23 - Como vestir a armadura de Deus (Ef 6.10-24)

I want to invite you to open the word of

God in Paul's letter to the Ephesians,

Chapter 6,

and we will read the same text that we

read last Sunday, only

last Sunday we went up to verse 13. Today

we will go from verse 14 to 20, by the

grace of God. But since the passage is a coherent and cohesive

whole, it is better that

we have

Ephesians 6:10-20 completely before us: the armor of God.

Finally, be strong in the

Lord and in the strength of his might.

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand

against the

wiles of the devil. For our struggle

is not against flesh and blood, but against

the rulers, against the authorities, against the

powers of this dark world and against

the spiritual forces of evil in the

heavenly realms. Therefore take up the whole armor of

God, that you may be able to withstand in the

evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Standing firm then, with the

breastplate of righteousness in place, and shod with the

feet of a man, to stand firm. With the preparation of the

Gospel of Peace, always taking up the

shield of Faith, with which you will be able to extinguish

all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take

also the helmet of salvation and the

sword of the Spirit, which is the word of

God, praying at

all times in the Spirit, and keeping

alert with all perseverance and supplication

for all the saints, and also for me, that

words may be given to me when I open my mouth, to boldly proclaim

the mystery of the Gospel, for

which I am an ambassador in chains, that

in Christ I may be used to speak as I

ought to do. Let us also read to the

end, since today is the last message in the

letter to the Ephesians, and so that you may

also know, it is about me and what I do to

inform you of everything. Tychicus, the

beloved and faithful brother and minister of the Lord, was the reason

I am sending him, so that you may know about

us and that he may comfort

your hearts.

Peace be with the brothers and sisters, and love with faith from

God the Father and the Lord Jesus

Christ. Grace be with all who

sincerely love our Lord Jesus

Christ. Amen.

Reading of the Word of God:

Let us pray, brothers and sisters,

Father, we give you thanks because the

Lord has revealed to us

the reality concerning this conflict that

occurs around us, invisible to

our eyes but as real and

true as the reality that we

touch and experience with our

senses.

Thank you because the Lord empowers us to

face these evil powers and

overcome them.

We ask forgiveness for the times we have been

lax in our irresponsible omissions

and have become vulnerable to the attacks of the

enemy, and there are many among

us who have fallen and been ensnared.

Therefore, we ask that tonight the

Lord

renew the teaching of this text in

our hearts. I want to ask that your

inclination of hearts enlightens minds,

that you break resistance, that you

prepare the way for your

word to be implanted in every heart,

bringing fruit for eternal life. If there is

anyone here tonight who does not yet

know the Lord Jesus, the only one who can

defend us from these powers, may this be a

night of salvation, a night of redemption

and reconciliation with you. This is what we

ask in the name of Jesus, amen. (The text abruptly ends here, so the translation also

ends here.)

Other churches should remember

that this was a circular letter; it was to

be read in some churches that

were in that region

of

Asia where Paul had been and where

he had later sent workers to

preach the gospel.

His aim with this letter was to

speak about the privileges we

have in Christ Jesus, what the church is, and

also the duties we have as a

consequence. The motivation was that Paul

heard that

the believers in the city of Ephesus and that

region were concerned about

his imprisonment. Paul was the founder of the

church in that region,

their spiritual father, and the believers were

worried and raising questions that were

correct and valid:

Why does God keep His servant in prison

when there is still so much work to

be done? Why is a holy man

like the Apostle Paul subject to

this suffering in Rome, in prison?

He answers by saying that

his sufferings are part of God's eternal plan

for His church. He is imprisoned because

he is proclaiming the mystery of God,

which is Christ: Christ

among the Gentiles, Christ for the

world, Christ as the Savior of all

nations and not only of the Jews. This

motivated persecution on the part of the... The

Jews who had been filled with envy and

jealousy, and because of this, she was

now imprisoned. Therefore, instead of being a

cause for concern, Paul's imprisonment

was a reason for glory for the Gentiles; it

was a reason for gratitude to God because

His servant was there,

doing the Father's will.

So, in the first part of the letter, Paul

explains how God, before the foundation of the

world, chose a people for whom Jesus

Christ came to die, and who were called

by the Holy Spirit through the word. Then

he prays for this people.

Chapter one,

followed in chapter 2, he speaks of how

God in Christ united Jews and Gentiles

through the Gospel. The grace of God

calls sinners from between these two

peoples and constitutes them into the new man, a

new entity which is the church. And in

chapter 3, he then speaks of his role

in this, how God called him and constituted him

as a preacher of this truth, this

mystery that was hidden but has now been

revealed: that

the Gentiles are part of

this new entity, this new people that

God is bringing into existence through

the Gospel. There he prays again for

his readers. Chapter 3, verses 14 onward,

and from chapter 4 onward, he begins to...

To describe the duties of this

people whom God has called, blessed, forgiven, and

received as children, he speaks of the

need to maintain unity (

Chapter 4, verses 1-6), to use our

spiritual gifts and talents for the

edification of the church (Chapter 4, verses

7-16), and the need to live a

holy life here in this world, in opposition to the

life of those who do not know God (

verse 17 to Chapter 5, verse

21). He begins to speak of the duties

of husband and wife,

parents and children, and also of

employees and employers, as the crowning

of this holy life, as an expression of life

in the spirit. He ends the letter

saying in verse 10 of Chapter 6: "Finally,

brothers and sisters, be strong in the

Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the

full armor of God, because all these things

I have spoken of—

the privileges, the blessings, and the duties—

you will not experience

easily, because you

will face daily difficulties

in experiencing this redemption, this

communion with God, this joy, this

unity, and exercising spiritual gifts."

