Stand Taking The Shield Of Faith

The speaker discusses the importance of standing strong in the face of spiritual battles. They emphasize the need to put on the whole armor of God, including the shield of faith. The speaker warns against giving up ground and losing the progress made in spreading the Gospel. They remind the audience that Satan's power is nullified by Jesus Christ, but that they must still be vigilant and hold onto their faith. The speaker encourages the audience to stand firm and wear the armor of God at all times. Yeah, I don't think all of our voices are just about gone, Pierce. There was copying and stuff this morning, and so it is that time of year. But you have your Bibles. Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians chapter 6. We have been talking about the armor of God. We've been finishing out this epistle to the church at Ephesus, as Paul writes it, and I've entitled the message today, Stand, Taking the Shield of Faith. And Paul says in verse 10, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. And so as we look at this passage of Scripture, remember that we are engaged in this cosmic spiritual battle. We are fighting against enemies that we cannot even see. They are relentless. They are hard-charging. They are hard-fighting. And we know that they are commanded by one individual that we call the devil and Satan and other terms that is for him. And the Bible tells us, Paul says, he is a very wily individual. He is crafty. He is tricking. He is scheming and has all types of methods that are able to undermine our faith. And what we find is this trust and obedience in God, when it is eroded, it literally attacks the glory of God. And a lot of times when we talk about these spiritual battles, we kind of get into this woe is me type mentality. But I want to remind you this morning that we are not in this battle for ourselves. We are in this battle for Jesus Christ and the glory of God. You go all the way back in the Bible and Adam and Eve was created in the image of God. But they sinned and they broke that image. And Satan has not changed his tactics. Every time Satan can get a Christian to fall, every time Satan can get a Christian to step back and to doubt the Word of God, to doubt what God says, then what it does is it casts a bad reflection upon the glory of God our Creator. But see, God didn't want us to live in sin. God didn't want us to live fallen. And so therefore, He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die in our place. And when we accept Him, then what it does is it shows that even in our sinful state, God will be glorified. That's why at the end of the world, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is both Lord and King. And so what God wants us to do is God wants us to stand. And not stand with our ability. Notice it says we are to stand in the Lord. We are to stand in the power of His might. It is God living within us that helps us to be able to stand against these attacks. And I'm standing in order to hold a critical position during the battle. Have any of you ever played King of the Mountain? King of the Mountain, the object was always to do what? To get whoever was on there to get them to quit standing and to try to attack. You know what happens when the individual standing on the top of the mountain gets away from standing in his position and tries to attack? They're off balance. And you can easily take over the top of the mountain. And so you try to break up their balance. Well, guess what? That's what Satan tries to do. And God reminds us this is not our fight. Christ has already fought this fight. He has already won. Satan has already been defeated. What He's telling us to do is we just simply need to stand. We need to make sure that we don't give up ground. That we don't give up the critical positions that churches and people before us have gained and the ground that they have gained in this world and in this society. You think about all of the churches that the Apostle Paul started. You think about all the other men and women that have gone before us. You think about all of the pastors over the last 200 years at Kentucky Missionary Baptist Church that have brought us and stood for the truth and stood by faith in God in order for us to have what we have today. Folks, we want to go out of this generation not having gained ground, but at least not lose ground. We want to at least be able to stand with what we have been giving. As a matter of fact, that's what Paul has been talking about since he's got into this duty portion in Ephesians 4. He tells us, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called. Every one of us as children of God have been called to a job. We have been called to a task. And we're to be about doing it. We're to be about living to glorify God. God wants the glory. He goes down in chapter 4 and verse 13 and he says, how long do we keep doing this? How long do we keep walking and glorifying God? Notice what he says, till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man under the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. He goes on in verse 14 that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men in what cunning craftiness whereby they what? Lie in wait to deceive, but speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things which is the head, even Christ. I am afraid today that the churches in America it appears that we have not only given up ground, but we have appeared to become completely complacent. We have completely stepped away from the battle. We have completely stepped away from what God has called us to do. And we have just kind of emotionally, mentally, and spiritually, we have checked out, right? And what have we done? We have sat down in our beautiful church houses and we say, even so, Lord, come quickly, right? We have given up. But guess what? God says He doesn't want us to give up because we're still in a battle. And