. And even when Satan twisted scripture and said, doesn't it say this? Jesus says, it also says, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test. He fought with the word of God. And that is our weapon. And if you're inclined to think it doesn't work, then I say you're not fighting to win the right battle. If you think physical harm and intimidation is the means of our warfare, you're wrong. When Jesus had been betrayed and Judas came with the mob to arrest Jesus by night and they went to take him away, what did Peter do? Whipped out his sword, lopped off the guy's ear and says, no, you're not going to do that. And what did Jesus say?

No. And he picked up the man's ear and he put it back on. And what happens when we feel like we can't take matters into our own hands, we do what Peter did. He ran away like a coward. If I can't fight on my terms, I don't want to fight at all. Because we don't believe that the weapon that God's given us is sufficient for the battle. God is wiser than we are. And the weapon he's given us is his own word, which is capable of speaking. into existence things that are not. By his word, he established the heavens and the earth and all they contain. And if we think that we're going to win battles against abortion or arguments or whatever it is where we find ourselves fighting, apart from the word of God, we're fools. Because God spoke this world into creation and the temptation that came to Adam was, did God really say?

He won't follow through on his word. What was Satan telling them? God's word's not powerful. It's impotent. And that was the lie. The weapon that we have in our battle against sin, wherever we find ourselves fighting against it, is the word of God. If you want to grow in holiness, if you want to grow in obedience, if you want to grow and be safe against Satan's temptations, grow in your knowledge of the word of God. How can a young man keep his way pure before the Lord? By keeping it according to your law. You don't know God's law, you can't keep your way pure. You have to know God's word. And you have to not be ashamed of it when someone lies or when someone says that's not true. The clay can't answer back, Paul says in Romans, the clay can't answer back to the potter, why have you made me thus? We as God's creation, or...

Anyone, not just us, but those who hate God can't answer back to God and say, I don't care what he said, it's not true. That doesn't make it not true. It makes them a rebel. That's what's going on. So can we stand on the word of God and say what he says is true? And whatever the implications are for my life or your life or this situation, let it be. Because God's word is true. And it's the sword that he's given us to fight. It's the means by which we will be able to stand firm in an evil day against the devil who wants to destroy us. If you give it up, you will not stand firm. You could think of it this way. If a soldier had all the defensive armor but no sword, what's going to happen? He's going to lose. He might hold up for a while, but the fact is everything he has is defensive. He can't attack. He can't kill.

He can't overcome. And so we're to wield the sword of the Spirit so that we're able to stand firm. So what are the applications? Two. The first is what we've been talking about the whole time. I want to say succinctly, you must stand firm against Satan's temptations and his attacks. You may not run away. If you run away, did you notice in all of the armor that you're given, there's no protection for a coward's back? There's none. Warriors don't protect their back because they don't turn their back. And if you expose your back, Satan's not above shooting you there. You must stand firm against Satan's temptations and his attacks. You say, it's too hard. It's too discouraging. I don't see any progress. I'm worn out. And I say, if you turn your back, you've given up. And you can't. We can't. Do we believe that God, that there is strength in him for us? Or do we think that he sent us on a kamikaze mission?

Go and fight and you'll die and it won't matter. Brothers and sisters, we cannot believe that. We can't live as though that's true, as though the things that we say and that we do have no consequence, that God's not in these situations working through us by his Holy Spirit to bring about his will in this world. We're the church. We're his people. We're the outpost of God in this fallen world with work to do. And so we must stand firm against Satan's temptations and attacks. We must fight offensively. You cannot win a battle by defense. The best defense in the world cannot win a game because if they don't score at least one point, they will not win. You must fight offensively with the word of God. Finally, about weariness. I've said already that weariness isn't an excuse for us to disengage. And yet weariness isn't a reality. We do get tired. And God gives us comfort in his word.

That we will have rest, complete rest, an eternal rest, never-ending rest, perfect rest. Not the sort of rest where you wake up achy and you wake up tired and you still have the wounds that you went to bed with, but perfect rest for all eternity. And we're to look forward to that day. We're to look forward to the time when we will be able to take off the armor of God, when we will be able to lay it down because there won't be a need for it anymore. But until that day comes, our place is not to take it off prematurely, but rather to strap it on tight and to fight, knowing that we won't have to fight for all eternity. If you want to love Jesus more, if you want heaven to become a sweeter hope and reality for you, if you want to grow in your desire for these things, then press on and fight, and those things will become more sweet to you. I'll close by reading this. 1 Corinthians 9.

Verses 24 through 27, Paul writes this. He says, do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may finish by the skin of your teeth. That's not what it says. It says run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore, I run in such a way as not without aim. I box in such a way as not beating the air, but I discipline my body and make it my slave so that after I've preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified. We're to work and to persevere in a very particular direction. And if you quit along the race and you don't finish, you don't get the prize. You have to finish. And Paul says, if you have to finish, try to win.

Run in such a way as to win. Don't just go, oh, it's good, I finished. I'm glad the game's over. I know we lost by 63 points, but at least we finished. That's an awful aim. There's no hope in that. Where's victory? That's not victory. Run in such a way as that you may win. Persevere. You say, I'm tired. I say, I understand. I've had coaches push me to where I about passed out and threw up. God will sustain you. I promise you he will because he promises in his word that he will. Your place is not to question whether God will sustain you. Your place is to fight the good fight of faith. And when you're tired, finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Stand firm against the devil. Continue on. Press on. You'll be in good company if you get worn out for Jesus. You'll be in good company. Wherever you're at and whatever's going on in your life, down at the abortion mill and in your house,

and in your workplace. If you wear yourself out for Jesus, you'll have the strength you need, and he'll be glorified. So don't be afraid of being tired. Don't be afraid of it. Don't be afraid of getting worn out. It's okay. You'll get rest. You really will. God knows our frame. He knows we're weak. He knows we're made out of dust. He'll give us everything we need. Our place is to press on when we see that there's work to do, not to question whether we have the strength to do it. We need the faith to do it, and he'll provide the strength. Let's pray. Father, give us perseverance that's motivated by love. Love for you and love for our neighbor. Love for the defenseless and those who are being led away to the slaughter. Father, help us not to grow weary in well-doing, but to press on, knowing that we will in due time reap what we sow. We pray, Father, that you would work in us and through us a great harvest of souls turned away from their sin and destruction.

and to your Son, Jesus Christ, and repentance. We pray, Father, that you'd build your kingdom and that you'd use us as your servants to that end. Equip us with the power of your Holy Spirit and faith and strength that comes only from you to persevere. We pray that the work of our hands would not be in vain, but that it would glorify you and be a testimony to the world watching of your love to us in Christ Jesus. It's in his name that we pray. Amen.