Pathway to Victory

Guest (Male): Hey podcast listeners, thanks for streaming today’s podcast from Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory is a non-profit ministry featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Robert Jeffress. Our mission is to pierce the darkness with the light of God’s word through the most effective media available, like this podcast. To support Pathway to Victory, go to ptv.org/donate or follow the link in our show notes. Now, here’s today’s podcast from Pathway to Victory.

Dr. Robert Jeffress: Hi, this is Robert Jeffress and I’m glad to study God’s word with you every day on this Bible teaching program. On today’s edition of Pathway to Victory, make no mistake about it: Satan has a plan to stop you dead in your tracks.

But God has not left you alone. He’s given you the helmet of salvation to remind you that you’re saved forever from both the penalty and the power of sin. And you have the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, to cut through the fog of deception of the evil one.

David J. Mullins: Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress. Every day, Christians face an invisible battle against the forces of darkness. But God has not left us defenseless.

Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress describes two final pieces of offensive weaponry that God has provided for every believer. These aren’t just for survival; they’re designed to put the enemy on the run. But first, let’s take a moment to hear some important ministry updates.

Dr. Robert Jeffress: Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. All this month, we’ve conducted an in-depth study on preparing for spiritual battle. Our series is called The Divine Defense. The purpose of this study from Ephesians 6 is to equip you for the constant attacks from your enemy, the Prince of Darkness.

Now, because we’re wrapping up our series in the next week or so, it’s important that you request the helpful resources I’ve prepared for you before time runs out. The first is an exclusive brochure that folds out with six colorful panels and includes pictures and commentary that describe each item in the armor of God. This brochure is my gift to you simply for contacting us. All you need to do is go to ptv.org and look for the resource called Equipped for Battle.

Time is also running out to request your copy of the best-selling book that parallels our series. My book is called The Divine Defense: Six Simple Strategies for Winning Your Biggest Battles. These are the private spiritual battles that you wage against the devil. It’s yours when you include a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. Now, let’s get started with our study in Ephesians chapter 6. Today, we’re talking about the helmet and the sword.

Guest (Male): Someone has written, "My orders are to fight. Then if I bleed or fail or strongly win, what matters it? I was not told to win or lose. I was told to fight. Fight, fight, fight."

Dr. Robert Jeffress: That’s the Christian life, isn’t it? But the battle we’re in is not a fight against other political parties. It’s not really against other people. Paul says in Ephesians 6, our fight is against the unseen, the invisible, but the very real forces of darkness that are trying to topple the kingdom of God. It’s a very personal fight in that Satan has a blueprint to destroy everything that is important to you: your faith, your future, your family.

It’s a fight we can’t win on our own, but fortunately, God has given us the weapons we need to be successful. The weapons we need to destroy Satan’s plan to destroy us. Over these last weeks, we’ve been looking at those weapons that are described in Ephesians chapter 6. Remember, the first three weapons are more defensive in nature. They help us survive the attacks of Satan. We’ve talked about the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, and the boots for the preparation of the Gospel of peace.

But then last week, we began looking at the offensive weapons. For those offensive weapons, we looked last time at the shield of faith. The shield a soldier would hold up was when he was moving toward the enemy. He was getting closer to his goal of destroying the enemy who wants to destroy us. Today, we’re going to look at the other two pieces of offensive weaponry that God has provided us with. First of all, the helmet of salvation. He says in verse 17, "the helmet of salvation."

What does he mean, the helmet of salvation? Why do we need to put that on if we're already a Christian? He’s talking about remembering what is already true. A helmet of salvation, salvation from what? We need a reminder that we are first of all saved from the penalty of sin. That’s a powerful deterrent against the evil one, a reminder that we have been saved from the penalty of sin. The knowledge that we have been saved forever from hell doesn't make us want to sin; it makes us want to obey our father in heaven.

Jesus said it this way in John 10:27-28: "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand." We need that reminder that we have been saved by the blood of Jesus Christ from the penalty of sin. We need that assurance as we go into battle. We belong to Christ. We are His. We have been saved forever from the penalty of sin.

Not only that, but that helmet of salvation reminds us we have been saved from the power of sin as well. This is where so many Christians get confused. They hear messages from the evil one that say, "You know what, in the midst of this temptation, you don’t have a prayer. You don’t have a chance. You’re created in such a way that you have to give in to sin." Sometimes that message comes from Satan. Sometimes it comes from well-meaning Christians, well-meaning but misinformed.

They’ll say things like this to you: "Now remember, you’re only human. You’re only human. You can’t be expected to forgive somebody unconditionally, regardless of whether they ask for it or not. You can’t be expected to not give full vent to your anger and suppress it. That could hurt you, not to express your vitriol toward somebody who’s wronged you. You can’t be expected to keep your sex life in check and reserve sex only for your mate. Why, that’s unnatural. You might actually damage a vital organ in your body if you repress yourself in that kind of restraint."

