Rick Hughes invites listeners on a journey through the scriptures, unraveling the profound teachings on sobriety and vigilance as instructed by the Apostle Peter. This episode provides an in-depth analysis of Greek terms, offering a fresh perspective on maintaining a sober and vigilant mindset in anticipation of the enemy’s schemes. Discover how the full armor of God can protect you against spiritual warfare and how believers are called to stand firm, resist, and remain steadfast in faith amid the cosmic system’s distractions.
Welcome to The Flatline with your host, Rick Hughes. For the next 30 minutes, you’ll be inspired, motivated, educated, but never manipulated. Now, your host, Rick Hughes.
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Good morning and welcome to the Flotline. I’m your host Rick Hughes and for the next few minutes, please, please stay with me. Just 30 minutes of motivation, some inspiration, some education, but no manipulation, no solicitations, just simply accurate information. My job is to educate, and your job is to evaluate what I say. And if it’s accurate and if it can apply to your life, then you can orient and adjust. But that’s why I’m here. This is a show about teaching the Bible. We call it the FLOT line because we’re talking about a military metaphor here. FLOT stands for the Forward Line of Troops. And what we’re presenting is how you can establish a main line of resistance in your soul, like a forward line of troops. how you can establish a main line of resistance in your soul based on 10 unique problem-solving devices found in the Bible. The 10 problem-solving devices, once you learn them and use them, become your personal flatline. And it stops the outside sources of adversity before they become the inside source of stress. Having a personal flat line gives you wisdom, knowledge, discernment, and understanding. The Fantastic Four taught in Proverbs 2, 10 and 11. Wisdom, knowledge, discernment, and understanding. What a wonderful thing to have in this world. So why do you need to have a flat line in your soul? Why do you need that? If you are, in fact, a believer in Jesus Christ, meaning you have accepted Christ through faith alone, not by being baptized, thinking that gets you saved, not by church membership, thinking that gets you saved, what brings a person to salvation is faith alone in Christ alone. That’s why the Bible says it clearly, not by works of righteousness which we’ve done, but according to his mercy he saved us. by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Lord, so that, being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. So it is a grace gift, Ephesians 2, 8, 9 says that, for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It’s the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast, brag. So, what our Lord Jesus Christ done on the cross, 100% satisfied the justice of God. There’s nothing you could do that would ever impress God because the Bible says there are none that are righteous, no, not even one. All of our righteousnesses are like a filthy rag in God’s eyes. so let’s start with this why do you need a flatline if you are a believer in jesus christ and have accepted him as your savior the bible gives a solemn warning in first peter 5 8 be sober and alert your enemy the devil like a roaring lion is on the prowl looking for someone to devour now that’s written by the apostle peter and it’s a pretty challenging verse so let’s break it down you know we always like to go to the greek new testament this this bible that we love and study and and hold so dear to our heart came from the original languages from the koine greek new testament from the hebrew and aramaic of the old testament so when you’re breaking a verse down you kind of need to know what the words mean And when this word says be sober, that doesn’t mean stay away from booze. The word for sober is N-E-P-H-O. Napho. Napho. N-E-P-H-O. It’s a long E. It’s pronounced A-Y. Napho. So the Greek word napho is the word sober. It means, excuse me, It means to remain calm. It means to pay attention to detail. It means to pay attention to detail. It means do not take risk. It can mean several things. It means do not allow yourself to be influenced by strong emotion and thus maintain the ability to be rational and impartial. So be sober, remain calm, pay attention, be rational, impartial. This verb, napho, is an aorist active imperative. And what’s important about that in the morphology of this verb, Well, it means, first of all, there is no certain time referred to, since it’s an indefinite or causative heiress, which means every day, every minute. The heiress tense means every day, every minute, you are to remain sober if you are a believer in Jesus Christ. This takes some effort on your part. This means you must concentrate. This means that you’ve got to pay attention. So it’s an aorist, meaning every day, moment by moment, and an active voice, which means the believer produces the action of the verb, which is you and me. It’s not someone else doing it for us. It’s us doing it for ourselves. And the imperative mood is the royal mandate from the apostle Peter. So the imperative mood is a command from an apostle. This is from God. So when you do not remain sober and alert, you are sinning. To disobey a royal command is a sin. And this is a mental attitude sin. It’s slacking off. It’s being lazy. It’s not paying attention. It’s you getting sucked into the cosmic system, and we’ll talk about that. So that’s why we have to be sober and be vigilant because we have an enemy called a.k.a. the devil, and he has a scheme