He may wait another five years to come back. He may wait another 2,000 years to come back. We don't know. And so we cannot be responsible for giving up the ground that we have already conquered, that we have already obtained in this world. And we're to keep doing it until what? Until everybody has heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ and has accepted that message. Paul goes on in Ephesians 5 and verse 14. He says, "...see then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore, be not unwise, but understanding what is the will of God. See then that you walk wisely, redeeming the time." Folks, God has blessed us here at Kentucky Missionary Baptist Church. You look at Kentucky Missionary Baptist Church, we have the truth. Amen? We have the Word of God. We preach the Word of God. We live by the Word of God. We have His church. I believe that we are a true New Testament church by faith and by practice. I believe that we have His Word. I believe that we here at Kentucky have the grace of God bestowed upon us. God has blessed us with so many spiritual blessings and so many different things. I believe we have His salvation here at Kentucky. I believe we have His blessings. God has really blessed Kentucky Missionary Baptist Church. The problem is our enemy. The problem is that wily devil. That man called Satan does not want us to have the things that we have been given by the Lord. And he will do anything within his power and everything within his power to stop us from continuing to receive God's blessings and glorify the Father. See, we can't glorify ourselves. Kentucky hasn't been here for 200 years because of any one of us. It's been here because of Jesus Christ. And so Satan wants to take that from us. Satan wants to remove that from us. And none of these things can be taken from us because of Jesus Christ. His power. All of Satan's power has been nullified. All of it has been taken away. Do you realize that Satan cannot do anything without the permission of Jesus Christ? He is there. He has to get permission before he can do anything. And if we're going to keep what we have in the Lord, we are going to have to stand. And we are going to have to hold the precious ground that we have already taken. And if we're going to stand, we must put on the whole armor of God. And we've already looked at three of the items that we have on our bodies, within our beings, at all times. Paul says in v. 14, Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Now notice that word, and I underlined it all three times. Having, having, and. And connects the feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace with having the loins girted and having the breastplate of righteousness. The key word there is have. I want you to understand when we see that word, having your loins girt about with truth, what that is referring to is the idea of permanence. If you have something, it is yours, right? Right? If you don't have it, it's not yours, right? And so what does he say? Stand therefore, having your loins girt about. This, the truth, is already yours. And as we look at these, these items seem to be for the purpose of the long haul. Have any of you ever been to a baseball game or a football game? What happens between plays? Does everybody get on the field at one time? No. But what happens to those that are even sitting on the bench? They have part of their uniform on, don't they? They have their shirt on. They have their shoulder pads, right? In football, they have their cleats on. They have everything ready, and what happens? The coach says, I need you to come in in the next play. Then what do they do? Then they grab their helmet. And they grab the other things that they need for right then, but they don't have to sit there the entire game with their helmet on, with their gloves on for the wide receivers and everything. And that's what Paul is telling us here. We have these three items that we are to keep on ourselves all the time. If you go and you study the military and you look at military, you will find that soldiers constantly had these three items all the time, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They kept their loins girded. They kept their breastplate on. And they kept their shoes on their feet ready to go to battle. These stayed on at all times. Now when it got hot, when it got tiring, when the battle was not immediate upon them, what would they do? They would take their helmet and they would set it aside. They would take their sword, because then, can you imagine toking around your sword and your helmet all day long? And so it may be there, but it was ready. When the battle became intense, what were they doing? They were there and they were ready to be taken. The shield, the helmet, and the sword. And so he has this idea of having as being a permanent thing. And again, look at these three items. Every one of us as Christians should have these three items from the onslaught of our belief and our faith and trust in Jesus Christ. What did he say? The loins gird about with truth. What did we say this was? This is talking about a commitment, a readiness of preparation. Why in the world are you going to accept the salvation of Jesus Christ and not be willing to follow Him? You remember the rich young ruler? He said, Lord, what do I have to do to be Your disciple, right? I've kept all the commandments. I'm from a good family. I have a lot of possessions. How can I be Your disciple? And what did Jesus say? One thing thou lackest, right? Just one thing. Man, that's great. All of us can handle one thing, right? Man, if God just wants us to give up one thing, then I'm in. I can do that. Go sell everything that you have and give to the poor and come follow Me. And it said the rich young ruler walked away sorrowful because he had a lot of possessions. He wanted salvation, but he didn't want to do it without commitment. He wanted Jesus Christ. He wanted the grace of