From His Heart

Speaker 1

Today on From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve. Learn how to move from defense to offense with your Christian witness.

Speaker 2

Hey.

The shield of faith combats the devil's doubts and fears. The helmet of salvation protects against the devil's deceptions. And the sword of the spirit combats the devil's distortions.

Remember we said we do not fight for victory; we fight from victory. The devil is a defeated foe, but he wants to get us to back up. He wants to get us afraid. He wants to knock us off our feet.

Stand firm, be firmly established, and don't give the devil as much as an inch in your life.

Speaker 3

Real love, real hope from this heart.

Speaker 1

The Bible says we ought to take up the full armor of God. And as the old American Express commercial says, you don't want to leave home without it, and you definitely don't want to leave home without the full armor of God.

This is From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve. Thank you for joining us today for a perspective-changing bit of biblical truth that just may help you be the witness for Christ you want to be, but you have faltered at in the past. The message today is entitled "From Defense to Offense."

Pastor Jeff shares how we are to guard our hearts and minds with the three final pieces of the armor of God: the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit. The lesson is from Pastor Jeff's series, Soldiers of the Cross.

You can learn how to get this series for a gift from His Heart of any amount this month when you go to promisheart.org. If you can, now open your Bible to Ephesians chapter six. Here again is Pastor Jeff to empower you to move from defense to offense in your Christian walk.

Speaker 2

So what do we learn about the last three pieces of armor? Number one, the shield of faith combats the devil's doubts and fears. Look at it again. In addition to all, verse 16, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one. The word that is used here is "thurios," and it means a large shield. It's a four-foot by two-and-a-half-foot shield. You could hide behind that shield, and when the fiery arrows came, you could be protected because that shield would allow you to get your whole body behind it.

So what would the soldier do? He would hide behind his shield. In our situation, in this Christian life, it's the shield of faith. Because the Lord says, with the shield of faith, you can extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one. He is going to be shooting the fiery darts of adversity, the fiery darts of temptations, and the fiery darts of snares and difficult circumstances at you and me. To do what? To get us to doubt, to get us to fear. Another way of putting that shield of faith is keeping your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith. The devil works to get your eyes off Jesus. Because if you get your eyes off Jesus, you know what's going to happen? You're going to start looking around, and you're going to start to become afraid. The devil wants us to live according to the circumstances and not according to the promises of God.

That is the next piece in the armor of God. Then he talks about the helmet of salvation. What is that for? The helmet of salvation combats the devil's deceptions. The arrows create doubt and fear, and then he works to deceive. He is a liar, Jesus said, and the father of lies. So who would go to battle without his helmet on? No one in the Roman legion would go to battle without his helmet because he knows, hey, in battle, you're liable to get a shot to the head.

Here is how the devil works. He wants to deceive you concerning salvation. We put on the helmet of salvation so that we're not deceived concerning salvation, so that we're not deceived, first of all, concerning our own salvation. How many in here have ever struggled with doubting your salvation? Have you ever struggled with that? My hands are up now. You have to put on the helmet of salvation so you don't doubt your own salvation. In my life, when I began, in college, to doubt, I got to the place where I said, you know what? I've done everything that the Scripture tells me to do to receive Christ. If I'm not saved, no one is saved. Because I have called upon the name of the Lord. I've turned from sin and turned to the Savior. I just recognize this is an attack from the enemy. He's going after my head, and I need to put on the helmet of salvation.

See, it keeps you secure in your own salvation, but it also keeps you secure in understanding what salvation is. Because we have so much false information coming from many, many pulpits and many churches that teach people a lie concerning how you get right with God, how a person is saved. You know, the Philippian jailer asked Paul and Silas, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" Many people, when they ask the question, "What must I do?" it's exactly that answer: "Oh, this is what you need to do. You need to do this, you need to do that, you need to do the other." If you do these ten things, these five things, whatever it is, then you can be saved.

Christianity is not spelled D-O. It's spelled D-O-N-E. Done. He did it all. "All to Jesus I surrender, all to him I freely give." He did it all. Ephesians 2:8-10 says this: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."

