Kerwin Baptist Church Daily Broadcast

. that ye 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 ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand. Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye 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, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance.

Notice that word perseverance and supplication for all saints. Let's pray. Lord, we love you. Thank you for our people here today. And, Lord, we had such a good Sunday last Sunday, being anniversary Sunday, and had a guest preacher in, and I appreciate the kindness of our folks.

And, Lord, now it's time to get back to normal. And, Lord, I just pray that you would help us to get real today in a sense and just to be honest, to admit that not always are we full of spiritual energy. Not always are we feeling like the most victorious people in the world. Lord, it's wonderful to know we have a Savior that is victorious over anybody and anything. But, Lord, it doesn't mean that we don't struggle sometimes. And so, Lord, I pray you'd help us from the instruction you gave in your Word, that it would help us today as it's helped me in Jesus' name. Amen.

There are three things in this passage that God has told us to do. Now, I like to alliterate my points and all that stuff, and you know that. Now, they're all going to sound alliterated, but they're not alliterated. And you'll get that in a minute. I just want you to know I'm aware of that. There's always somebody, well, it wasn't real alliterated today. Well, I want to say, well, you're not being very nice today either.

I'm picking obviously. Look at verse 6, I mean verse 10 of chapter 6, he says, finally my brethren. He says this, be strong how? In the Lord. Aren't you glad he didn't say, finally, brethren, be strong?

Because there are sometimes when you and I are not strong. He said, you're going to have to be strong in the Lord because you're not going to have strength, but he always has strength. And in the power, notice of this verse, his might, because there's times you don't have any might, you don't have any energy, you don't have any fight left.

So you're going to have to depend on his strength and his might and his power and his energy. Now, notice what he says in verse 12. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world. He tells us three things to do.

And let me go ahead and give you these three things and I'm going to explain this in just a minute. Look at verse 12, first he says to wrestle. He says we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against, what he's saying is, we don't wrestle against flesh, people are not our enemy, and all those things. He says this, we wrestle against principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world.

Notice this spiritual wickedness in high places. Now you look at me, you and I are going to have to wrestle against some things in our life that are stronger than we are. What is wonderful is that we will never wrestle against anybody that's stronger than God is. But we are going to wrestle against a bunch of things in our life that's stronger than us. So he says first to wrestle, that means to fight. And number one I want you to notice if you're writing this down just and you'll understand this all in a minute.

Number one he says to wrestle. We are fighting principalities, we're fighting powers, we're fighting rulers. You and I aren't rulers by the way, we're heirs to Christ. But he says this, you're fighting spiritual wickedness in high places. In other words you've got a tall order, you're going to have to wrestle and fight and you're going to have to when you can, you're going to have to get punches back and you're fighting the devil. You're fighting a society. You're fighting a culture. And worse of all that you're fighting your own flesh.

By the way I've never seen anything as evil as my flesh. That's the hardest thing to fight is us. He said you are not wrestling against people. You're wrestling against Satan. You're wrestling against satanic power. You are wrestling against some very difficult things. To wrestle means we fight and we fight back. Notice secondly in verse 13 he says not only should we wrestle but notice in verse 13 he says, Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God.

Why? That ye may be able to withstand. So number one he says to wrestle. Number two he says to resist. That word withstand is the Greek word which means to resist. Do you know that resisting is different than fighting? Resisting means to defend. To resist.

To take the attacks and to literally just take it and resist. But then in verse 13 he goes even a step further. He says, Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day.

And having done all. In other words and after having done all that and everything else you can think to do to stand. What does that word stand mean? Well it's a different Greek word way different than the word withstand which was resist. This word means to be staunch. To remain. To refuse to be moved.

I'm sorry I'm getting emotional already. Look at verse 14. Stand therefore. This is after you have wrestled. This is after you have resisted. Now it's time to just stand and remain. And he says put on the whole armor of God.

You say preacher what are you getting at? I'm saying this God says there are times in our life that we've got to fight back at old Satan. And we've got the energy and we've got the strength and God's given victory and we're going to have seasons like that. And we're going to give the old black eye to Satan every once in a while. But sometimes when you don't have the strength to fight anymore and you don't have the strength to fight back right now in your life then it's time to defend. It's time to resist.