Jesus. He wanted the mercy of Jesus, but he didn't want to have commitment. When we give our life to Jesus Christ, we are signing up for commitment. We are willing to die for Him or in place of Him if it is called upon us. And so this loins girt about with the truth is this preparation. If we are going to fight Satan, we have to recognize that His abilities, that His craftiness is very, very good. Satan has got his craft down to a fine art. And it usually doesn't take them very long before we're ensnared and messed up. The question becomes is are you committed to battle? Are you committed to battle? And then he mentions the breastplate of righteousness. We need personal holiness. We need righteous living. If we have made a commitment to serve Jesus Christ, to live for Jesus Christ, then we need to be living it, right? If we say that we're going to follow You, then we need to be following Jesus Christ. We need to be living how Jesus Christ asked us to live. And so we maintain this. How do we do this? Is any of us perfect? Absolutely not. Do we sin and make mistakes? Yes, we do. But how do I remain holy? How do I keep my testimony pure amongst sinful people? Well, Jesus gave us a wonderful way in 1 John 1.9. He said if you will confess your sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins. You see, I'm going to make mistakes. But when I confess them and I repent from them, I turn and go in the opposite direction, then guess what? It cannot be blamed or laid on my account. I cannot be charged for that because why? I've already received forgiveness for that. Click below to get started. And so, as we think about that, and as we do that, he says this breastplate of righteousness is confessing and repenting our sins, and therefore, what God has already declared us as righteous, now we are able to live as righteous. I'm able to do it one day at a time, one hour by a time, one minute by a time. And so we're just in this thing minute by minute with each other. But we can live righteous. So the question is, are you living for Christ and keeping your failures and shortcomings in check? See, somehow, I don't know why in the world we think this, but at the point of salvation, we confess our sins and we say that we are a sinner. We accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on our sins, and then we think that we never have to repent or confess again, right? But we all continue to sin because we're in this fleshly body. But one day, when the trump sounds, the Bible says, the dead in Christ shall rise, and we which are remained shall be caught up with them in the air, and we shall be changed. We will receive a glorified body, a perfect body. We won't have to confess and repent anymore because then when we see Him, the Bible says we will be like Him. But in the meantime, guess what? We ought to be spending a lot of time confessing and repenting. And so that's the breastplate of righteousness. And then the third item that we looked at last week is our feet are shod with the Gospel of peace. Has your feet been covered with the Gospel of peace? What really helps us stand firmly against Satan? What really, when the battle comes, what gives us the confidence to stand? Well, just think for just a minute. The confidence comes in God's power, right? It's not me. It's God. You know, I can remember in the fifth grade, man, I was bullied. I was a little bitty old guy and I had a big mouth and everything. And so, man, I didn't have the guns or the weight to back up my mouth. And so, man, I was always in trouble until this one dude that should have been about probably the eighth or ninth grade. He came to Eastside Elementary. And I found out real quick, man, this dude already, I was a fifth grader, and he had muscles that literally stacked on top of each other. He had muscles upon muscles. I made him my friend. And guess what? I could talk and do whatever I wanted to do as long as he was around. But, dadgum, there was that one afternoon that I walked home from school every day and they caught me halfway home and my old buddy wasn't there to help me. But, man, when he was around, nobody touched me. That's the way it should be with Jesus Christ. If Jesus Christ is with us, there ain't nobody that can harm us. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. No distress. No tribulation. Nothing. And so, man, we stand in the confidence to know that I am at peace with God. That I am a child of God. Adopted by Him. That's our shoes. That's our power. Is to know that, man, if God is for me, who can be against me? And so in the Gospel, the good news is that I'm at peace with God. That's what gives me my confidence in the battle. And so, how do we win against Satan's army? Because, you know, I don't like... We always used to say that a tie is nothing more than like kissing your first cousin or something, right? It's just not that exciting or anything, but what's happening? The thing is, is we want to win. Don't play. Don't get in the race if you're not going to win. So how do we win? I don't want to just stand. I want to win. Well, look at what he says here. How do we defeat this host of demons? How do we stop all of this antagonism? We do it with these three items. Commitment, holy living, and confidence. If you have these three items, then guess what? There is absolutely nothing that Satan or anybody else can do for you. As we look at this, notice what he says. He goes on in v. 16, and he says, above all. And so them three items are things that we have. But then notice the verb changes here. Notice the verb changes. And this is why it's important sometimes to read your Bibles word for word. Look at what it says. Above all, taking the shield of faith wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Notice the verb changed from having to now taking. They're still yours, but you don't have them on. You don't have to go around 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with your