Now you remember three words, and you can keep your theology straight. The first word is "by." How's a person saved? By grace. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. It's grace. God's riches at Christ's expense. That is grace. That Jesus, who is God in the flesh, would die on the cross for your sins and my sins, and rise again from the dead on the third day. That is grace. For by grace are you saved through faith. You put your faith and trust in God's grace. And when you put your faith and trust in God's grace, you're saved. And it's not as a result of works. It's nothing that you did as far as...

Speaker 4

It was by grace.

Speaker 2

And then my offering.

Speaker 4

It was by grace.

Speaker 2

And then I joined the church.

Speaker 4

It was by grace.

Speaker 2

And then I got baptized.

Speaker 4

It was by grace.

Speaker 2

And then, you know, I did this thing for the Lord.

Speaker 4

It's by grace.

Speaker 2

And then I sang in the choir.

Speaker 4

It's by grace.

Speaker 2

And then I taught a Sunday school class. It's not that it's by grace, through faith you're saved, not as a result of works. Lest anyone should boast, you say. Well, aren't works important? Yes. By grace, through faith, for good works, verse 10. We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus. For what? For good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Good works have their place, not to bring you to salvation. But that's what a saved person does. He does, and she does good works. Because God prepared that beforehand. The works are the fruit of salvation. They're not the root of salvation.

And the helmet of salvation keeps you grounded and smart. So when the devil comes to try and deceive you, he can't do it because your helmet protects you. Give you an example, what we see today. There are so many people today that believe that a person can be a Christian and share Christ and come to Christ while holding on to sin. Impossible. You can't do that. No one can. I don't care what the sin is. You say, well, I want to come to Christ, but I'm gonna still, I like to commit adultery, so I'm not gonna give that up. But sure, I'll receive Jesus, but I'm still gonna commit adultery. No, you can't come to Jesus holding your adultery and saying, well, I want to keep doing this. No, you can't do that. Jesus hates adultery. So unless you're willing to turn your back on the adultery and come to him, you can't be saved.

You say, well, I'm going to come with my homosexuality. I'm bringing my homosexuality to the Lord because that's the way I am. That's who I am. And you come to the Lord and you say, well, I'm not changing because this is who I am. And the Lord says, you can't get saved holding onto that sin. That's not who you are. That's what you are doing. And unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. What do we have today? We have people who believe the lie that, oh, it's okay to do that. And, yeah, they're just different kinds of Christians. And then there's the adulterous Christian and the fornicating Christian and the homosexual Christian, and no. Can Christians have trouble with adultery and fornication and homosexuality? Yes. But can you get saved with bringing that in tow to the Lord at the confession and saying, God, this is who I am, but it would be nice if I could be saved? In addition to that, the Lord says, forget it.

I mean, remember this, salvation is not a game show where you're playing let's Make a Deal with God. He says, this is the deal. And unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. And I hate sin. And I can't have fellowship with sin. And I sent my son to die on the cross for your sin. And if you try and bring your sin to me and say, I'm holding onto this, God says, depart from me. I never knew you, you who practice lawlessness. Hey, all that is in the helmet of salvation that we understand what salvation is so that we can really minister to people with the truth. Because unless you know the truth, the truth can't make you free.

So he works to deceive you concerning salvation. He works to poison your mind with lies. And the helmet of salvation keeps the lies away because you're able to discern what is true and what is false. And you're not blown about by every wind of doctrine. The scripture says this in 2nd Corinthians 10. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful. For the destruction of fortresses, we are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God. And we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. That's what the helmet does. It takes every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

See, think of a helmet, kind of like it's a guard around your head. It's a guard around your mind. Cause the devil's gonna come into your mind. The scripture says in 2nd Corinthians 11:3. But I'm afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray, corrupted, defiled from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. He's going to attack your mind. And so we put a guard over our mind, and every thought has to come through. And it's like a soldier, a sentry at the door of your mind. And every thought, he says, hope. Who goes there? And if it's a lie from the devil, you don't let it in. I'm going to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. That is the helmet of salvation. It combats the devil's deceptions.