To live a holy life, you will encounter

many difficulties, and our enemies

are not people of flesh and blood. Although

when Paul wrote these things he

was imprisoned in Rome, imprisoned at the

instigation of the Jews, imprisoned by the

determination of human authorities,

awaiting the judgment of the

Roman emperor, Paul knew that the true

enemy of Christians and the church

were not people like the Romans, the Emperor

and the soldiers who kept him imprisoned in

his house, but principalities and

powers, spiritual powers of

evil, demons under the leadership

of Satan, the devil, the accusing adversary,

who rose up against the Church to

prevent God's plan from being fulfilled in this world.

So, from verse 10 to verse

20, the final part of the letter to the Ephesians,

he speaks to us about this conflict

of a spiritual nature, and he tells us that just

as a soldier prepares for

battle by putting on armor, Christians

must also put on the armor that God

provides so that they can face these

enemies who are more powerful than

we are. This is what we saw

last Sunday; now we will see what

this armor consists of and how we

can put it on.

Practically speaking, what does it mean in

everyday life to put on the armor of God? Let's

start here once again by looking at that

command in verse 14, which Paul

repeats three times in the passage: verses 11, 12, 13, and

14. "Stand

firm," the command is, "stand firm

like a soldier on

guard duty, in a defensive position." This command is

extremely important for us because

it shows us that Paul is

describing this war; it is a

war of defense. It is the church and the

Christians who are under attack; the

spiritual powers of evil are coming against the

church, and what the church has to do is

stand firm like a soldier who is

posted in a strategic position. He has already

won; he is on

conquered territory, and he is simply

ready to repel the enemy who is

trying to reconquer or conquer that

territory that is already his.

So this is important because there is a

movement in the evangelical world called the

spiritual warfare movement, which was

born in the mid-

1980s, that says the church has to

go on the offensive; the church has to go

after the demons; it has to know where to find them.

The demons hide. What are the names

of the demons? What is their activity?

What are their plans to

destroy the church?

Entire ministries have developed in these

churches based on this: pastors who are

experts in exorcising demons,

binding demons, decreeing the downfall of

demons, doing spiritual mapping to

know where the demons

really are. When the Bible speaks of

our conflict with these evil spirits,

it always speaks from the point of view of

defense. It's not like when, for example, it

describes the devil as a lion, saying, "

Be careful, because the

devil is like a roaring lion looking for

someone to devour." It's the lion that's

coming; it's not me who's going after

the lion, but I'm here, Leandro

is coming against me. So it's a fight of

defense, and it's a fight of defense. You ask me, "

But isn't there anything we can do

to conquer?" The answer is that it's already been

done. Who defeated Satan?

Definitely not you, and it wasn't me, it was

n't us with our prayers,

bindings, and decrees, right? It wasn't anything.

Who defeated the enemy? It was Christ on the cross

of Calvary. He disarmed the principalities

and powers; he destroyed the

power of death; he bound the mighty man. Have you ever

heard of binding the devil?

People say, "I love you." Have you ever

seen that plastic sticker sometimes

on the back of a car saying, "It's

bound"? Well, it's true, but

it's been bound for two thousand years,

since Christ bound Satan, in the sense

that he cleansed a severe defeat,

a severe defeat to the point

that the devil can no longer stop the

advancement of the church in the world, he cannot

stop the gospel from being preached to

all nations, the devil cannot

continue to deceive the nations as he

did in the Old Testament period.

Now the gospel goes to everyone

because on the cross of Calvary Christ

crushed the serpent's head. You've seen

how to kill a

snake, right? You crush the head, but it

still remains.

So the head was already crushed on the cross.

What you see now are the instructors of

a rattlesnake whose head has already been crushed.

So the position is one of victory; we are

victorious in Christ; we have already won in

Christ Jesus. The devil is coming. He's

trying to cause as much destruction as he

can, so the order here is to stand

firm. That's exactly why

you've already won. You are in Christ

Jesus, our Captain has already won. Now

you have to stand firm because, despite being

defeated, the devil is still a

powerful enemy. There's an illustration taken

from World War II, between

D-Day and Day V. I don't know if I'll

remember the letters correctly, but when

the Allies, through their advance with their

planes and forces, broke the

backbone of Nazism, they said

that was D-Day. It was

the day that changed the course of the war, the

day that defined the war from

that day on. When the Allies

inflicted a

drastic defeat on the enemy forces, from then on

the enemy knew he was

defeated. What he did from then on

was fight to cause as much destruction as

possible. Day V was the day of

victory. Some time later, when

the enemy finally surrendered, so we

are living between D-Day and Day V.

Victory has already been won on the cross, the

fatal blow has already been struck on the serpent's head,

and now we are waiting for the day. The coming

of the Lord Jesus is the day of victory when

Satan will be definitively cast into the lake of

fire and brimstone, along with all those

who follow his temptations,

his proposals, and his works. But until

that day, we must stand firm

as individual Christians, as a church,

defending ourselves against these constant attacks

made by the devil and his

angels.

