Sermon Tone Analysis

Imagine for a moment you’re jolted awake from a deep sleep by the sound of somebody bursting through your front door.

You hear the thud of heavy footprints headed for your room.

You have only seconds to prepare to defend yourself.

What weapon do you reach for?

In my home, your options are limited.

The only guns we own shoot tiny plastic pellets.

Jennifer has a ten year old can of pepper spray--somewhere.

I keep two two heavy wooden walking sticks close to my bed.

Not much deadly force on short notice.

Joshua, on the other hand, collects weapons like this (sword).

My strategy in case of a home invasion is to distract intruders long enough for him to attack from behind and dispatch the enemy.

I know: ingenious, isn’t it?

You may have a different strategy: a baseball bat, a can of mace, a real gun with real bullets—some weapon you keep close just in case.

A minister is preaching an outdoor service.

During the sermon he declares, "You must let the Good Lord defend you!” Just then a wind blows open his coat and everybody sees he’s packing a gun.

After church, someone asks him "If you let the Good Lord defend you, why do you carry a gun?"

The preacher replies, "This is just to hold 'em off till the Lord makes His move.”

Imagine a different scenario: somebody you can’t see or hear is trying to invade your life.

You sense his presence in the tug of temptation, the attack of despair, the nagging doubts that weaken your faith.

This intruder is out to steal, kill, and destroy, you and those you love.

Your baseball bat can’t touch him.

He giggles at your gun.

No weapon formed by human hands slows him down, much less stops him.

How can you stand against a stalker named Satan?

In the armor of God there’s only one weapon of choice: the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

(Eph.

6:17).

To use this weapon effectively, you have to understand a couple of things.

The first thing to keep in mind is:

*1.

Your weapon is empowered by God.*

There are several reasons why I don’t own a gun, but if anybody ever breaks into our home,

I’m probably going to wish I could get my hands on one.

And even though I’m not a violent man I would wish for some serious firepower.

When it comes to my family’s safety, I don’t want a cap pistol—I want a shotgun.

God provides you and I with a much more potent weapon to defend us against the devil.

When he calls it the sword of the Spirit, he’s saying it’s a weapon empowered by the Spirit.

Just as a gun doesn’t depend on your power, so this sword does not depend on your power, but on the power of the One Who gives it—the only power that can stand against the devil.

The Bible tells us the Word of God has power that other words do not.

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

The Word of God has the power to slice through the externals down to the core of who you are, to lay bare your thoughts and intentions.

It slices through the deception of the devil to lay bare who he is and what he’s doing.

Jeremiah 23:29 “Is not My word like a fire?” says the Lord, “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?”

As a fire consumes and destroys, God’s Word burns away hypocrisy and deception like flames consume a pile of dry autumn leaves.

Like a hammer it shatters our illusions and pretense, leaving only the indestructible truth.

This is the power of the sword of the Spirit.

It’s the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.

The first Greek word I ever learned in college was the word logos= word.

It’s the one used often in the NT to refer to the Scriptures as a whole, all the revelation contained in the Bible.

But Paul uses another word here: not logos but rhema= words being spoken by God.

These are portions of Scripture “spoken by the Spirit” for a specific purpose or specific situation.

When Jesus is tempted in the wilderness by Satan, He draws from the entire OT (Logos) to counter each temptation with a rhema= specific portion of Scripture.

Matthew 4:3–4 3Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”

4But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”

Jesus applies a specific portion from Deut.

8:3 to counter this specific temptation.

The sword of the Spirit is not just the Scriptures as a whole, but a specific portion of Scripture applied to a specific need or situation.

It is the Word of God applied by the Spirit of God against the enemies of God.

The sword of the Spirit has a power no other weapon has.

And yet so many people try to use other weapons to defeat evil.

They use words from people like Dr. Spock, Dr. Phil, Oprah, grandma or grandpa, their best friends.

They trust in the words of science or politics or positive thinking to combat their problems.

That’s like grabbing a bag of cotton balls to throw at somebody who breaks in your house.

It may be nice and soft, but it’s not going to protect you.

The only power you have to stand against the devil is the sword of the Spirit, empowered by God.

But you also need to keep in mind:

*2.

Your weapon requires knowledge and skill to wield it.*

I don’t know much about weapons, but I know there’s more to using a gun than just

picking it up and pulling the trigger.

I know there’s more to using a sword than just swinging it around, hoping to connect with your opponent.

I know there’s more to using the sword of the Spirit than just spouting off religious words.

It takes knowledge and skill to wield this sword.

It takes knowledge of what the Word says.

Jesus makes a promise in

John 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

He will teach you all things.

When it comes to understanding the Bible the Holy Spirit is our Teacher.

He can teach us by ourselves and He can teach us through others.

If you are a Christian, the Holy Spirit lives in you, helping you understand the truths of God’s Word.

The first thing you ought to do every time you pick up your Bible to read it is to pray, Holy Spirit, please teach me; help me understand Your Word.

You and I can learn a lot just by reading and studying Scripture for ourselves.

But the Holy Spirit also uses other people to help us understand the Bible.

We depend on others to translate the Bible into our language.

There are many writers whom the Holy Spirit gives insights into the Scriptures who can help us understand what we read.

Remember Philip and the Ethiopian?

Acts 8:30–31 30So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

31And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?”…

The Holy Spirit uses other people: preachers and teachers and scholars to help us understand His Word.

Books like Bible commentaries and the writings of godly men can enlighten our minds to understand what God says.

Now you have to be careful that you don’t confuse what good people say with what the Good Book says.

Their words can never replace the Word of God, but they can help me understand what God is saying.

But notice the second thing Jesus says: the Holy Spirit will bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

This word remembrance is very important.

Before you can remember something, you have to know it.

I can’t remember something I never knew.

The Holy Spirit cannot bring anything back to your remembrance that you never knew.

So we have to know the Word of God in order for the Spirit can bring back to our remembrance the rhema=the portion of God’s Word we need for a particular need or situation.

This requires following the example of the psalmist who prays in

Psalm 119:11 Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.

The Word of God has to leave the printed page and get stored in your mind and your heart.

You have to saturate your mind with the Word of God, memorize key Scriptures so that when you face the devil, you have ammunition to defend yourself.

Let me offer you some examples: