Spiritual Protection || Underneath the Armor || Week 6 (FINALE)

We are wrapping up a six-week series that I’m calling: “Underneath the Armor.” We’ll look deeper at the armor of God shown in Ephesians 6:13-17. Each week, I have discussed a different armor piece, what it represents, and how the Bible shows the themes. I’ll break down the original Greek words Paul wrote so we can understand them as clearly as possible. Let’s begin by reading the Armor of God scripture and highlighting what we will discuss today. It’s Ephesians 6:13-17, which says: 

13 Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so that you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. 

14 Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of righteousness. 

15 For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. 

16 In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. 

17 Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

There are four words that we need to look deeper into: sword, Spirit, word, and God. These words may seem obvious to you, and they are relative, but they are essential in seeking context because other words can represent the exact words.

Sword is the Greek word machaira (makh’-ahee-rah), which refers to a short sword or dagger. The tool is mainly used for stabbing. The goal of this tool is to exact retribution. What is that? Retribution is a punishment inflicted on someone as vengeance for a wrong or criminal act. Simply put, retribution means revenge. 

Spirit is the Greek word pneuma (pnyoo’-mah), which means wind or spirit. The word is most commonly understood as Spirit and Holy Spirit. 

The sword of the Spirit is the Holy Spirit stabbing someone to seek revenge. Something seems off. I believe Paul even recognized that as he wrote because he closed the verse by saying, “…which is the word of God.” 

Word is the Greek word rhéma (hray’-mah), which means a word spoken by implication of a matter. What does this mean? It’s a spoken word made by the “living voice.” For the Lord speaking His dynamic, the living word in a believer is the birth of faith, which we’ve discussed before. 

God is the Greek word theos (theh’-os), which means God or a god. It refers to God, the Creator and owner of all things. It refers to the supreme being that owns and sustains all things. 

The word of God is God speaking about everything he owns and sustains, which will lead to faith in believers. This is the sword of the Spirit, which was the Holy Spirit seeking revenge. What is the revenge? I believe we’ll find this out in our study today. Let’s start with Matthew 12:25-32:

25 Jesus knew their thoughts and replied, “Any kingdom divided by civil war is doomed. A town or family splintered by feuding will fall apart. 

26 And if Satan is casting out Satan, he is divided and fighting against himself. His own kingdom will not survive. 

27 And if I am empowered by Satan, what about your own exorcists? They cast out demons, too, so they will condemn you for what you have said. 

28 But if I am casting out demons by the Spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God has arrived among you. 

29 For who is powerful enough to enter the house of a strong man and plunder his goods? Only someone even stronger – someone who could tie him up and then plunder his house. 

30 “Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me. 

31 “So I tell you, every sin and blasphemy can be forgiven – except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which will never be forgiven.

32 Anyone who speaks against the Son of Man can be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, either in this world or in the world to come. 

There is one sin that cannot be forgiven. The sin is the willful and intentional refusal to acknowledge God’s powerful, saving work through Jesus, mediated by the Holy Spirit. How do you know if you’ve done this? Look at the Pharisees’ statement, which showed a deliberate hardness of heart. Verse 24 says this: 

24 But when the Pharisees heard about the miracle, they said, “No wonder he can cast out demons. He gets his power from Satan, the prince of demons.” 

There’s the automatic assumption that Jesus was doing things through the devil’s power rather than God’s. There’s no curiosity or questioning but a matter-of-fact statement that doesn’t seem to budge. So, how do we make sure to avoid this sin? Look at your heart. What are you sharing with the world around you? Verses 33 through 35 say this: 

33 “A tree is identified by its fruit. If a tree is good, its fruit will be good. If a tree is bad, its fruit will be bad. 

34 You brood of snakes! How could evil men like you speak what is good and right? For whatever is in your heart determines what you say. 

35 A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. 

It’s about the fruit you produce. If the fruit comes from a good heart, then they will be a good person. If it comes from an evil place, then they will be evil. What fruit does Jesus refer to here? 

It’s Galatians 5:22-23

22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

These things have no penalty attached to them. These are the fruits that we are to produce as a follower of God that best reflect the image of who God is. When we grow these fruits healthily, we will see blessings from those fruits. If those fruits are grown unhealthy, we will see the evils that come alongside this. 

What evils could those be? Paul actually lists some of them in the verses before this. Verses 19 through 21 say:

19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 

20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division,

21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. 

We must run away from these things to avoid them at all costs. These things mentioned don’t benefit us at all. Anyone who partakes in these acts will not inherit the kingdom of God. We may face these desires daily at some point in our lives, but through Jesus, we can overcome them and live according to the fruit of the spirit. 

Now, I’ve thrown out a lot of scripture and have gotten away from the main point of this section. The main thing to walk away with is that Jesus said those who intentionally refuse to ask for forgiveness cannot ask for forgiveness. Those who reject the Holy Spirit’s invitation remove themself from the only source of repentance and restoration that leads to God. 

Luke 12:10 reinforces the teaching of our Matthew passages, which says this: 

10 Anyone who speaks against the Son of Man can forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. 

Jesus said the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is unforgivable. It’s the deliberate and ongoing rejection of the Holy Spirit’s work and even God himself. People who believe this are far from God and deny having any sin; thus, they don’t believe they need to be forgiven by God. If you fear that you’ve committed this sin, know that your concern about this shows that you have not sinned in this way. 