We have already seen

that this attack comes in various ways. In

this passage, Paul mentions in

verse 11 the wiles of the devil,

and he also mentions—we will see this

here in verse 16—the fiery darts of the

evil one, through traps, through

incendiary arrows, through many

other resources of his diseased mind.

Satan seeks to ensnare Christians,

divert the church from the Truth, and lead it further and further

away from God to

do the greatest possible damage to

humanity before his final defeat.

We also mentioned that

this truth sheds light

on this very

strong movement in evangelical churches that sees

spiritual warfare basically as the

liberation of people

from diseases, afflictions, illnesses, and

calamities.

The focus of these churches is to liberate the person from illness, from

unemployment, from lack of love, from a

failing marriage.

So you go to these churches and

there you have therapies for this, therapies for that,

courses on liberation from illness, anointing services

for healing, as if the

devil's only weapon were our bodies. The

devil isn't interested in our bodies;

in fact, he's capable of making you

healthy, beautiful, and rich, as long as you

believe, for example, in the lie that

separates you from God. The

fight is for the mind; the devil wants to

corrupt the truth. That's why

his greatest weapon is religious error.

The Bible constantly

warns us much more against false

prophets than against demons. Just

pick up a New Testament and do the

math. The Bible warns much more against

false prophets than against

demons

because the true enemy of the church is

error, religious error, believing

a lie about God,

about Christ, about

salvation. Because this may not harm

your body, but it will cast your soul into

hell.

So he's much more interested in

you believing the lie, and that's why he

'll do everything possible to... He will lead you away

from God, he has traps,

fiery arrows, that's what he will do along the

way. If he can even put a

disease in you, he will do it because

he came to kill, steal, and destroy,

but his target is here: to

corrupt your mind.

And when he can't destroy the life of

a true believer because God

holds him back, at least he will make him

full of doubts,

full of uncertainty. The devil

cannot stop you from walking towards

your salvation, but if he can put a

pebble in your shoe, he will,

and everyone knows what it's like to walk with a

pebble in your shoe, right? It's horrible, isn't it?

What a hard, difficult thing. So he

may not stop you from walking towards the

eternal salvation given by Christ Jesus,

but whatever he can do to delay

you, to make this journey

hard and tiring, so that you become

a stumbling block to

yourself and others, he will do it. That

's the struggle, and that's why

the order is to stand firm because the enemy is

coming, he really is coming, and he won't just

appear in front of you like

he's portrayed

in popular imagination. Right, that big

red devil with two horns and a

trident, right? He's not going to appear in

front of you like that? Of course not.

The Bible says he will

transform himself into an angel of light. He

transforms himself into an angel of light, so he

comes in a way you least expect

and against which you are least prepared. That's why

you need to

stand firm. Well, that's what this order

represents. Now, to stand firm,

verse 14 says you have to take up the armor of

God.

There's a play on words here in the Greek language that

some commentators have drawn my

attention to. I hadn't

noticed it, but the way Paul

constructed the sentence here, he wanted to

say something like this in verse

14: "Stand firm after you have put on the

armor of God, the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet fitted with shoes." In other words, he's explaining how we can stand firm. We stand firm by taking up the armor of God. There's no other way;

you can only stand firm after you

take up the armor of God.

And then comes our next question:

what does

this armor mean? So, what does it

mean to take up this armor?

If you read the commentators and read the

footnotes of... In your Bible, you'll

notice there are two

interpretations regarding the armor of

God. Some people say that this

armor represents the

ethical qualities you must embrace,

preventing the devil from defeating you. For

example, in verse 14, Paul says, "Stand

firm then, professing yourselves to be true." In

other words, if you always speak the truth, the

devil won't have anything to accuse you of; he wo

n't mess with you because

he is the father of lies. If you are a

person who always tells the truth, then

you won't give the devil an opening. Or,

as it says in verse 14, "put on

the breastplate of righteousness." Righteousness here means

treating everyone with equity, giving each

person what is rightfully theirs, being just to

people. So, if you are a

righteous person, you will be protected against

Satan.

But the problem is that Paul had already

said... another line of interpretation

says that these qualities

described here are not our virtues,

but what Christ won on the cross

for us, to the point that some

interpreters say that what he is

doing here in the armor is

Christ himself. So when Paul commands us to... "

Take up the armor of God." He's

saying, "Put on Christ." Because

only then will you be able to resist

Satan.

In verse 10, if you go back to the beginning

of the passage, we find what

I understand to be the key to a better interpretation. It

's the second verse: he says, "Finally, be

strong in the Lord and in the

strength of his power." He began this

passage by saying that we should

strengthen ourselves in the power of Christ, and then in

verse 11 he says, "Put on the whole

armor of God." Look, you have a

parallel here: putting on the whole

armor of God means strengthening yourself in the

Lord and in the strength of his power. Therefore, the

armor of God is Christ and everything

he conquered for us, the power that

comes from him. That's why

when we say here, "You

have to put on the truth," don't think

of truth as opposed to lies, but it's the

truth that is Jesus, the truth of God, the

greatest truth of all: "I am the way,

the truth, and the life." Only this truth

will be able to give you strength to face

Satan. So we are going to analyze these

pieces of armor from this perspective: the

armor is the Lord Jesus himself, and

the blessings and virtues... Graças que ele

conquistou na cruz para nós é o próprio

Evangelho se você quiser é uma outra

definição

O que que significa então tomar essa

armadura aqui é muito importante veja

como

a importância disso se voc To think that

truth, justice,

these things described here

as pieces of armor, are something...