Don't let Satan have his way. You just resist and you might not be able to get a punch in but you can keep your hands up and you can stop the attack sometimes and you can stay tough. But sometimes that wears down too. And sometimes having done all, all you can do is stand there and take it. And the whole point is I'm going to take it and I'm going to take the punches but I'm not going to let it move me. I'm going to stand my ground. I don't have strength to fight back. And I don't even have strength to defend anymore. And God says when that's the case then just stand, remain. Don't change.

Now before I apply this how does God tell us to remain? Well when you can't wrestle anymore and you can't withstand anymore and now it's just you know what there's just so many things that happened in my life and man I've had so many punches and I've had so many doctor's reports and I've had this happen and that happen. I don't have strength to punch back right now and I don't even have strength to defend myself. How can I just make sure that this doesn't overtake me?

How do I stand? That's when the armor of God comes in. Do you know that out of all the armor of God none of them are offensive except the sword of the Spirit. Everything else is defensive. Now notice this look if you would at verse 13, 14 and look at verse 14, 15 and 16 as he talks about this armor.

Now notice this I won't spend a long time here listen to me. He says first that we should have our loins girt about with truth. That word truth is our creed. It's what we believe.

It's your system of beliefs. That means this that when you can't fight back anymore and you can't even defend yourself and you are so spiritually beaten and battered the way you decide Satan's not going to change me. He's not going to move me. I'm going to stand my ground although I can't fight back right now and although I can't resist right now. He's not going to move me.

I'm going to remain right here. Number one you've got to know what you believe. The truth. He says our loins girt about with truth. Dear friend you have got to know what you believe and you're not going to know what you believe until you get in the Word of God. You've got to know the truth.

Let me tell you what keeps you from changing when everything goes against you in life is when it don't matter what happens in life and it doesn't matter what comes to you. I know whom I have believed. Satan can do whatever he wants to me. It doesn't change what I believe because I know what's true. Notice secondly he says that we ought to have the breastplate of righteousness.

Notice that breastplate is protecting the heart. It means this that the truth is our creed but righteousness is our convictions. It's how we live.

It's how we take what we believe and we apply it to our life. I'm going to tell you something. You let old Satan fight most people first thing to go out the door is their convictions.

Look at me. Let me put it into real everyday vernacular. They're tired of fighting everything. They're tired of fighting against what everybody else wants to do. And I've watched people wear down and wear down and before long it seems like I can't find anybody that believes like we used to. Can't find anybody that has convictions like we used to.

Bless God you even use that word people get mad. Let me tell you something dear friend you're going to change if you don't have convictions. You're going to change if you don't have a creed of beliefs. You're going to change if you don't know the truth and you're going to change if you don't say you know what I don't care what comes I know the truth. This is what God's done in my heart. These are the convictions He's given me and I'm not changing.

Now you look at me this is a Sunday morning. But I have gotten to that point in my life about certain things. And anybody will know I am not a confrontational person because I love people.

I want you to be you. But I'm going to tell you something there are certain things that I've already decided now I'm not changing on. You can bring me every liberal author you have but I am telling you this Bible is the Word of God and I am not changing on that. You can quote.

You can give me people with degrees and I am telling you the Bible warns about man's reasoning getting in the way that you can blind and darken your own heart. But I'm here to tell you there are certain things that I don't care what happens and I don't care who makes fun of me, who criticizes me on any kind of social media. I'm just not going to change on certain of those things.

I'm just not. And I'm going to tell you something if you don't feel that way about certain things you're going to change every time the winds of society move. You're going to believe this or you're going to believe that and before long you've got no standards, no convictions. And when I say convictions I'm not talking about petty things. I'm talking about convictions of what the Bible teaches.

That's what I'm talking about in convictions. Number three he says you've got to have the Gospel your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. It's truth, it's righteousness and it's Gospel. While truth is our creed and righteousness is our convictions the Gospel is our contentment. It means this that I know that the truth is given. I know Jesus came, died, rose again and you know what through a whole life of misery I've got peace in that.

Let me tell you when you've got bad things happening in your life let me tell you something you just get a hold of the Gospel and you get your peace from that. Number four and I promised I wouldn't spend a lot of time in this. Number four is he said the shield of faith. Faith is our confidence. Our truth is our creed. Righteousness is our convictions.