The big thing to talk about is blasphemy. What is it? The Greek word blasphémeó (blas-fay-meh’-o) means to slander, speak lightly, or profanely of sacred things. It’s a compound word. Blax means sluggish or slow, and phḗmē which means reputation or fame. Combine it together, and we have the refusal to acknowledge good. To blaspheme against God or the Holy Spirit means to refuse the good that comes from those beings. 

Let’s move from the Spirit to talk about the Word. Romans 10:6-8 says this: 

6 But faith’s way of getting right with God says, “Don’t say in your heart, ‘Who will go up to heaven?’ (to bring Christ down to earth).

7 And don’t say, ‘Who will go down to the place of the dead?’ (to bring Christ back to life again.)” 

8 In fact it says, “The message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart.” And that message is the very message about faith that we preach.

The core of what Paul says is that God’s salvation is right in front of us. God will come to wherever we are. We need to respond sincerely and accept God’s salvation. The idea of what Paul is saying here comes from Deuteronomy 30:12-14 says, which is: 

12 It is not kept in heaven, so distant that you must ask, ‘Who will go up to heaven and bring it down so we can hear it and obey?’ 

13 It is not kept beyond the sea, so far away that you must ask, ‘Who will cross the sea to bring it to us so we can hear it and obey?’

14 No, the message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart so that you can obey it. 

God called us to keep his commands and remind us that his laws are not hidden from our reach. While writing this, I listened to a sermon that riled me up. Not because I was being convicted but because I was watching God’s word being misinterpreted. When I noticed it, I went to the scripture in question, opened up a concordance, and began studying what was being misinterpreted. Everything was sitting right before me to see what the original scripture was trying to say and the terms being misrepresented. I was talking to a friend as I was going through this studying about how frustrated I felt to see people I care for following this message that was being misinterpreted. After our conversation, I recognized that I could channel my frustration into these writings and explain those misinterpretations. I break down the Hebrew and Greek words like I do because I’ve seen clarity in what the original authors were trying to say. 

We see God’s laws written in the Bible and still discussed today. Following what God says is reasonable, sensible, and beneficial. The hardest part about them all is deciding to start and who to listen to. Pastors are called to be the messengers and teachers of God’s word so that you can have a relationship with our heavenly Father. Yet, some pastors and teachers match God’s word with their beliefs. They preach what they feel is needed to preach rather than what God teaches us. God gives us the power of discernment to help figure out if what’s being preached is appropriate. Suppose you’re feeling uncertain or uncomfortable with something that Scripture says or your Pastor or Bible Study teacher says. In that case, I’d encourage you to talk to God about it, study those scriptures deeper, and see if there’s truth behind it. We often don’t dig deeper into it because our Pastor says it, which settles it. We don’t take the extra time to do our own studies, using the resources we have before us. 

Let me change gears and talk about what it means to live with the Spirit. Philippians 1:28 says: 

28 Don’t be intimidated in any way by your enemies. This will be a sign to them that they are doing to be destroyed, but that you are going to be served, even by God himself. 

What sign? Believers will conduct themselves in a manner worthy of God, standing together with one spirit and purpose, fighting for the faith. People might come in and interfere with what we’re doing, but we’re not to be intimidated by them. We are to trust in Christ and even go through suffering for him. This is what Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:11-13:

11 This is a trustworthy saying: If we die with him, we will also live in him. 

12 If we endure hardship, we will reign with him. If we deny him, he will deny us. 

13 If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny who he is. 

We will experience various suffering in our lives and will eventually die. God promises, though, that we can live eternally with him. We will live in the Kingdom of God and share in the administration and glory of God. This belief comforted Paul when he suffered and died and should comfort us, too. Don’t run away from God when you suffer; turn to him. I mentioned earlier that I was doing a new job I had no experience in and believed it was a test of faith. The job didn’t work out, but God never left me. In fact, I learned more about what I want to do in life through this experience. Jesus never turned his back on me, even though I didn’t communicate with him properly. Hebrews 13:5-6 talks about this relationship: 

5 Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” 

6 So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?”

Strive to live with less rather than desiring more; give away from your abundance rather than accumulating more; relish what you have rather than resent what you’re missing. We will feel satisfied when we realize God’s sufficiency is enough for our needs. I’ve wrestled with this over the last few months as I transition between jobs. This transition has caused a change in income (obviously), which means I had to adjust my subscriptions, expenses, and spending habits. It’s not the life I used to live, but I’m learning to be content with where I am. Are there parts of it I’m still yearning over? Yes, but I recognize that it will continue to be a work in progress as my life adjusts. God’s doing a work of contentment and stability in me that was needed. Trusting in God to meet all our needs dissolves and washes away discontentment. Expressing gratitude to God for what he has provided is the way of life. Remembering that every treasure and possession will pass away is the way of life. Living according to Jesus is the way of life. 

To close, we discussed the only offensive weapon listed in this passage. All the other parts are defensive and protective in nature. There will be times when we need to go on the offense. In those moments, God’s word will provide the truth to cut through all the crap you’re walking with. 

I really hope you’ve enjoyed this series. I love each new series God prepares them in front of me. We will open 2024 with a blog reflecting what 2023 meant to me and what I hope for in 2024. After that, we’ll begin our new schedule and series about the Tower of Babel. Until then, stay blessed.