shield of faith. You don't have to go around 24 hours a day with your helmet of salvation or the sword of the Spirit. You don't have to have them. But when the battle gets tough, you better have them close by. And when the battle gets heated, you better be able to grab them and to take them upon you. I had a deacon in Bastrop, Louisiana that went in World War II. And I loved going to his house and I loved talking to him because he had his helmet from the military from World War II. And his helmet was actually there on his wall and right between where his eyes would be if his helmet was down on his head where it was supposed to be, was a bullet hole. Right dead in the center of his helmet. I always loved him talking about the story. That they were required, you know, to keep their helmets close. And the battle was getting tough. The battle had strayed away. It wasn't quite right there in their area at the particular time. But it wasn't far enough away that he could take his helmet and set it to the side. And so what he did was just lift it up on top of his head so that the air could flow underneath it and so that he would be able to get some air and cool his head. When all of a sudden, a bullet went right through the middle of this helmet. See, you don't have to have that helmet of salvation all the time. But you need to be able to grab a hold of it. It needs to be there when you need it. The first three items will be sufficient to win in the Bible. That's all you need to win against Satan. Is to dirt your loins with truth. To be sure to put on your live holy. And to be committed. However, the next three things are all like kind of bonus items. They're kind of like bonus items. Things that you would like to have when the battle actually gets hard. Something that you can grab. Put on your helmet of salvation. Grab your sword of the Spirit. The first three are items if you'll go back and you'll study, the loins dirted, the breastplate of righteousness, and the feet, every one of them are either tied on, strapped on, or clasped on. They're there and they're permanent. They're there. These three items, however, are loose items that you grab and you can take and you can lay aside. They're easily grasped in the battle. And so I want us to look today at the first one, this shield. Notice the shield described. If you go and you Google Roman shields, you will find a lot of different shields, styles, sizes, and everything else. But the two predominant ones that you're going to find are the ones that are in this picture. There was one that was shaped kind of like a frisbee. An oversized disc that they would take and it was round. It was there and what they would do is they would secure it to their arm with two leather straps. And what they would do is if they were like me, if they were right-handed, they would put this shield on their left hand and they didn't have this great big old sword that we think. They actually had a small dagger type sword. And this was for close hand-to-hand combat. And so that shield would be able to deflect their sword, their weapons, their blows, or whatever. You would deflect with that shield and you would fight with your sword. That's not the shield that we're talking about here. The shield that we're talking about here is that other one that the Greeks and the Romans called the scutum. The scutum. The Greek word that is used here is actually thurion. Thurion. And it really comes from the word thura which means door. This shield was literally like a door. It was about 4 1⁄2 feet tall, 2 1⁄2 feet wide, and it actually curved around just a little bit on the sides. It was usually just simply made out of a big plank of wood. Literally what they were doing was poking a curved door. And why was this important? They would take the outside sometimes and they would cover it with metal or they would cover it in leather. And what they would do is in the battle, what would happen is they would fight from a distance and the enemy would like to take and shoot arrows that they had taken and wrapped in pitch. They would set on fire and they would shoot these arrows into the troops. And what would happen is these big wooden doors would be there and if they were made of leather, they would take them and soak them in water the night before the battle. And they would come out and when the fire would hit the savine, the wet leather would put it out. If it hit the metal, it would deflect and sometimes go out. And so this was the idea that it was used for total protection. What they would do with this is when the battle got tough, they would literally squat down behind the shield. And it tells us there's been stories and legends that have been told that in some of the Roman battles that they would literally line up shoulder to shoulder to shoulder with these shields a mile wide as they would begin to come across the valley or a desert to take a company of people. The next line of people, the next rank of soldiers would come in right behind it. They would take their shield and place it above their head. Literally, what they would do is take and they would form a wall or a barrier. And you would see that it would protect them for the arrows coming straight in or dropping in. Can you imagine a military basis of so deep and a mile wide where there's nothing but these shields that are there? The more that I studied about this, the more that I got excited because what is Paul writing in the church at Ephesus? He's writing to a church. He's writing to a group of people. And as great as that 4 1⁄2 and 2 foot board is going to be in personal battle and personal protection, do you see how much greater it could be when you've got a whole bunch of people that are stuck in together? That are all attached shoulder by shoulder that were standing together? Nothing could penetrate from any direction. Top, front, back, or sides. And so it was impenetrable that was there. Simply put, faith leads us