They are ethical qualities. So it means

you have to develop them every day.

But if you think of them as what

Christ already gave you on the cross of

Calvary, then what we have

before us is the following picture: we already

have this armor; we are Christ and what

he conquered on the cross. This is already

ours since conversion. What you have to

do is take possession, you have to

appropriate it.

Everyone knows what taking possession means,

especially those who come from certain

churches. You hear this all the time, right? Take possession,

my brother, by faith. Take possession, take

possession of victory, take possession of the cross, of

healing, take possession of prosperity. Take

possession of that apartment by faith, of

that wife. Take possession. You've heard of

this. As I am Presbyterian, I

can't talk much

about taking possession, but I will talk about it tonight.

You have to take

possession of this.

This means taking possession of God's armor.

When he says, for example, here, "Be

content with the truth," the truth has already been

given. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you are a

believer because you... Believe in the truth,

you just have to seize it every

day. Every day you have to take possession of

it in prayer. You will see that at the

end, in verse 18, Paul closes the armor,

saying that you take this armor in

prayer. Prayer is the way

you put on this armor daily.

So that's how it comes to us; it has already

been given to us in Christ Jesus, and daily

you have to

consider yourself, using Pauline language

from Romans 6, you have to consider

yourself what God says you are in Christ

Jesus. Or, wanting to use

modern evangelical language, you take possession by

faith of what God already says is yours in

Christ Jesus. So let's look at the pieces

of this armor.

Paul here is following Isaiah 52 verse 7,

where the prophet Isaiah says how beautiful

are the feet of those who

proclaim the Gospel on the mountains. It is inspired by this

that Paul will speak about the sandals

of the Gospel of Peace, Isaiah 59:15-17,

which says that God took the helmet of

salvation and the breastplate of righteousness and

clothed himself with holiness. That is where he will draw

inspiration for... The belt for healing,

for the helmet, he only adds shield

and sword, but everything else is in the Old

Testament, especially in the book of the

prophet Isaiah, as I already said, verses 52 and 59.

Let's then look at each of these pieces. The

first one he places there

in verse 14 is truth. We must

gird ourselves, clothe ourselves with truth as if it

were a belt.

The belt was the most important piece of the

Roman soldier's armor; it covered

this entire part of the abdomen here, and it was

where he hung or supported the

rest of the armor. It was where he would

tie the breastplate, where he would

place the sword; everything was hung or

supported by the belt. So it's not

surprising that Paul begins by saying that

truth is the belt of the armor. That is, that's where

we start: the truth of the

gospel that God revealed. And how does

this protect us against Satan?

As I said, the devil's greatest weapon is

religious error. Once you

know the truth, once you have grasped the

truth of the gospel in Christ Jesus,

then you are in a position to

defend yourself against the lies, heresies, and

religious error that Satan uses in a

very beautiful way. through men

prepared for this because you know

the truth

[Music]

it is the gateway You will know the

truth and the truth will set you free so

the truth is how I feel it is the first

thing how do I appropriate the

Truth So how do I obey this

command to gird yourselves with Truth means

every day you fill your head with

this truth you meditate on the truth that

Christ you meditate on the great

promises of the Gospel you believe in these

things delight in

spiritual truths you are feeling with the

truth it becomes the belt that protects

your abdomen and from where

the other things that follow will hang

second part he speaks here is the breastplate

verse 14 put on the breastplate of righteousness

righteousness here is not an ethical attribute

but is the righteousness of God through faith in

Christ Jesus it is the righteousness with which God

justifies sinners like me and like you it is

justification it works like a breastplate

the breastplate covered the soldier's chest it

was fixed in the center of him in

which he was girded and was protection

for vital organs it was protection

generally The metal armor was protection for

vital organs from blows that could be

fatal. Paul here compares the righteousness of

God in Christ Jesus, or justification, to

a breastplate, and this comparison is

very perfect because once you have

been justified in Christ Jesus,

you have to remember

this daily. I'll give an example from

Saint Paul himself. Perhaps the best commentary on this

is Romans Chapter 8;

you see how this works in practice.

Romans Chapter 8,

verse 31:

Paul says, "Therefore we shall say, '

If God is for us, who can be

against us? He who did not spare his

own Son, but

gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along

with him, graciously give us all things?'"

Now look at verse 33: "Who will bring any

charge against God’s elect?" It is

God who

justifies us. It's wonderful to remember

this on those days when suddenly a

lot of accusations come to your head: "

You're worthless, you did it again, didn't you? How can you be hopeless?

You're good for

nothing, you're a disaster, you're a worthless believer, aren't you?

You keep doing this kind

of thing, do you think God will

accept it?" Have you ever had those days

when your head was like that? Then

darkness enters your heart,

doubt enters. Do you know the answer to

this? Here is the doctrine of justification

by faith.

You will say, "It's true, I'm worthless,

I'm no good. That's true, I'm

not worth the food I eat or the air

I breathe. That's true, I am a

miserable and failed sinner, a

shameless believer. That's true, but God

accepts me, not based on my merits, but

on the righteousness of Christ. Therefore, who will condemn me?

For my righteousness is not mine, but

that of the Son of God, who on the Cross on

Calvary gave himself for me, who

fulfilled God's law

perfectly, who offered a

perfect sacrifice for my sins." That's how

you take righteousness as a shield

to defend yourself from the attacks of the devil, the

accuser, your own conscience.