Gospel is our contentment. But faith is our confidence. And listen to me dear friend when Satan shakes everything in your life you better still have faith in a God in heaven because that's where your confidence comes from. You're going to think everything what can I depend on? Everything's been shaken in my life. But when you have faith in God's Word you're not going to be moved. Now I'm going somewhere with all this. Next he says is the helmet of salvation.

That's our certainty. That means I'm saved and I know it. What does the helmet do? It protects your mind. That's where Satan gets you by the way.

He tries to get your mind. You think about this that the truth protects the loins. That's our guts. That's the source of everything is what we believe. You think about this that the righteousness is the breastplate of righteousness. It means this that it protects the heart. You'll notice this that the Gospel it means our feet. It protects our feet.

Where we go we literally have the contentment. I can go through this life and I've got peace to know the truth. If you think about faith it's the shield of faith. Satan will whirl things at you. He'll try to convince you that what you believe is wrong. And he'll convince you that hey everybody else are old just fuddy duddies. You need to get with the program.

You need to get more modern. You need to get with everybody else and the way everybody else is believing. That old shield puts it up and says no I have faith in God's Word.

I have faith that God's going to keep the promises He's made. Think about salvation protects our mind. That's why listen when we say listen you need to make sure you know that you're saved. People say why is that so important? Because old Satan will get into your mind if you don't know that. He'll convince you of anything. Last the only offensive weapon is the Word of God.

And that is our contender. Now think about this. Now hey look at me why don't you use your thinking caps. So God says I want you to wrestle. And when you can't wrestle I want you to resist. When you can't resist I want you just to stand there and don't let Him move you.

Don't let Him change you. Listen to me if you think about it all of this armor is there to take shots. All of this armor is there so you can take a punch. All of this armor protects the feet. Protects the loins. Protects the heart. Protects the head. The whole shield protects the body. The helmet probably protects your mind and your head if you think about it. It's all meant so that when you don't have the strength to fight back and you don't even have the strength to defend yourself you put on the armor of God so that you can stand and take it. The only thing offensive we have look at me isn't a punch. Isn't a kick.

It's not a crossbow. Look at me the only thing offensive we have is the Word of God. We've got nothing physical to fight back with.

The only fight back we have is the Word of God. Now look at me we're almost done you can't believe it can you? I'm talking about putting on the armor of God it's time for some of you women to put your shoes back on isn't it?

That's what it is. Hey we're getting ready to go I'm going to put my shoes back on. Get my fingernail polish put it back in the purse. Some of you are like how did he know? Some of you guys can stop filling in all the circles the zeros on the bulletin you know. You say how do you know we have cameras everywhere. No I'm just joking. You look at me.

I use personal illustrations because that's really the things I know the best. I spent a lifetime watching my mom wrestle. I watched her fight everything that could possibly get a hold of my life.

She fought back didn't let any grass grow under her feet. I mean she wrestles she's up early in the mornings getting in her Bible before I would ever even wake up. She's in her Bible reading and having her devotions. Wrestling against Satan. And I watched as health and years would go that maybe she couldn't fight like she did but oh bless God she'd resist and every time I'd get a little bit of a spirit of this or every time I'd get.

Let me tell you something this is this verse this is what the verse says you need to watch this in your life you need to stop that let me tell you something. And then I watched disease overtake my mom's body. My mom didn't have the strength to get up at four in the mornings to have devotions. My mom didn't have the strength to read for hours on end. She didn't even have the eyesight that she could. Look at me I want you to get this because there was a time in her life where she could wrestle and fight with the best of them spiritually. But it got time where she didn't have the strength and she couldn't wrestle like she used to maybe. So she had to go to that resisting mode and she had to do everything she could do to resist old Satan's attacks on them and their ministry and when Satan begins to attack your health that will get in your mind and it will bring a lot of things by and she just resisted this and this and then all of a sudden you pray God bring healing and God can do it and I know God hears. But when healing doesn't come and you get worse and worse and worse and you have to look at every appointment and watch them jab your arm eight to ten times just to try to find a vein.