or a plan for you. What does he want to do? Since you’re already saved, he can’t take you to hell. What can he do? He wants to impugn the name of God by using your weaknesses and your failures to throw it up to God’s face and to say, see, you’re sending me to hell, but what about this loser over here? Look at what he or she did. Why can’t they go to hell? Satan doesn’t want to go to the lake of fire. He doesn’t want to be sentenced there forever. And so he’s constantly trying to vindicate himself. And he will use you to do it. Your failures, your faults, your flaws to vindicate himself if you are not sharp and pay attention. So be sober, be careful, pay attention. And then the next word is be vigilant. The Greek word for vigilant is Gregoreo. Gregoreo, vigilant, G-R-E, pronounced A-Y, G-R-E, G-O-R-E-O. Excuse me, Gregoreo. This word means to stand guard, to pay attention, to take heed, to be cautious, be vigilant. And it’s another aorist active imperative. And notice what comes up in the next verse. We are mandated by two aorist active imperative verbs twice, we’re told. One, be sober, which means maintain your ability to be rational and impartial. And two, to be vigilant, which means you need to pay attention and take heed, be cautious. And how do we do that? Well, it says in verse nine, resist steadfast in the faith. Resist steadfast in the faith. Resist means to oppose or withstand. And you know what an antihistamine is. Well, this verb is where the word antihistamine comes from. It’s antistamine. A-N-T-H-I-S-T-E-M-I. A-N-T-H-I-S-T-E-M-I. And histamine. And it means to withstand or stand against. And how do we withstand or stand against Satan? By being sober, by being vigilant, and using faith. In the faith is the prepositional phrase. Faith, rest, drill. The word faith is a noun, and so we’re talking about pistis, the faith-rest drill. So how do we do this? How do I use the faith-rest drill to stand strong against the enemy who’s trying to devour me? Well, Ephesians 6, 11 through 18 tells you how to do it. Again, we go back to another military analogy. Paul, the apostle, is using a military analogy just like I used for the show, The Flatline, the military mainline of resistance. Here, Paul compares a believer to a Roman soldier. And he tells the believers in Ephesus that they should put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood. In other words, the fight that you and I fight is not against other people. It’s against satanic forces. He goes on to say, but our fight is against the rulers of And the powers against the world forces of this darkness against spiritual forces of the wicked in heavenly places. These are four demon ranks. Four demon ranks. Demon rulers, demon powers, forces of darkness, and spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places. Just like God has an army, Satan has an army too, and his demons have rank, and this is their rank listed here. So because of this, verse 13, take up the full armor of God so that, purpose clause, you will be able to resist in the evil day. Well, what exactly is that? That’s the day that you’re attacked, the day you’re lured, the day you’re deceived. If you’re paying attention, if you’re sober, if you’re vigilant, If you’re standing firm in the faith, you won’t be a sucker and fall for this. Resist in the evil day having done everything and so you can keep standing firm. So you’re not knocked off your feet, so you’re not stranded, all right? So here’s how you do it. Stand firm therefore having girded your loins with truth. This is the word which means Bible doctrine. And you’re to put the belt of truth around your waist. Everything that the Roman soldier wore was connected to the belt. And so the belt of truth for you is the Word of God in your soul. Everything is connected to the Word of God in your soul. To any extent that you have the Word of God in your soul, you have your armament. So stand firm, having your loins girded with truth, having on the breastplate of righteousness, that’s plus R, God’s righteousness. You cannot manufacture your own righteousness. You have minus R. You don’t have any righteousness. You say, where did I get that? The Bible says there are none that are righteous. No, not even one. But the Bible goes on to say, he who knew no sin was made sin for us so that we could be made the righteousness of God through him. How do you get perfect righteousness? You believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and his righteousness is imputed to you just like your sin was imputed to him on the cross. Prior to that, you have no righteousness. So having put on the breastplate of righteousness, you’re saved, you’re in the word. shod your feet verse 15 with the preparation of the gospel of peace which means you understand the good news the gospel that’s your job you are to represent jesus christ to this world and in addition to all of this verse 16 taking up the shield of faith The shield of faith is the Faith Rest Drill, problem-solving device number three. Do you know that? If not, contact me immediately. I’ll send you a book called The Faith Rest Drill. One of my wonderful friends, a great pastor, wrote that book. I’ll send it to you free. It’s no charge. Nothing is ever charged for in this show, but you must understand how to use faith. We’ve got a book called Bible Promises and Principles that you can tap into that will support your faith because all faith is grounded in the Word of God, the promises of God. And if you don’t know those promises, you don’t have any faith. So as you learn the Word of God, as you take in the word of god it