Remember this: how much we

suffer with guilt—

I'm not saying it's a bad thing,

but I'm talking about bad guilt,

wrong guilt. True guilt is good because

it will lead you to repentance. If

you have sinned, it's good that you feel

guilty. I hope so. If you don't

feel guilty, something is wrong.

You sinned, didn't you, you believer? That's it, you ca

n't sin without feeling guilty.

Take this test: if you can sin and

not feel guilty, you're probably not a believer.

Now, if you can't enjoy the

fruits of your sin because your

conscience weighs on you, that's a sign

that you are a believer, because you're

feeling guilty. But it happens that there's

a guilt that goes beyond what is just, that

becomes accusation,

and that doesn't come from the Holy Spirit. The

Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, of

judgment, and of

righteousness. Without a doubt, but Satan wants to

lead us to feel defeated,

destroyed, and unforgivable to

discourage us. The answer is to always

remember that you are justified based on

the merits of Christ. This works like

a breastplate that protects against the

attacks of the Devil. If you remember this, and

this means daily in prayer

you give thanks to God for the

redemptive work of Christ Jesus, daily

you remember this, you say, "God, I

know I am nothing. What a privilege, what

glory, what grace you give me to be

called your child, if you

forgive my sins and justify me." That's how

you take on

this breastplate. (

Third part of...) The armor Paul

mentions is the peace of the Gospel, like a

shoe (verse 15): "And your feet fitted with the

readiness that comes from the gospel of peace." The

Roman soldier's footwear was a semi-boot

laced with a hard leather sole, designed to

protect against sharp

objects

thrown by enemies on the battlefield. Sometimes the

soldier ran barefoot, and then the enemies

would throw sharp objects, sticks, onto the

field, which would injure the soldier and prevent

him from continuing. To

run

safely and confidently on the battlefield, he needed to have his

feet shod and protected so that

he could run and

face the enemy or

defend himself.

What does this mean?

Peace. This can be translated as

follows:

the peace that the gospel produces

functions as a preparation for

combat, like the shoes that soldiers

put on before entering the

battlefield. So this peace that the gospel

brings is compared to the shoes that the

soldier puts on at the beginning of the conflict.

This peace here is the peace of the Gospel,

the gospel of peace, or the peace that is

produced by the gospel. The Gospel is

good news. That God loved us and

gave his son to die for our

sins, and through faith in Christ Jesus

I am forgiven and now I have peace with

God. God is no longer my enemy. Now

imagine you going to war against the

devil, and besides the devil, you also have

God as an enemy. There's

no way to win that, right? There's no

way. So if you're going to battle

against Satan, you need to be at

peace with God, you need to have God on

your side, isn't that right? So it is the

gospel that reconciles you with God, and

then you are able to face the

devil. What a terrible situation for man without

God! He not only has the devil as an

enemy but God himself. How will

he escape

eternal condemnation and destruction? How

will a person escape without Christ and without God?

He needs to have peace with God through the

gospel, which will function as the

sandals with which he will be able to

run on the battlefield and face the

enemy. Without this, you are lost, not

only because you will not have strength against the

devil, but also because you do not have peace with

God,

and God is the enemy himself, and the greatest of

all. The

fourth piece that Paul describes here is

faith in Christ as a shield. See verse

16,

always embracing. The shield of faith, with

which you will be able to extinguish all the

fiery darts of the wicked one.

The shield Paul refers to here is a

square shield, very popular in

Hollywood movies when they show the

Roman legion performing those maneuvers,

right? The soldier with those

square shields, they join together,

looking like a turtle, nothing gets through,

and then they advance. There was a

smaller, round shield that was more for

hand-to-hand combat, but the shield

Paul is talking about here—the word

shield here comes from the Greek word for door. That

is, that square obstacle

that doesn't let you in—that's the

shield. And this shield was sometimes

made of a double sheet of wood

to prevent

what happened: the incendiary arrow would

hit the first layer and be extinguished

there, not passing to the second layer. Or it

was a shield covered with

wet animal skins

to counter the incendiary darts,

which were a

terrible weapon at that time; an arrow whose

tip was wrapped in

flammable material. The soldier would light it and throw it, causing a

fire wherever it hit. So this type of

shield was the long, large shield; it

served to extinguish fires. This type of arrow would

hit there and die. Another

interesting detail: the word "extinguish" here in the

Greek language is where the word "as

besto" comes from, which in Portuguese refers to a

flammable material that is still used today.

So what acts as a

shield that extinguishes the arrows of the evil one?

Paul says it is faith, it's there in verse 16.

But faith in what you have to make

this important distinction. People talk

about faith as if faith had an

inherent force. Faith is the act of believing, it is the

ability to trust in something,

but what will make the difference

is not the fact that you believe, but in what

you believe. For example, if you believe in a

lie, you will go to hell

even having faith, is

n't that true? If you believe the

whole name, then you will be condemned

because what saves is not the fact that

you have faith, but in what you believe.