to Christ. Faith is what grounds us. Faith is what sustains us and strengthens us. Faith is what calms us. Faith is what grows and matures us. Faith establishes us. And so forth. You can go on and on and on. When the going gets tough, what Paul is saying is grab your faith. Grab your faith. You can trust God. You can trust God. And so notice what's happening here. This deal is depicted. He said, above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. In Ephesians 2 in the doctrinal portion of this letter, if you remember, the Apostle Paul said, by grace are you saved. How? Through faith. That not of yourselves, it is a gift of God. Why? Lest any one of us should boast. And he goes on in v. 10. I didn't put it here. It says, before we are His workmanship, created what? In Christ Jesus unto good works. You see, how do we start the Christian walk? By faith. Do you realize the very basic necessity that you need for salvation is to believe that you are a sinner, but God loves you and sent His Son who is the perfect human being, who is fully human and fully God to come and die in your place to become your substitute for sins, for the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Salvation comes by faith. Your very first thing that you do as a Christian is faith. But you know what? Every single day as you trust God and you obey God, your faith ought to get stronger and stronger and stronger. Every battle that you go through. I'm reminded of young David. You remember the little shepherd boy David? Not the king David, but the shepherd boy David that came to bring his brother's lunch out in the field? And they heard Goliath and the Philistines mocking the God of Israel? And you remember what? Why are y'all doing this? You guys are military guys. You guys are soldiers and you're going to let this guy stand out there and talk to us and talk about our God like this? He says, if none of you cowards are going to do anything about it, God's not going to allow this. And Saul being the great king and leader that he was said, okay, well, before you go out here, kid, come here and try on my armor. You need to be protected, right? And what did David say? God has delivered me from bears. God has delivered me from lions. I wasn't wearing any of your getup. And listen, it's going to be God that's going to deliver me and all of Israel from this giant and these Philistines. And he went out there with only what he had had faith in. What he had seen being proven. What he had tried. And what did God do? God delivered him again. Man, now he gets to add, not only have I killed bears and lions, but I killed a Philistine. I killed Goliath. Nine foot over nine foot tall. His shield weighed over 400 pounds and this little video shepherd boy killed him. And didn't even have a sword when he went out to battle. As a matter of fact, if you read the story, he actually took Goliath's sword and cut off his head and held it up and showed it to all of Israel and to all of the Philistines what God had just done. See, that's building upon our faith. And so we are saved by faith, but we are also to walk and live by faith. As a matter of fact, Hebrews 11 and verse 6 says, without faith, and look at this next phrase, it is impossible to please God. Let me say that again. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. How do we have faith in God? Paul wanted to make sure that we understand this because this is why I say America has lost ground. We've lost faith. He says here's where faith starts. You have to believe that God is. You believe in God? Most of us believe in God. Amen? I mean, we're in the Bible belt buckle of the world. We all believe in God. But the question then becomes is do we believe that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him? In Ephesians 1 and verse 4, do we really believe that God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings? If we did, then I think we would be spending more time with Him. We would be walking more for Him. We would be working more for Him. We would be doing more for Him, wouldn't we? And he says it is impossible. God is not happy and God is not pleased in what? In music? In my preaching? What's He prompted with? He's pleased when we believe Him enough that we're willing to obey Him and trust Him that He's going to get the results. That He's going to take care of it. And so then, how beneficial is it for us today to grab that shield of faith? Notice here, our faith in Jesus Christ is essential if we want to succeed in our walk with Him. Notice how this shield of faith is deployed. It says it's able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. As I mentioned already, in ancient warfare, the tips of darts, they would come and they would take these tips of darts and they would wrap it in pieces of cloth and they would soak it in pitch and they would take it and they would set it on fire and they would shoot it at the enemy. And when the arrow would hit the target, all of a sudden, that flaming pitch would all of a sudden bounce off and split and all of a sudden, they would cause a massive fire on the individual and all the way around the individual, which would cause major burns, major problems, and major catastrophe in their equipment and their gear. But notice it says the shield of faith quenches all of these arrows. Not some of them. Not many of them. But the shield of faith quenches all of the fiery darts. Where do these darts come from? It comes from the wicked. Literally, that should read the wicked one. We're talking about Satan. Literally, Satan is in control of all of the demons, all of the wickedness, and the power and everything that is there. This evil one himself is the one that launches these fiery darts at us, these things that come to us, and if we have our shield of faith, guess what? It will quench all darts. Now, think about them first three items that you have. If I trust God, and I'm committed to God, and I'm prepared