says you have your feet shot with the gospel of peace in addition to all of this taking up the shield of faith and notice now with which you will be able to extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one in other words your faith will allow you to keep standing in spite of the attack that the enemy throws at you This is a military analogy for believers in Ephesus to grasp, and what you have to understand, maybe you do, maybe you don’t, let’s say it. We are in a spiritual war. We are in a spiritual war. You might not think about it, but when you got up today, you are to put on your combat. You are in your combat gear. You are in the arena of contention. It’s not just soldiers in Afghanistan. it’s not just soldiers in iraq it’s christian soldiers you remember singing the song onward christian soldier you are that soldier you are in a spiritual war and thus paul the apostle in ephesians 6 11-18 tells you what your armament is how you can protect yourself if you will fulfill the mandate. If you’ll be sober, if you’ll be vigilant and put on the full armor of God, then you can keep standing against the strategy of the devil. Again, you’re not wrestling against flesh and blood, you’re wrestling against satanic forces. So because of this, put on every piece of that armor so you’ll be able to resist him in the day he attacks you and you can keep standing firm. Therefore, put around your loins the belt of truth, put on the breastplate of righteousness. Put on your gospel shoes. In addition, take up the shield of faith and then the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit. The machaira, the sword of the Spirit. The machaira, the sharp two-edged sword that the Roman army used to conquer the world. Take the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit. Verse 17, Ephesians 6, which is the Word of God. That’s all this show’s about, the Word of God. You can take it or you can leave it. I hope you’ll take it. I do my best to present it to you accurately, without gimmicks, no games, just accurately. So, why can I say you’re a soldier? You don’t feel like a soldier, do you? You don’t feel like you’re in the combat arena. 2 Timothy 2, 3, and 4. Listen to what Paul wrote to Timothy. Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. Yes, you are a soldier. When you get out of fellowship with God, when you get unconfessed sin in your life, you go back into the civilian lifestyle and you get entangled with the civilian pursuits. That’s the pursuit of happiness in the world, what the world can’t offer you. And so I would like to quote now from the Bible Knowledge Commentary by Valvard and Zuck. They say, quoting them, a Roman soldier’s single-minded purpose was rigorous discipline and unquestionable obedience to his commanding officer. And those things combine to make the figure of a soldier an apt one for the servant of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We must have rigorous discipline, single-minded purpose. For me to live is Christ, Paul said. Anything else is second place. Rigorous discipline. Study to show thyself approved unto God. A workman that needeth not to be ashamed. Rightly dividing the word of truth. Unquestionable obedience. Well, we can go there. Do not let sin reign in your mortal body any longer. These are all things that God has already told us. And this is what makes us servants of the gospel. When we have single-minded purpose, rigorous discipline… unquestionable obedience to the commanding officer Jesus Christ our Lord our Savior so you know we’re called many things in the Bible we’re called soldiers of Christ we’re called the bride of Christ we’re called the temple of the Holy Spirit we’re called disciples we’re called sheep we’re called slaves so let’s get a couple of principles one Our objective battle is for the souls of lost individuals. Do you know anyone in your family that’s lost, who’s not going to heaven, who does not believe in the gospel, the good news, who refuses to accept Jesus Christ as their savior? your objective battle is to win that person to christ not to be a nuisance not to pester them but first and foremost to pray for them consistently and kindly support them and encourage them as they struggle through life hitting one dead end after another dead end after another dead end I mean, sometimes it comes to the deathbed before a person does this. Before a person finally comes to realize, I’m lost and I’m going to hell. And finally, on the deathbed, many a person has believed in Christ and prayed to God to be saved. So, to our subjective battle. is not to be distracted by the cosmic system. And this is the thing you have to be careful for. We cannot get distracted by the cosmic system. The Lord Jesus refers to the cosmic system as the word world, the world. In John 17, 14, he said this as he prayed to the Father. He said, the world hates them since they are not of the world. And I got news for you, the world hates you if you’re not of the world. The word for world is cosmos, and we know it as the cosmos diabolicus, or the devil’s world. The devil’s world. You live in the devil’s world. The world that we live in is a battlefield for the angelic conflict, as the book of Ephesians told you. Put on the armor so you can stand against the strategy of the devil. And here’s some principles. One, all believers are engaged in the arena of contention, every one of us. And two, some are battle ready and some are not prepared, not combat ready. Some haven’t completed their training yet. Three, some are simply A-W-O-L or backslidden or in reversionism. They’ve walked away from the