Christ is the one who saves, and if you have faith

in Christ you will be saved. If you have

faith in the saints

or in idols or in pagan gods or in

nothing, you will not be saved. To hell with all that, because

none of those things save you; it

is Jesus Christ. So when he says faith

acts as a shield, it is faith in the Lord

Jesus, in the gospel. In truth, how do

I put on this daily? I have

to exercise my faith. Paul,

elsewhere in Romans chapter 10, said

that faith comes from hearing the word of

God. And once again, we return to

what we said from the beginning: how do

I put on the pieces of this

armor every day in prayer, spending

time with God, reading his word,

meditating on the word, filling my

mind with his word, seeing the great

promises? When you do this, faith

springs forth. There are people who say, "

I don't have faith, my faith is so

small." Then the question

I usually ask is: if it's the

Bible every day, no,

your faith is like a muscle, isn't it? You have

to exercise it so it doesn't

atrophy.

And what awakens faith is not objects,

as some deliverance churches say,

but the word of God that awakens

faith. That's why you need to

spend time in prayer every day to put on the

armor of God, and as you do

this... Faith grows, confidence in

Christ, faith that will give you courage, that

will give you boldness, that will give you

confidence.

The fifth piece is in verse 17, also at the

end of the verse: take the sword of the

Spirit, which is the word of God.

The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of

God.

Sorry, I skipped one. And the helmet... there's already

a helmet before the sword, there's a

helmet. That's right. Take also the helmet of

salvation.

The helmet, usually made of leather and

metal parts, protects the head. An

important part: if the soldier were wounded in the

head, it was all over. So it represents the

helmet, it represents the salvation that is

given to us in Christ Jesus. How do I

appropriate this daily? Perhaps we

are talking here about the certainty of

salvation. Certainty of

salvation every day. Certainty of salvation. Salvation has

already been given to me in

Christ Jesus. But are you certain of it?

Because uncertain and insecure believers

are like wavering soldiers. They don't

know what they are going to do, they don't have the

courage to proceed. But a believer

who is certain of his salvation is a

soldier who is ready for battle. He

is used. He has nothing to be

certain of;

certainty is lacking in many people. Is it

possible for a person to be a

true believer and not be certain? What are the

reasons why a believer loses

certainty? Their conscience, wounded by some

sin,

wants to believe they are saved, but

that sin in their conscience keeps

draining, bleeding, it's the certainty. They

say, "How can I be saved if I

have this sin on my conscience?"

So this can happen, secondly, due to

wrong doctrine. For example, if you

believe that salvation is lost, that

God saved me in Christ Jesus, died

for you, shed his blood for you,

Christ paid a cross for your guilt, the

Holy Spirit regenerated you, you

were born again, the Holy Spirit dwells in

you, you were sealed with the

Holy Spirit, without receiving

the assurance of the Holy Spirit and everything else,

and you lose salvation, then you can't

be sure, right? You're saved today and not

saved tomorrow, so you can never

be sure of salvation if you think

salvation is something that is lost.

The only basis for you to be sure of

salvation is that God is immutable and that

His purpose will be fulfilled, and that

if He gave you salvation in Christ

Jesus, He will not go back on His word, He will

raise you up, He will bring you to

repentance, you will change. ...of life, and

you will continue until the end, until the day

you see when the Lord Jesus returns. But a

believer who is secure... another thing that

can shake a believer's salvation is

precisely Satan. Satan attacks the

believer in this, and sometimes oppression comes,

darkness comes, confusion comes into the head,

unbelief grows in the

believer's heart, and he becomes unsure, right?

He doubts even the Bible, the

existence of God, and the things

he believes in. He keeps questioning it.

So believers who are not sure of their

salvation become unstable. They

become like a wavering soldier

in the middle of a battle, which can bring

difficulties to others who need to

advance and need his

support, his help, but he is

fighting alone, and therefore he does not have

the condition to engage.

But here, then, the certainty of salvation

functions like a helmet that protects

our head. Isn't it interesting that the

head—the mind—is where the battle is

fought, and that's where the devil will attack,

exactly to take you out of your

position of security and tranquility. And

once again, how do I take, how do

I have this certainty of salvation

daily in the presence... God searching

my heart, reminding me of what He has done for

me, remembering His grace, His

mercy, and His promises. Now, let

the word of God be the

final sword of verse 17: "Take the sword

of the Spirit," which is the word of God.

There are two types of swords used

by Roman soldiers: one was a

long sword, which is not the one Paul mentions

here, and the other was a shorter one

carried at the waist,

used in close combat

for defense. This sword that Paul

mentions here represents the word

of God, and Paul is saying that the one who

uses this word is the Spirit. Isn't that

the sword of the Spirit? That is, the sword

he uses. Perhaps the best illustration of what

Paul is saying here is

the temptation of Jesus in the desert. Jesus

was led into the desert to be tempted. The

first temptation was the Son of

God, who said that these stones would become

bread. What was Jesus' answer? It

is written: "Man shall not live by bread alone." And so it was

with the second and so it

was with the third temptation. In all of them,

Jesus answered, saying, "It is

written." This means the sword of the

Spirit, which is the word of God. In

spiritual warfare, you answer

doubts. Questions about lies,

accusations, and guilt—

how is it written now? How are you going to answer that

if you don't know the Bible? Jesus,

when this happened to him, was 30

years old. Jewish boys began

memorizing the Bible before the age of 12; at 12

years old, they had that initiation phase

where they should already know a good

part of the Torah by heart. So Jesus knew all

the quotes from the book of Deuteronomy. They

say Jesus

spent 40 days in the desert meditating on the

word of God when Satan saw him. He

was ready to answer.

So,

you're in your car, a guy from

Goiás cuts you off, and then

comes the accusation. It

could be someone from Paraíba too, and then

comes the urge to

insult him, saying he

's righteous.