Christians actually tell that kind of stuff and believe it. No, the Bible says. We are not slaves to sin. Yes, it’s true when I come to Jesus Christ as my savior, Jesus invites me to come just as I am. But He never intended for me to stay just as I was. Because when we receive God’s forgiveness, He gives us the power of the Holy Spirit of God who begins shaping us and molding us into a new person.

I love Romans 8:2. I’ve cited it before. I’d encourage you to read it and memorize it for the heat of battle. Paul said, "And because you belong to Him, the power of the life-giving spirit has freed you from the power of sin and death that leads to death." We have been freed forever from the power of sin. We need that reminder over and over again that we’ve been saved not only from the penalty of sin but from the power of sin.

How do you put on that helmet of salvation? One way to do it is through scripture. When you’re tempted to wonder about your salvation, whether you’re really going to heaven or hell, let me encourage you to memorize John 10:28. It would be a great assignment for this week. I know you don’t come to church to get homework, but this is your homework for this week. Memorize John 10:28. Jesus said, "I give eternal life to them and they shall never perish. No man shall snatch out of my hand those whom the father has given me."

And then for the reminder that you’ve been saved from the power of sin, write down Romans 6:11-13. Three verses that will change your life if you memorize them. "Even so, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts. And do not go on presenting yourselves as members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God."

Simply put, you can give your body to be slaves of Satan, or you can use your same body to be slaves of God. Put on the helmet of salvation. The final piece of weaponry that God has provided us with is in verse 17 as well: the sword of the spirit. "Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God." Now, let me say a word about the Roman sword. There were really two kinds of swords.

There was the Roman broadsword. That’s what you would see the soldiers on horseback flailing around, hoping to hit somebody. That was the broadsword. But then you had what was called the Machaira. It was more like a long dagger. It might be 12 inches, 24 inches. It’s more like a machete. In fact, Doug Brady gave me one many years ago. It's still over in my office in the Criswell Center if I’m ever allowed back in there again. I’ll get it.

Because it was very handy for me, that machete, especially at deacons' meetings. And I miss it so much. Can’t wait to be back over there. But now, this Roman dagger, the Machaira, it was very important in hand-to-hand combat. You couldn’t flail it around and hit something. You had to be up close to your enemy, and you had to know precisely how to use it for it to be effective. Well, he says we have a sword. We have a broadsword or a dagger? It’s called the word of God.

"Take the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God." Now, I’m going to have to confess something to you. I was preparing the message this week and I got to that and I thought, "The word of God? Wait a minute. Hasn’t Paul already talked about the word of God? We talked about the belt of truth and we said the belt of truth represents the word of God." And you take the loose thoughts in your mind like the loose places of a tunic and you tuck them in so you don’t trip up over them. It was compared to a belt, the word of God.

And now he’s talking about the word of God again as a sword. What’s the difference? And how am I going to explain that difference? And how am I going to explain what Paul is doing here, repeating himself? And then I thought, "Why do I have to explain it?" He’s repeating himself because he’s under inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And perhaps he’s telling us something very important by talking about the word of God twice as a weapon.

He’s saying to us, the word of God is twice as powerful as any other instrument God gives you. He starts with the word of God as the belt of truth. He finishes with the sword of the spirit. It’s both an offensive and defensive weapon. Hebrews 4:12: "For the word of God is living. It’s active. It is sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing as far as the division of the soul and the spirit, of both the joints and the marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart."

Whether it was the broadsword or the dagger, the machete, the Machaira, it was two-edged. It was sharp on both edges. And when a soldier would use it, he would use it to, with one sweep of the hand, slice through his opponent. And then he would come back the other direction and finish him off. That’s exactly how sharp God’s word is. But what I want you to hear from me this morning is this: the effectiveness of the word of God in spiritual warfare is not in what the word of God does to other people. It’s what it does to you and me.

It’s an instrument for us, not to others. Yes, I know speaking the word of God, God can use that to bring conviction to people, but the conviction is to come to individuals. The power of the word of God is what it does to us, not what it does to other people. Let me illustrate that, if I could. The Bible says sin is like a rope that just gets us tied up in knots. We are tied up in knots with wrong thinking, and wrong thinking leads to wrong acting.

And people are just bound up, and they go to secular sources or ungodly counsel and it doesn’t provide any relief. But the word of God slices through all of that. You see, I mean think, for example, we think that we’re responsible for our own future and our own well-being. We’re taught that all the time. "If it’s going to be, it’s up to me. I have to take care of number one." We get to thinking we’re responsible for our welfare, and so we get bound up in anxiety and fear and worry.