claims of Christ. And four, these sort of people are traitors, and they are called the enemies of Jesus Christ. Philippians 3.18 talks about believers that walked away from their purpose in life. Philippians 3.18, Paul said, “…for many walk, of whom I’ve often told you, and now I’m telling you, even weeping, they have become the enemies of the cross of Christ.” It’s a terrible, terrible, terrible thing to see a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ who gets saved, who has some sort of desire to grow for a while, and then the cosmic system lures him out with promises of success and fame and prosperity and happiness, and he abandons the plan of God and walks away from it and becomes an enemy of the cross. This cosmic system I’m speaking about called the world is the source of evil. All evil comes from the cosmic system. The cosmic system or the world is the source of Satan’s strategy as ruler. This is a giant mirage he offers to so many people. This will make you happy. That will make you happy. Do this. Do that. You know, happiness depends on people. Happiness depends on circumstances. Happiness, happiness, happiness. He cannot provide it. Christ said happiness belongs to those people, Luke 11, 27 and 28. who hear my Father’s word and keep it. But Satan, as the ruler of this world, will exploit us by means of our own arrogance. By the way, that’s the very sin that caused his condemnation. Your arrogance revolves around your self-justification, your self-deception, your self-absorption, and eventually your self-destruction. So Satan’s good at providing a mirage for you to chase, and you will justify why it’s okay to walk away from God’s plan, to lay your Bible down, to quit going to church, to quit listening to the teaching of the Word of God, to get married, have kids, go fishing, have fun, anything, but growing in the grace and knowledge of your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. You say, I’m a good daddy. Well, great. I’m a good husband. Well, great. You are in a war, and you are a casualty because you walked away from the Word of God. So Satan will exploit us by means of our own arrogance, and we fall victim to his plan. He also promotes antagonism and intolerance of anything related to God, especially God’s grace. And we see that in today’s arena. Anything related to the grace of God, anything about Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, or the plan of God in the public arena is hated vehemently, vehemently. They hate it. So even an unbeliever, a person that’s not a Christian, can fall victim to the cosmic system because of demon influence. And you want to know where the worst demon influence in the world is found? It’s in organized religion. Satan has his own preachers, the Bible says. He says he has his own communion table. There are many, many people who think they’re going to heaven because they’re members of organized religion. And the Lord Jesus Christ said, in that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did I not baptize in thy name? And in thy name did I not do many wonderful things? And he said, I’ll tell them I never, ever knew you. So unbelievers fall victim to the cosmic system. If we reject legitimate authority that’s found in the laws of establishment, then we also can get sucked into the cosmic system. The laws of establishment include freedom, marriage, family, and nationalism, four things that are critical for the free function of any nation. And so the Bible warns us in 1 John 2, 15, 16, stop loving the world, the cosmos. or anything related to it. Because if anyone keeps loving the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Because all that’s in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the arrogant pattern of life, arrogant, there it is. It’s not from the Father, but it’s from the world. So the principle is the world will offer you something that it cannot fulfill. You know, the wonderful thing is God’s laws of establishment offer insulation from the influence of the cosmic system. Listen to Ephesians quickly. And you, chapter two, verse two, hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sin, wherein in times past she walked according to the course of this world, cosmic system, according to the prince of the power of the air, that’s the devil, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. among whom also we had our conversation in times past in the lust of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath. And see, this has all changed now. It’s all changed. Now, the ages to come, he will show his exceeding riches of his grace and kindness towards us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved through faith. How about that? It’s a wonderful promise. You don’t have to live under the influence of the cosmic system. You don’t have to live under the influence of the devil’s world. We’ll talk more about it next week. There’s a lot to say. Who then is the ruler of this world? I will show you next week and we’ll make it real clear. You have a choice. You will bend your knee to one or the other. It’s up to you. But I hope you’re listening. I hope you’re evaluating as I educate, you evaluate, and I hope you will apply the information that I’ve given you. So until next week, I’m your host, Rick Hughes, and I would like to say thank you for listening to The Flotline.
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Thank you for listening to The Floodline with your host, Rick Hughes. If you’d like to contact Rick, please write to him at P.O. Box 100, Cropwell, Alabama, 35054, or online at www.rickhughesministries.org.