You're going to say no, because what is

written? What is

written that you could

say now? You're at work, you're

harassed by a woman, a female

employee, someone who harasses you,

temptation, your marriage isn't going well, your

wife doesn't like you, you haven't spoken to her, you have

n't had relations for I don't know how

long, God understands your need.

You answer, what is written? What are

you going to answer

if... chefe chega no trabalho e diz olha

passa essa nota aí ou faz essa

assinatura aí nesse contrato não é bem

isso que aconteceu mas não compramos

tanto mas vamos dizer que foi portanto

aí não faz mal aí vem é isso mesmo S So

you're going to lose your job, right? You have to

do what the boss is telling you to do, and

you respond by saying, "It's written, I won't do it because it's written." What am

I saying? You know why

many believers fall? Because they don't know

where it's written, and they don't know what's

written. And in times of need,

they don't have to cling to it; they don't have an

argument in their heart.

I don't have an argument with which to respond

day by day in practical matters. Remember

the word of God. We say that the

Bible is like a lamp for our feet, a

light for our path. We say that

it is the sword of the Spirit, the

hammer that shatters rocks, the only

rule of faith and practice. But how does

this work in daily life, in practice?

Exactly that. You have to take the

sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, so that

you can refute the accusations, the

lies, the temptations that come to your mind every day.

So that's what it means to take the

word of God as a sword. Now,

closing here, verse 18, Paul says, "

With all prayer and supplication,

praying at all times in the Spirit, keeping alert

with all perseverance." A

plea for all the saints:

I wanted to suggest that verse 18 is

linked to verse 13. The connection would be something like this: "

Therefore, take up the whole

armor of God, with all prayer

and supplication." In other words, what Paul

is saying is how we are going to

take up the whole armor of God. How do

we take it? Ah, how do we take the

truth as the breastplate,

righteousness as the breastplate, the peace of the

Gospel as sandals, faith as a shield,

salvation as a helmet, and the word of

God as a sword? How do I take this

daily? The answer is:

with all prayer and supplication, praying at

all times. See what he says: "All

prayer and supplication." This means every kind of

prayer and supplication because it involves

praise, worship, confession,

intercession—many types

of prayer in the Bible. "With all prayer and

supplication" is how I put on the armor

of God. See further, he also says, "at all

times in the Spirit," praying without ceasing.

Brothers, it is important that we have

moments of prayer, prayer times. It's

good; you should, when you can. Participating

in these prayer meetings that are

available in our church and other

places as well, but these

prayer meetings do not replace the duty

that the believer has to pray always, praying

at all times—

praying in traffic, praying at

work, praying at home, praying at

school, praying at church—

and all the time, a constant life of

communion with God.

There is a difference,

which is not very big, it's subtle, between

prayer and the Spirit of prayer. A believer

who has the spirit lives in an attitude

of prayer all the time; his heart is

united with God in the spirit of prayer. So,

whatever happens, at that moment he

has a word with God: "Lord, did you see this?

Lord, I'm not feeling well here,

what do I answer?" It's this, you

understand? He is in communion with God, he's

on WhatsApp, there he and God are

talking, they are connected to each other, the

spirit of prayer. He spends the whole day

talking to God; he doesn't take 15

minutes, half an hour, an hour to read the

Bible, pray, and then forget about God for

the rest of the day. But he spends the whole day

praying, at all times, in the spirit, by the

Spirit of God. He is in communion

with God. This is an attitude that... You're

clear, I'm saying this doesn't prevent it, on the

contrary, it even makes you want to

participate in

prayer meetings and go to

prayer meetings to spend time with God and with the

brothers and sisters, that's essential too, but the

basis of all this is for you to be in an

attitude of prayer all the time, all the time. It's

interesting that the Bible doesn't say

what the best time to pray is, some

people think it's at night, and the

Bible doesn't say what the best place to

pray is, some people think it's on the top of the

mountain

[Music]

looking at the saint for a bit, some

people think it's, I don't know, in

Jerusalem. The

Bible doesn't say where it's best to pray

or what time is best. The Bible says

that we have to pray without ceasing

all day long, that's right. And when the brothers and

sisters decide to get together to pray

on a certain day at a certain

time, go and participate, the more prayer the

better, because it says, "Every prayer," and it

also says here, look, thirdly, with all

perseverance.

Perseverance is

insistence, not giving up. You

continue praying, pray today, tomorrow, in

a year, you will pray all the time.

You will realize in prayer that

God will pray to you. Listen, and it also says here at the end

of verse 18, "

And supplication for all the saints." The saints

here are the believers; they are called

saints, not in an absolute sense, but in the

basic sense of the word, which means set

apart. They were set apart by God

through the gospel; they belong to God; they are being

sanctified. But the Bible calls them

saints in this sense. We have to look at the

end of verse 18, praying for

all the saints because they are my

colleagues in battle; it's the soldier who is

beside you, the soldier who is in front of you, the one

behind you. We are an army, and

we need to pray for each other

in this spiritual war. I need

your prayers. See what Paul says

next in verse 19, "And also for me."