Or we think that living a pure moral life leads to boredom, so we get caught up in immorality. We think sometimes that the best way to deal with mistreatment is to gain vengeance, to enact revenge upon our enemies. And so we get bound up in bitterness. We’re just a knot of confusion and unhappiness, but the word of God comes and it slices through all of that. And it shows us exactly who we are. Not so that we can condemn ourselves, but so that we can find healing.

The power of God’s word is not in what it does to other people; it’s in what it does to me. Another image that the Bible uses to describe the word of God is a surgeon’s scalpel. A sword and a scalpel are alike in some ways. They’re both sharp and they both have to be used with precision. Think about it for a moment. How many of you have ever had surgery before? What does the surgeon first do if he’s trying to remove a tumor?

He uses a scalpel or maybe a laser today to open you up. To open you up. He inflicts that incision to open you up. It’s not because he’s a sadomasochist. It’s because he’s trying to bring healing. But he knows before healing there has to be hurting. Hurting always precedes healing. My friend Erwin Lutzer says it this way: "Our problem is that we want vitamins, not a knife. We want healing without the incision, the joy without the sorrow."

But God gives us both. For the more thorough our repentance, the greater the infusion of grace. The more helpless we see ourselves to be, the more helpful God becomes. Surgery precedes recovery. As God himself said in Deuteronomy 32:39, "See now that I, I am He, and there is no God besides me. It is I who put to death and give life. I have wounded, yes, but I am He who heals, and there is no one who can deliver from my hand."

The Great Physician uses the scalpel of His word to expose sin and bring healing to our lives. But listen, whether we’re talking about a scalpel or a dagger or the broadsword, it has to be used very skillfully. That Machaira in hand-to-hand combat, that machete has to be used with skill. And so it is with the word of God. Yes, God has given us that sword, the word of God, but we have to be skilled in using it.

When we’re facing enemy fire, we can’t just hold out the Bible and start swinging it around, hoping it hit something. We have to use it with precision. Let me illustrate that for you. Let's say this next week, you're sitting at your computer screen. And all of a sudden, an invitation on the screen pops up to join a website you know you have no business being on. So you’re in the heat of temptation, and then you remember, "Pastor Jeffress said the word of God could help me out in this situation. Oh, here it is: Leviticus 13:40. If a man loses the hair from his head, he is bald."

Leviticus 13:40. If a man loses the hair from his head, he is bald. Well, that’s true, I suppose. I wouldn't know, but I’m sure that’s true. But does that help me right now? God, couldn't you give me something else? Now, is Leviticus 13:40, is that verse true? Yes, if a man loses his hair, he is bald. That is true. Every word of the Bible is true. Every word is inspired, even the jots and the tittles that make up the word are inspired.

Every verse of the Bible is inspired, but not every verse of the Bible is equally helpful for any problem I go through. We need the right word at the right moment from God. And that’s why when we take up the sword of the spirit, we’ve got to know the scriptures. We’ve got to memorize scriptures. We need go-to verses for when we feel forsaken by God. Verses when we go through a trial. Verses when we need to remember the promises of God.

A verse when we’re confused and wonder what God’s doing in our life. That’s what it means to use the word of God skillfully. And we’ve got a great illustration of that. We looked at it when we talked about the belt of truth. Let me remind you of Matthew chapter 4. Jesus was being tempted in the wilderness by Satan. You know, people say about that, by the way, they say, "Well, that wasn't a real temptation. He was the perfect son of God. He doesn't really know what I’m going through."

Well, He does. In fact, He knows what you’re going through better than you do. Because think about this: most of us never experience the full extent of temptation. We give in early. We give up. But Jesus went the whole way. He felt temptation and pain at a level none of us will ever experience, and yet He did so without sin. He understands what you’re going through. That’s why the verse we read from Hebrews 4 says, "For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who was tested in all points as we are, and yet without sin. Let us come with boldness to the throne of grace that we might find mercy and grace to help in our time of need."

Remember Matthew 4? Satan had Jesus in the wilderness. And finally, after 40 days of fasting, he comes to Jesus and he says, "Are you hungry, Jesus? Why not take these stones and turn them into bread?" What did Jesus say? He quoted from not one of the most well-known verses in the Bible. It was Deuteronomy 8:3. "It is written," Jesus said, "Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God."

Then Satan comes back as he always does again with a second temptation and said, "Jesus, why not just throw yourself down from the temple? The angels, after all, the Bible says, will protect you." And Jesus quoted from another section in Deuteronomy 6:16: "It is written, You shall not put the Lord God to the test." And then finally Satan came with one final temptation. He said, "You don’t need this cross stuff. You don’t need to suffer what you’re about to suffer. Just bow down and worship me, and the kingdoms of all the earth will be yours."