And then thirdly, and finally, there's the sword of the spirit. And the sword of the spirit combats the devil's distortions. The devil is crafty and he's tricky and he's cunning. He doesn't come at us directly because you would be able to recognize that he comes at us as a sneak attack. Somebody said King David, when he went on the battlefield, he was dressed for battle and he was alert. But when he was at home, that's when he faced his greatest battle, when he saw Bathsheba and he didn't have his armor on. And that sunk his ship. So we need to beware of his deceptions and beware of his distortions.

Now, the sword of the spirit. Two swords that a Roman soldier would have. He'd have a long sword. And then he'd have a short sword. The short sword he would wear on his belt of truth. It's behind his shield. He's got his helmet on and he's got his short sword. It was about 2ft long. The blade, it was pointy and it was double edged and it would do lots of damage. It's called a machaira. Now this is the only piece of armor that is offensive. It's an offensive weapon. We called this message from defense to offense. Because the sword of the spirit is an offensive piece of weaponry and armor. And the word of God is our weapon against the devil. That's what we use against him.

Now those other things, the shield of faith blocks things. The helmet protects your head. The belt holds you together. The breastplate protects your heart and your vital organs. The shoes keep you stable. But you know you're not going to take your shoes off and try and beat your enemy with it. You're not going to do that with your helmet, but you can do it with a sword and it's in tandem with the shield. I block with the shield and I strike with the sword. It's the only weapon that God gives us in the six pieces of armory that is an offensive weapon.

Now the devil doesn't want us to be very skilled when it comes to the word of God. And sadly many people aren't very skilled. The Bible says Paul said to Timothy, study to show yourself approved as a workman who does not need to be ashamed. Handling accurately. Truth. Handle the book accurately. I was watching a video that was showing surgeons how to use the different scalpels that they'll use for surgery. Because you have to be able to handle accurately the knife so that you can do a good job. We need to be able to handle this word accurately. This word that's living and active and sharper than any two edged sword and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit of both joints and marrow and is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

And so you have to spend time in the book, you have to know the word because you know who knows the word and who wants to use it in a dastardly way? The devil. How do we know that? Because that's what he did with Jesus. When Jesus was being tempted of the devil in the wilderness, he fasted for 40 days and he became hungry. What does the devil do? If you're the son of God? Command these stones to become bread. And Jesus answered him every single time the same way. It is written. It is written. It is written. And he quotes from Deuteronomy three times. It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

And then what does the devil do? He takes Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple and he says, listen, here's what the Bible says. Psalm 91. Throw yourself down, because he will give his angels charge concerning you, lest you dash your foot against a stone. He takes the word of God and tries to deceive Jesus with the Word. And what does Jesus say? He answers and said to him. On the other hand, it is written, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test. See, the devil will take the word, distort the word, twist the word to try and use it against you, to turn you into a pretzel. That didn't work for Jesus. He just said, on the other hand, it is written, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test.

Hey, the word of God, the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. The word for word is not the word that we normally see in the New Testament. For word, logos, L O G O S. The word that's used here is rhema. It's an utterance. It's a word from the word, a fresh word from the Word. And you have to be armed with a fresh word from the Word to do battle with the devil. Do you spend much time in the book? I remember when I was in college, I was just learning how to have a quiet time. I was just learning how to be able to share my faith. And I was with this guy, and he said to this lady, we were witnessing to her, he quoted scripture. I was like, wow, how'd you do that? Well, it's like, it's not rocket science. You just study a verse and then you memorize it, and then you're ready to use it. But it was just ready to go. And he just quoted John 3, verse 3. And he says, you must be born again, and you can't enter the kingdom of God. Unless a man is born again. He can't see the kingdom of God, can't enter the kingdom of God. I thought that was the coolest thing.