Paul knows the importance of prayer,

so much so that he says, "Pray for

all the saints. Don't forget me." No, the

church prays for me. And what does Paul

ask? He was imprisoned. Remember him? What does

he ask? "Pray that I may be

freed from prison." No,

no,

pray for me, that

utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth wide, to

make known the mystery

of the gospel, through which only God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Ambassador in

chains so that in Christ I may be

bold to speak as I ought to do

wrong. Paul asked the brothers to pray

for his release from prison, but

he was concerned with something else. He

wanted to preach the gospel while he was in

prison. They

proclaimed the Gospel with authority

and boldness so that the mystery of the

Gospel might be manifested there in that

prison, which is extraordinary. And

this, in the context of spiritual warfare

today, we are encouraged in the

context of spiritual warfare to pray

for deliverance from our problems.

Here you have a man inspired by

God teaching about spiritual warfare, and

when he asks you to pray for him, he is

imprisoned. He only asks this: "I want

you to look so that God gives me courage so that

in prison I may preach the

gospel." I don't want to know about deliverance, I do

n't want to know about getting out of here

and receiving what is mine. I don't

want any of that.

I want God to give me grace to

be a believer where I am, where He has

placed me—in my marriage, in my work, in my

business—wherever I am. Pray

for me so that I may be a believer there where

God has planted me,

even if it is a difficult situation. As difficult

as the one he was experiencing, this one

is the spiritual war, my brothers.

He ends the letter talking about Thymicus (verses

21-22), who is the bearer of the letter, and

praying for the believers (verses 23 and 24).

Dear ones, what can we learn

here? In closing, first, there is a

spiritual battle happening around you, a

spiritual battle happening around

you, and you should wake up to this,

wake up to this reality. Second,

it focuses on conquering the

mind and not specifically on

material matters such as prosperity, disease, and

material possessions. Third, the

devil's greatest weapon in this spiritual war is

the lie, the corruption of the truth,

distorting the truth, leading you

away from God, believing in error. Fourth,

in Christ Jesus we are already in

a position of victory. He has already broken

Satan's backbone, crushed the

head of the rattlesnake, and therefore victory

is already ours. While we await the

arrival of the day of Christ and with it the

new heaven and the new earth where

justice dwells, the final judgment, and eternal life,

while we wait daily, you must

take up the armor of God in prayer.

This means spending time with God, spending

time in prayer and meditation.

Fill your mind with the word of God,

concern yourself with spiritual things,

take time out of your daily life to put on

this armor, otherwise you will be

vulnerable. You may even get there, but

you will limp, you will drag yourself along, you

will groan, you will suffer, you will be

a burden to others,

suffering in happiness here in this world.

And I know that God wants us, like

victorious soldiers, to go through this

pilgrimage here

displaying the victory of Christ in a

full and true way. I know there are people

fighting here, I know there are people in

battles, big battles here. I wanted to

encourage you so that whatever

battle you are fighting—your

marriage, your work, your school,

personal relationship conflicts—

ask yourself if there isn't a

greater need to take more time

for God. Have you put on the

armor of God? Why has Satan been

able to penetrate? Why have you

yielded to error, followed by evil, to

sin? Perhaps if he came, he would think about

reprogramming your day and saying, "God, I

need more time than that; I

want to spend my day in communion

with you wherever I am." Perhaps you

have to see that the root of this is in fact a

spiritual root, perhaps here in this... Tonight,

people who have fallen, who have truly fallen, are

confused, uncertain,

trapped by some kind of

behavior, a

sinful relationship they can't break free from, or

sinful attitudes and habits that

prevent them from having joy and certainty and

living a full life in Christ Jesus. I

want to say that we don't leave

our wounded soldiers behind. Oh

God, in Christ Jesus, He wants to raise the

wounded soldier, heal their wounds, and

bring them back to the ranks of the

battle, to

fight the good fight again until that great

day. And the way to do that is repentance. Repentance

is

turning to God, recognizing that you have

failed, that you have erred, asking

God for forgiveness, accepting that forgiveness, and putting on

God's armor and continuing steadfast.

And perhaps tonight there is someone here

who still hasn't understood the

gospel of Christ Jesus. I want to

ask you this question: how are you going to

face these powers? How are you

going to face these evil spiritual beings?

How are you going to overcome

sin in your heart? How are you

going to overcome

these things that enslave you and that

sometimes make you feel...

I know you feel guilty...

Feeling bad and you don't quite know

where to go, how you're going to

overcome this, and worse, tonight you're

also hearing

that you're in a state of enmity

against God.

God isn't your friend, not in the sense that

everything is alright between you and God. There's

only one way for you to be at peace

with God: through repentance of your

sins and believing in Jesus. Otherwise, it's not just the

devil you'll have to face,

but the Almighty Creator of heaven and

earth.

And it's a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the

living God. You came here tonight to

hear this.

I want you to open your heart and

meditate on this: If God is for us, who can

be against us? But what if God is against

us?

You need this peace that the gospel

brings: reconciliation with God, so you can

stand firm and overcome the cunning snares

of the devil and inherit eternal life. Amen.

O God, only you can open our hearts

to hear your word, laid out in such an

imperfect way tonight, but I

ask that the truth that shines

through my weakness

tonight be used by your

Holy Spirit in conquering minds and...

From the hearts of your children, restoring,

renewing,

awakening the desire to spend time with you, to

reconcile with

enemies, to forgive, to

restore that which needs to be

restored. O God, clothe us with all the

armor that comes from you to face the

cunning snares of the devil. Deliver your

church from evil. Do not let us fall into

temptation. This is what we ask of you

tonight in the name of Jesus.

[Music]