to fight, and I'm prepared to go with God wherever, and I believe that I'm at peace with God, and I have confidence, isn't that going to protect me in any battle that I need? Yeah. And so this shield is extra. And it's going to take all them extra darts, all them extra things that are thrust at us. What are these fiery darts? What are these fiery darts that he's talking about? I believe the Scripture lays it out and tells us very, very simple that the darts of Satan are trials and temptations. Things that he puts before us that come into our life that we allow to enter our life. Temptations in the form of impurities and selfishness and doubt and fear, disappointment, lust, greed, vanity, covetousness. I can go on and on. Go through your Bible and look at the lust of the flesh, the lust of the world, the items of the world. As a matter of fact, the Bible just summarized it into one. If you don't want to have to spend a lot of time learning all these big words and what they mean and what kind of sin they do, John put it real simple for us. He said all that is in the world, the world, not in Christ, in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. That's what Satan throws at us. It's those things that we desire. Things that we want. Remember, I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that things that God has meant for good that Satan wants to pervert and twist. And so we have that lust of the flesh. We see it. We have pride in our life. These are the fiery darts that he is talking about. These are the darts that he is wanting to bombard into our life. And when he attacks us with these things, what happens? He wants to destroy the glory of God. Remember, you're not standing for you. You're not even standing for Kentucky Missionary Baptist Church. You are standing to protect the glory of God. God loves you. And God saved you. And God wants to bless you with all spiritual blessings. Remember again, Hebrews 11 and verse 6. You must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. There's a real famous passage of Scripture in Habakkuk 2 and verse 4. And I want to mention it right now right quick. He says, Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him, but the just shall live by faith. The just. Those that have been justified. Those that have been just as if they had never sinned. Those that are righteous. The breastplate of righteousness that we put on because God has declared us to be righteous. We live righteous. How do those that have been declared righteous live righteous? By faith. By faith. Trusting God and obeying God. Was Abraham a perfect individual? Absolutely not, but guess what? Abraham, by faith, followed and obeyed God. He disobeyed Him quite a bit, right? He tried to go around God's wheel. He tried to enforce God's wheel. He tried to enforce God's covenant, but God said guess what? Abraham, this covenant wasn't with you. This is what I said I would do. And you messed up by doing that. And that's what the problem between Ishmael and Isaac was all there. But Habakkuk is saying the just shall live by faith. Do you realize that this one verse we believe when we talk about what do we live by faith? What is the faith? What is the core of our being and our living as Christians? We believe the Bible is the written Word of God. You have to believe that first. If you don't believe this is from God, then who are we going to trust? You're going to trust our Sunday school literature that's written by man? You're going to trust a sermon that's being preached by a man? No, we have the Word of God and we have to believe that this is the truth. This is the foundation. We believe that Jesus Christ is God. You have to believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, and that He is fully God, and that He is fully man. You have to believe foundational. That's why we are so excited about next week. Today is Palm Sunday. Today is the day that they walked into Jerusalem. And what did they do? They laid down palm branches and they said, Hosanna, King of the Jews! He is our King! And it wasn't three days later until they what? Crucified Him on the cross. You have to believe that Jesus Christ was fully God and fully man. But you also have to believe that He died. He died for us. You also have to believe that He didn't stay dead. But God brought Him forth from the dead. See, these are foundational faith things. We may disagree on a lot of things. We may disagree on when is Christ coming back. We may disagree on the events of the tribulation period. We may disagree on the church in Israel when it comes to the millennial reign. But these are foundational things that if we are going to live as Christians in this wicked world against Satan, these are the foundations that we all have to believe. Our shield of faith. The just shall be lived by faith. As a matter of fact, it is so important that this actual verse is actually quoted three times in the New Testament. In Romans 1 and verse 17, Paul said, For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is written, the just shall live by faith. How is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith? Well, because He has declared me righteous, I can live righteous, right? Because I'm going to put on the whole armor of God. I trust God. I'm committed to God. And I'm going to obey God. And God's got me. Nothing can separate me from the love of God. And so, man, my faith just keeps getting stronger and stronger and stronger as I do what? As I live by faith. So the just shall live by faith. He mentions it again in Galatians 3, verse 11. No man is justified by the law. Not in works. Not in what you can do in the sight of God. It is evident for what? The just shall live by faith. You cannot impress or please God. Jeremiah said all of your righteousness is as filthy rags. And so guess what? Did God call Donny to be a pastor because Donny's this great guy? Absolutely not. He serves a great guy. He serves a