From: Beverly French [frenchb@vcss.k12.ca.us]
Sent: Sunday, October 24, 2004 6:40 AM
To: Heritage
Subject: October 24th Greetings

"Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm."  Ephesians 6:13

We have been looking into the full armor of God and now we come to the last two pieces as the Apostle Paul states in Ephesians 6:17, "And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."

'Take the helmet of salvation...':
Remember the people of Paul's day were familiar with the armor of the Roman soldier so Paul is using this to describe our spiritual armor.  Concerning the Roman soldier's helmet, it was probably a solid molded cast made of bronze.  It protected the head from arrows or the broadsword which had a long flat blade usually with two sharp sides.  This was used to slash at the enemy much like a bat.  The soldier never went into to battle without his helmet.

Now the salvation spoken of here doesn't refer to our being saved.  This has already happened.  As we know Paul is speaking to Believers.  We would not be dressed in the armor if we were not saved.  What then is this salvation? Salvation is seen as past, present and future.

The past salvation is when we came to Jesus acknowledging our sinfulness and accepting His work on the cross, paying our sin debt.  This salvation frees us from the penalty of sin. "The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."  Romans 6:23 "For He delivered us from the domain of darkness; and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, and forgiveness of sins."  Colossians 1:13-14 "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Romans 8:1

The present salvation frees us from the power of sin.
"For sin shall not be master over you, for your are not under law, but under grace."  Romans 6:14 And we have that wonderful promise in 1 John that assures us that He is faithful to cleanse us when we sin and we do, "If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just (true to His own nature and promises) and will forgive our sins [dismiss our lawlessness] and [continuously] cleanse us from all unrighteousness [everything not in conformity to His will in purpose, thought, and action].  1 John 1:9  The Amplified Bible

The helmet of the present salvation is vital because the enemy is the accuser and deceiver of the brethren.  Since we now are under grace we do not have to yield to the old nature, the flesh!  Therefore, all the devil can do is tempt, accuse and deceive, but we are under new management and 'greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world'.  So as we saw last week, "Submit therefore to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you."  James 4:7

Paul gives us an encouraging admonition in Philippians 2:12-13.  Read it in the Amplified Bible if you have one, it is lengthy but it gives a good picture.  The New American Standard Bible reads, "So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

Then the future salvation will be our freedom from the very presence of sin, 1 Corinthians 15:26 tells us, "The last enemy that will be abolished is death." And since the "...wages of sin is death..."  sin will be done away with. Revelation 21:4 says, "...There shall no longer be any death, there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away."

So we see that the past salvation frees us from sin, the present salvation frees us from the power of sin and the future salvation frees us from the presence of sin.

'...the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God'
This sword is not the broadsword mentioned earlier, but a small weapon carried at the side in a sheath and used in precise hand to hand combat. Our verse says, 'which is the word of God.' Vine's Expository Dictionary's definition: "word (rhema not logos in the
Greek): here the reference is not to the whole Bible as such, but to the individual scripture which the Spirit brings to our remembrance for use in time of need, a prerequisite being the regular storing of the mind with Scripture."

Therefore to take up the sword of the Spirit is to get into the Bible--to study; to seek to know.  Jesus set us a wonderful example in Matthew 4:1-11. When He was tempted by the devil, He answered specifically.  We too need to be prepared by knowing the Word so that the Holy Spirit can bring to our remembrance the specific answer needed in a specific situation.

The whole armor is available!  Let us each put it on daily for the days are evil!  With grateful hearts let us give thanks to our great and good God for all His provisions.  Amen!