So I said, I'm going to memorize Scripture so I can know it, so I can be ready with the sharp sword of the Word of God. Because when the enemy comes, it's really hard to say, okay, Mr. Devil, but let me see, there's another verse here somewhere. Let me pull out my concordance. Come back to me in an hour. He's the terminator. He doesn't say, okay, I'll come back, and then I'll be back. He doesn't do that. He's just coming. So we have to be ready to go. That it would captivate your heart so that it would be ready on your lips so that you can give an answer to him who asks you to give an account of the hope that is in you.

Hey. The shield of faith combats the devil's doubts and fears. The helmet of salvation protects against the devil's deceptions. And the sword of the spirit combats the devil's distortions. Now, the scripture says here four times, to stand firm so that you may be able to stand firm. Remember, we said we do not fight for victory. We fight from victory. The devil is a defeated foe, but he wants to get us to back up. He wants to get us afraid. He wants to knock us off our feet. Stand firm, be firmly established, and don't give the devil as much as an inch in your life. You give him an inch, you give him a toehold, and that toehold he will turn into a foothold. And that foothold he will turn into a stronghold, and he will bring destruction into your life.

I'll close with this story. A Haitian pastor was talking to his congregation, and he told them a parable, a very interesting parable about how the devil works and how you can't give the devil as much as a square inch in your life. A man had a house. It was a very modest house, and he was putting it up for sale. He wanted $10,000 for the house. Well, another man came and looked at the house and said, I want this. This would be a great house for me and for my family. How much is $10,000? He said, I don't have $10,000. That's too much for me. I'm just a poor man. He said, I only have $5,000. And the man thought. And he said, well, he said, I'll sell you the house for $5,000 with one stipulation. I get to keep one square inch of the house over the front door. Just one square inch. That will be my part of the house, and I'll sell you the rest of the house for $5,000. And the guy thought, this is a great deal. And so he did it.

About a year went by, and the former owner came back and said, I want the house back. And he said, no, we're not going to sell the house. He said, I want it back. He said, no, I can't give it to you. We're not going to sell it. He said, well, I own one inch, one square inch of this house. He said, yeah, that's right. That was the deal. He said, okay, you're not going to sell me this house? He said, no. He said, all right. He got a nail and a hammer, and in his one square inch, he hammered in the nail. And from that nail, he hung the carcass of a dead dog over the front door. The stench was beyond belief. It permeated the whole house. The man and his family were forced out. The place became unlivable.

What's the moral of that story? You give the devil an inch in your life. Just a little spot. Oh, it's okay. It's just a little secret thing. I can just handle this. He will hang his garbage on that one inch and he will take over and he'll turn your life into a living hell. You cannot reason with the devil. You cannot negotiate with the devil. You put on the full armor of God so you can stand firm. And the Bible says, resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Speaker 1

If you'll put into practice all that we've learned from scripture yourself today, it'll help you to stand firm in the truths of God's word. You're listening to From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve and today's message from defense to offense.

It's from the seven lesson series, Soldiers of the Cross, and the series and the companion booklet, The Lord's Army, are our gifts of thanks to you this month when you support From His Heart with a gift of any amount. Each day, Pastor Jeff shares real truth, love, and hope from God's heart, available to millions on radio, television, and online around the world and on this great station.

You can invest in Kingdom ministry by supporting this outreach. To get Soldiers of the Cross and The Lord's Army booklet, call 866-40-BIBLE (866-40-24253) or go online to fromhisheart.org and make your secure gift. And God bless you for joining with us to bring people real hope while living in these increasingly challenging times for God's children. May He bless you.

Well, that's all for today. Thank you for joining us. I'm Larry Nobles, and we trust you'll catch the From His Heart television broadcast this weekend in your area. We'll also be ready to welcome you back on Monday for the next lesson in Pastor Jeff's Soldiers of the Cross series when he'll open up God's word and share real truth, real love, and real hope from God's heart here on From His Heart.

Speaker 3

Is treasures true There is blessing there is hope that you always dream love he can heal every scars Real truth, real love real from his heart.

Speaker 1

From his heart is the listener supported Broadcast Ministry of Dr. Jeff Shreve speaking the truth in love to a lost and a hurting world.

Remember, no matter what, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.

Find out more. Go to fromisheart.org.