great God. And so therefore, listen, we live by faith. I don't understand why God put me into the ministry. I don't know why God did it, but God had a plan and God has a purpose. And guess what? He's going to fulfill His plan and His purpose as long as I trust Him and I'm obedient to Him. He mentions it again in Hebrews 10, verse 38. Now the just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. What does he mean by drawing back? Not trusting God. The whole book of Hebrews is what? The Jews that have tasted Jesus Christ, that have experienced salvation, are now wanting to go back to works and now wanting to go back to the law. And Paul is saying what? You have to live by faith. You have to trust God. It's not in what you do. It's what Jesus Christ has already done for you. And sometimes that gets hard to trust, Donny. Sometimes, you know, I've mentioned in my class at the prison the other night. Man, can you imagine the quiet? You know, we were standing there the other day as the tornado was coming through and I stepped out on my back deck and kind of looked at the skies and everything. And even as far south of it as I was, there's that feeling. That eeriness. You know, when it's bad, tornadic weather, you can feel it in the air. It's a deafness. Can you imagine sitting there at the Passover? All night long, actually, you're standing there with your loins girded. You've eaten at the Passover. You're waiting on the death angel. Mom, do you think we picked out the best lamb? Mom, do you think we put enough blood on the door? Mom, are you sure we ate it all? All these things that He told them they had to do. Can you imagine as they're sitting there wondering did I do enough? Did I do it right? Did I do it properly? Was I supposed to start at the top of the post or was I supposed to start at the bottom of the post? How many of us as Christians do the same thing when it comes to our salvation? Did I pray the right thing? Did I do the right thing? Did I say the right thing? Did I feel the right thing, right? The just shall live by faith. I had to trust God. I don't know if I prayed the right prayer when I was saved, but here's what I do know. When I was 9 years old, I recognized that I was a sinner. And I said, God, I need to be saved. And I realized that God was the only One that could save me because of my sins. And just so happened, He sent His Son Jesus Christ. And so I believed in that. And you know what? For 39 years, you know what I've done? I've lived by faith. I just trust that I did what I was supposed to do. It wasn't about me. It was about Jesus Christ. It was about what He does and what He said that was there. C.S. Lewis said we must pray for the gift of faith. For the power of God to go on believing not in the teeth of reason, but in the teeth of lust. C.S. Lewis was a while back. But you would almost see like this was written in our newspaper yesterday morning. We don't need people to have faith in the teeth of reason. We need Christians to have faith in this world of lust and wickedness. We need you to trust God that God knows best and God has a plan. Listen, faith is our life. Faith is a matter of believing God. Let me show you two examples and we're going to close. An example that you're all familiar with in Genesis 3.1-7. The very first temptation. The very first time that Satan came and threw his fiery arrows at the glory of God. It says, now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said... The very first thing, what did he do? Question her faith. Do you really trust God? Is that really what he said? Doubt. Has God said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat it, neither shall you touch it lest you die. Two problems with that. Number one, God has not told Eve anything. Adam told her. God told Adam. And the second thing is she added that not even be touched. You see, not only was it not first-hand knowledge, but she was repeating somebody else's stuff and giving God the credit for what she was repeating. And look what it said. And the serpent said unto the woman, You shall not surely die. For God doth know that in the days you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened. And you shall be as God's, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened. And they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and did what? Made themselves coverings. Aprons. Now that's one story of someone that did not trust God. And they failed. Their eyes were opened, but they lost everything that they had. Now let me go to the New Testament. Let's jump forward 4,000 years to another story where David comes to an individual. Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when He had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, He was afterward of hunger. Notice the contrast here. Adam and Eve were placed in a garden and told to do what? Eat of anything that you want in the garden. They were not even hungry when she ate of the fruit. But Jesus, being led into the wilderness, has not eaten anything for 40 days. You think He was hungry? See, Eve, mere human, we don't have to be hungry. We don't have to be evil. We don't have to be lustful to sin because we're sinners. But Jesus Christ was put into a precarious situation. And notice how He stands up to it. And when the tempter came to Him, he said, if questioning doubt, questioning God, if Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made to bread. Did God create the stones? Yes, He did. Did God create bread? Yes, He did. Did God make them stones into bread? Yes, He could. But just because He could and because He was good enough to do it, doesn't necessarily make it a good thing, does it? Or something that needs to be done. Look at how Jesus says, but He answered and said, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. I'm hungry. I'd like to turn these stones into bread, but you know what? It's more important that I obey God. And God told me to come here and