And again, He quotes from Deuteronomy 6, this time verse 13: "Go, Satan, for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only." And then Luke adds this verse as an epilogue: "When the devil had finished every temptation, he left him until an opportune time." Satan fled from Him. Now, listen to me. What made Satan run? It wasn’t the word of God. The word of God did nothing to Satan.

It didn't strengthen him. Satan had quit listening to God a long time ago. God’s word has no effect on Satan. No, Satan didn’t leave because of what the word of God was doing to Satan. He left because of what he saw it doing to Jesus. He saw the word of God strengthening Jesus' resolve to obey His father, whatever the cost. And that’s the power of the word of God in your life. The power of the word of God reminds you that you have the power to say no to sin and yes to God.

You know, somebody has said, the test of a person’s character is what it takes to stop him. Make no mistake about it. Satan has a plan to stop you dead in your tracks. He has a plan to keep you from every good thing God has planned for you. But God has not left you alone. In the times when those missiles, those flaming arrows come at you, He reminds you to hold up the shield of faith. To remember and believe God is going to do what He has promised to do in your life.

He’s given you the helmet of salvation to remind you that you’re saved forever from both the penalty and the power of sin. And you have the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, to cut through the fog of deception of the evil one. Against those kind of weapons, your adversary the devil doesn't have a prayer.

Dr. Robert Jeffress: Paul said, "Put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil." That bold command from the apostle has been the focus of our attention for an entire month. And as I put the final touches on this teaching series called The Divine Defense, let me encourage you to take advantage of the helpful resources we’ve prepared on your behalf.

The first is a copy of my best-selling book called The Divine Defense: Six Simple Strategies for Winning Your Biggest Battles. A copy is yours today when you give a generous gift to support Pathway to Victory. As an added bonus, we’ll also send you a copy of Equipped for Battle, an illustrated brochure featuring six biblical keys to spiritual success. So, when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, you’re going to receive a copy of my book The Divine Defense along with the Equipped for Battle brochure as well.

Thank you for your financial support during this volatile season in our nation’s history. I’m delighted to report that even through these uncertain days of civil unrest, Pathway to Victory has experienced an amazing season of strength. That’s because God’s using friends like you to make this influence possible. It’s our role to tell the world that Jesus is the answer, and now’s the time. Here’s David to tell you more.

David J. Mullins: When you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, we’ll say thanks by sending you Dr. Jeffress’s best-selling book, The Divine Defense. As an added bonus, we’ll also send you the Equipped for Battle brochure. To request your copy, call 866-999-2965 or visit online at ptv.org. You could also make a donation by texting PTV to 78800.

And when you invest in this ministry with a gift of $100 or more, you’ll also receive The Divine Defense teaching set on audio and video disc, the companion study guide, and an illustrated book for children titled Suit Up for Kids. This illustrated book teaches children that God has given them everything they need to win their battles. To make your request, call 866-999-2965 or visit ptv.org. You could write to us at PO Box 223609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. Again, that’s PO Box 223609, Dallas, Texas, 75222.

I’m David J. Mullins. For decades, Hollywood has fueled our fascination with exorcisms and demonic rituals. But what does the Bible actually teach about casting out demons? Learn more Friday on Pathway to Victory.

Guest (Male): Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. Experience a journey that will refresh your spirit and renew your faith on the Pathway to Victory cruise to Alaska. Sail aboard Holland America's luxurious Koningsdam through British Columbia's beautiful Inside Passage. You'll witness God's handiwork on full display. Call 888-280-6747 or visit ptv.org.

You made it to the end of today’s podcast from Pathway to Victory, and we’re so glad you’re here. Pathway to Victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible. One of the most impactful ways you can give is by becoming a Pathway Partner. Your monthly gift will empower Pathway to Victory to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and help others become rooted more firmly in His word. To become a Pathway Partner, go to ptv.org/donate, or you can follow the link in our show notes.

We hope you’ve been blessed by today’s podcast from Pathway to Victory. Oh, and one last thing before we go. Have you reserved your spot yet for the 2026 Pathway to Victory cruise to Alaska? You’ve been hearing me and Dr. Jeffress mention it, so what are you waiting for? Just picture yourself on the deck of Holland America’s elegant Koningsdam and stepping out on deck to witness nature’s grandeur. It’s beautiful. These moments in God’s creation will deepen your faith in powerful ways. It really will. Experience five-star dining, luxurious staterooms, and visiting iconic ports like Juneau, Ketchikan, and Skagway. We’re also bringing along our own Christian entertainment. You’ll love it. Seats are filling up, so book your spot today at ptv.org.