The Word and the Truth of God

Ephesians 6:14-18a
February 2, 2020
Abraham Hong

Sermon Script

Praise be to our God. As we wait for the victorious return of Jesus, we have his armor. We have his strength. We are to put on his armor. And we are to stand firm against the schemes of the enemy.

And so this morning I command you in the name of Christ Jesus to put on the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, and the belt of truth. Stand firm with the word and the truth of God.

This means that you are to read God’s written word that is the Bible. And this means that you are to listen to God’s spoken word in corporate worship.

The Bible is God’s words to us in written form. Our God is a God who communicates and reveals salvation truth for sinners. And it was his will to do so with human words.

This is amazing. This is genius. This is necessary. This is serious. This is epic. This is spiritual.

This is amazing. This is amazing because God speaks to us. God speaks to us with words that we can understand. God speaks to us so that we can repent of our sins and believe in Jesus. God speaks to us with love and care.

Praise the Lord: God speaks to us. This is so humbling and heartwarming. God comes down to our level in order to save us. God reveals himself to unholy sinners who deserve nothing but suffering and death. God’s words are words of mercy and grace and love.

This is genius. This is genius because God put all of his words into writing. He did this so that his word could never be changed, so that his word could always be trusted, so that his word could be carried forward from generation to generation, so that his word would stand and remain forever.

Praise the Lord: God put all of his words into writing. This means that everything in Christianity is so solid and objective and real. Jesus’ life and death and resurrection - it all happened in history, it was all witnessed by people, it was all written down as the Bible.

This is necessary. This is necessary because there is no other way to know the truth. We could never discover the truth of salvation on our own. The only way we can know the truth of salvation is if God tells us the truth.

Praise the Lord: There is no other way to know the truth. This means that you can have great confidence and assurance in God. Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).

This is serious. This is serious because God speaks to us. The Bible is not the same thing as your mother speaking to you. It’s not the same thing as a conversation with a friend. God’s word is holy and majestic and authoritative. The Bible is ultimately authored by him, not by humans. According to 2 Timothy 3:16, all scripture is breathed out by God. The Bible is not human thoughts or human gospel or human law. The Bible is God’s thoughts and God’s gospel and God’s law. The Bible came from God’s mouth. God rightfully binds our consciences and authoritatively commands his will for our lives.

Praise the Lord: God speaks to us. This means that we ought to approach the word of God with reverence and fear and obedience and awe. We strive to be careful and attentive to his word. We want to hearers and doers of his word. We do not treat the Bible casually. We take it seriously and we make it the center of our lives. If you read your Bible as an app your phone, then the app ought to have one of the highest screen times and battery usages.

This is epic. This is epic because God is present in his word and because God changes us with his word when we gather for worship on the Lord’s Day. It is so cool that God promises to always meet his people on the first day of the week, rain or shine. And it is so cool that even though we cannot see God, God ministers to us through his word. He cleanses us and assures us through his written word. He teaches us and feeds us through his written word. He tells us that he loves us through his written word. And he eve shows us that he loves us through his visual word, through baptism and the Lord’s Supper. This is why our worship service is so… wordy. Yes, I know that I do talk a lot when I’m up here throughout the worship service. But you must remember that God ministers to us through his word. And from the call to worship to the benediction, you must remember that amazing things are happening and glorious words are being said.

Praise the Lord: God is present in his word and God changes us with his word. This means that Sundays are super special and full of drama. There is nothing quite like God having a covenant dialogue with his people at church on the first day of the week. This makes worship exciting and dramatic and full of meaning. To the naked human eye, our worship might seem quiet and boring. But in the eyes of heaven, our worship is full of action and power.

This is spiritual. This is spiritual because it is the Holy Spirit who uses the word of God. As the gospel and the law is declared from the written word, as we listen to the reading and the explanation of God’s written word, the Holy Spirit is at work. The Holy Spirit strengthens our union with Christ. The Holy Spirit changes how you think and how you feel about things. The Holy Spirit helps us to understand God’s word. The Holy Spirit is the one who makes you repent of your sins and believe in Jesus. The Holy Spirit makes you know for sure that the Bible is indeed God’s word.

Praise the Lord: The Holy Spirit uses the word of God. This means that this is mysterious and incomprehensible to human reason. This explains why two people can be sitting in the same pew and listening to the same sermon and one of the can believe and trust everything and the other cannot. This answers the question of how we can know for sure that God’s word is truly God’s word and the truth. The answer is that the Holy Spirit makes us sure. This means that the effectiveness and the power of God’s word is not dependent on any human variables. This means that we need to depend on the Holy Spirit for his help and his work (this is why we pray the prayer of illumination right after we read the Scripture text for each Sunday).

Satan’s business is actually God’s word and God’s truth. Satan is a liar and a deceiver who takes God’s word and warps it for his abuse. Satan is a deceiver who takes God’s truth and twists its for his perversion. When the first Adam was put to the test, he was the one who asked: “Did God actually say…?” When the second and final Adam was put to the test, he quoted Scripture at Jesus. This is very profound. The enemy is a negotiator of half-truths, a whisperer of counterfeit gospels, a gossiper of dangerous interpretations, a challenger of God’s promises, and an instigator against God’s authority. And he attacks us with what seems to be God’s word and God’s truth. Counterfeit money doesn’t work when it’s completely different from real money. Counterfeit money works when it looks and feels like real money. God tells us in 2 Corinthians 11:14 that “Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.” So this is insane. But this is no surprise. Because, remember, this is war.

Sun Tzu was half right. In his military treatise The Art of War, Sun Tzu explains how all warfare is based on deception. This is true of the work of the Devil. But the Devil is an inferior loser. Jesus is not. Satan uses craftiness and cunning in his attack. But he is an unworthy and a dishonorable foe. When you are on the side of Jesus Christ, who is the superior, undefeatable, almighty God, you don’t conduct warfare with deception. Because deception is not necessary when victory is guaranteed. We stand firm in Christ and we win with his word and his truth. We do not play Satan’s war games. We do not seek to out-Goliath Goliath. We who have true victory and true strength in Christ are in the business of upholding God’s word and God’s truth. This is our art of war - the correct spiritual art of war for the believer in Christ. We put on the belt of truth. We take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And in the strength and might of Christ, we stand.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, your best task is simple but profound. Read the Bible. Read the Bible. Read the Bible. Read it when you wake up or when you go to sleep. Read it when you’re doing the laundry. Read it when you’re eating alone. Read it with your family and friends. Read it more than you read about fantasy basketball. Because it’s your sword. It’s your belt. It’s your armor. Read the word and the truth of God.

In closing, let us remember how this war ends. When the Day of the Lord arrives and when we are with Jesus Christ, he will speak to us in a way that has never ever been done. He will speak to us face-to-face. He will speak to us new words that are not written down and not necessary for salvation. He will speak to us his words and his truth forevermore.

But for now we wait. So until that Day comes, stand firm in the word and the truth of God.

Soli Deo Gloria