fast. God told me to come here and pray. It is written. It is written. God loves me. God has a plan. It is written. God is good all the time. All the time, God is good. Then, the devil taketh Him up into a holy city and setteth Him on the pinnacle of the temple and saith unto Him, If Thou be the Son of God... See, what is he doing? He's questioning His deity. If you're really God, if you're really God, cast Thyself down. And here's why I'm going to give you Scripture because I know the Bible just as well as you do. And he quotes, He shall give His angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against the stone. Your purpose, you as a lamb is laying before the foundation of the world. The angels are not going to allow anything to happen to you before you die on the cross. How many times was Jesus Christ in the Gospel of John when we went through John a few years ago? How many times was He cornered up in Jerusalem? And it says all of a sudden, here they had Him. He was right there in the midst of them. And then all of a sudden in the next verse it says, and He had disappeared from them. Did He disappear? Did God get Him out of a situation? Did His angels take care of Him? I think His angels and God took care of Him. What did Jesus say? When His disciples said, what just happened? Jesus reminded them, it's not My time. It's not My time. And then when He did say it was My time, they totally misunderstood because why? At least three of Passover's He came and they had Him and yet He walked away. So why not this one? But then look at what Jesus said, it is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Why am I going to tempt God to save me and put all of humanity at risk? This is a dumb decision, right? My purpose is not to see how great the angels... Remember He told Pilate and He told them, He said, I could call 10,000 legions of angels, but I'm not here to take over this kingdom. I'm here to take over the whole kingdom. And again, the devil taketh them up into an exceeding high mountain and showed them all the kingdoms of the world in the glory of them, and said unto Him, all these things will I give you if you will fall down and worship Me. You're God. I'm the God of this world. I'm the God of this region. Guess what? If you'll just bow down and worship Me, I'll give you all of this world. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve. I trust God. And I'm going to obey God. Then, notice this because this is good. Then, the devil leaveth him. And behold, the angels came and ministered unto him. Three times, what did Jesus do? It is written. When the battle got tough, what did Jesus do? He grabbed His shield of faith. I'm going to believe what God says. It is written. It is written. Three times, He took up His shield of faith. And finally, after the third time, Satan left. Because why? Even the demons obey the name of Jesus Christ. You wonder sometimes why Satan continues to mess us up and trip us up? Because we're like Eve. And we continue doubting. We continue taking God's Word and not trusting it. Not trusting what God says to us. We'll sit there and we'll argue with Satan. Jesus didn't argue. He didn't fight them. He just simply did what? He simply stood His ground. This is what God has said. I hear what you're saying, but this is what God has said. That, my friends, is the shield of faith. You have your loins girded with truth. You have the breastplate of righteousness. You have your feet shod with the Gospel of peace. Every once in a while, we need to take up our shield of faith. Do you trust God? Do you trust God? Do you take Him at His Word? Or do you try to justify your sins and your cravings and your lust? That's what Eve did, right? God fed this, but when she saw that the tree was good, that it was pleasant, and that it could be eaten, she ate. Are you protected when Satan comes attacking our desires? Notice the two words that I skipped. Above all. Above all. You've got your loins girded. You're prepared. You're ready. You've got your breastplate of righteousness. You are living a holy life. You are coming to church. You are tithing. You're doing everything that God has told you to do. You have got your shoes on. You know that God is pleased with your life. That you are in the will of God. That everything is good. But when Satan comes knocking, what does he say? He says take up that shield of faith. Do you trust God? Do you trust God? And so many churches and so many Christians are losing today because we're doing the first three things great. We don't have all of these things. But we really down deep don't trust God. God's trying to withhold something from me. God's trying to get around something with me, right? You've either got to be all in with God or all out. Jesus Christ put it this way. No man can serve two masters. You can either trust in money, and you can go work four or five jobs and try to save up all the money and do everything you can so when something breaks down, you can maybe provide for it or take care of it. Or guess what? You can trust God and allow Him to take care of you. And He said the birds have nests and the foxes have holes, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay down His head. Come follow Me and I'll make you fishers of men. I'll make you productive in this world. Do you trust God? Or are you going to keep trusting on yourself? The rich man trusted himself and he built barns and barns and laid up stuff, right? But he didn't trust God. And guess what? He lost it all. But before the low sparrows, they trust God and guess what? They never go without food. And God provides everything that they need. Above all, take the shield of faith that you may be able to quench all the fiery temptations that Satan throws your way. There's a lot of them out there. But the shield of faith, if you just trust God, you can quench every single one of them. As we stand and have a verse of invitation, what hymn, Brother Phillip?