When you sit in a chemo chair and you sit in radiation. You look at me folks you look at me. You know you know what I'm talking about. You don't have a whole lot of spiritual energy at that point. You don't have a whole lot of strength. You don't feel like charging hell with a squirt gun right about now.

But what you've got to be careful is when those times come that man I can't wrestle right now and maybe I don't even have the strength to resist but I can remain. I'm not going to let this get me. I'm not going to let this change me. And I don't know what you're going on in your life but I'm here to tell you I watched a mom remain with the best of them because this old Satan attack and healing didn't come.

It didn't get to her mind. I still believe in God. I still know He's my Savior.

He knows what He's doing. Every one of you have seen members in this church over the years at times in your life. And I'm not just talking about people that get older or maybe get disease or different things of that nature.

We talk about Burtis all the time and I talked about him in the couples retreat this weekend. And man I watch times where Burtis you know people want to get up and preachers want to yell and scream and bless God we ought to do this and they want to get everybody energized. You know what there's some people sitting in this building that are hurting. They can't pay their bills. They've had health issues.

I don't have insurance and I don't have enough insurance and I've gotten this and I've gotten that. Many of you maybe some family has let you down and disappointment in life has come. And you know what sometimes yeah we can get up and maybe we can wrestle back against Satan. But there comes times where we just don't have enough strength right now to wrestle and we're fighting a spiritual battle in our life and old Satan is coming at us and so maybe we can't wrestle like we used to. But hey maybe I can still resist and I can still try to defend myself. But dear friend there comes times in the middle of the night and early in the morning when you can't sleep and you can't figure it out. It's during those times old Satan will creep in and he'll change you if he can.

He'll get to you. And that's time for you to get those old loins girt about with truth. Put that old breastplate of righteousness over your heart. Put that helmet of salvation over your head. You get that feet covered up with a gospel. You get that old shield of faith and you get that sword and you say you promised you would never leave me nor forsake me.

You promised that your grace is sufficient. Don't you let Satan move you. You just stand there and you take it and you remember what you believe. You keep those convictions in your life. And I might not be able to wrestle right now. And I might not be able to resist right now. But I can always remain. Think about it folks. Satan's best shot sends you to Heaven.

That's the worst that can happen to you. To end up in the presence of God. Look at me dear friend. I know there's some of you today that you know we preachers we want to get up and we want to mesmerize you with our knowledge of the Scriptures. We want to give you our nice outline and we work hard on that. We want to put everything on a power point. We want to have music.

We want to have all these things. But you look at me. Some of you sitting here this morning are hurting. You're empty. You have taken some blows.

You still believe like you always believed and you still love God like you've always loved God. Man I don't have the energy or the strength to fight back right now. And dear friend I'm here to tell you it's ok. It's ok when you get there.

You just put on that armor and you just realize I don't have the strength to fight back and I don't have the strength to resist right now. But with God's help I'm going to remain. I'm not going to change what I believe. I'm not going to get a bad spirit. I'm not going to get mad at everybody and blame everybody else. I'm not going to get bitter.

I'm not going to this. I'm just going to say God I've got your armor on. I'm just going to take it and stay here and I'm not going to let Satan have ground in my life.

Look at me as I close. If you can wrestle right now wrestle away. If you can fight it fight it. If you can't right now you say I can resist. We'll resist. But you look at me when things happen in life.

Take the old energy out of you. It's time to remain. I'll tell you something we've got people at this church. Brother Tim and I went up to Bethesda Maryland to visit Brother Dale when he first started his treatments. Here's a man that's been very successful. Runs his own business.

Took it from the ground up. Been faithful to this church. A deacon here at this church. You're sitting there in a hospital bed in a position you never thought you'd be in in your life. And here you're in a guarded facility taking experimental medicines and different things. And I'm going to tell you something. And I know because you lay in a hospital bed old Satan shows up. And if you don't know what you believe and you don't have faith in God it's going to get you every time.

In fact think about what little it's taken to get some of us. Look at me dear friends before I close you know you say well is he going to talk about it? Yeah I guess I'll go ahead and will. I'm your pastor and if anybody ought to wrestle and fight and have the strength to do it it's your pastor. But I'm going to be honest with you I've sat in a hospital room as many a time where I didn't have strength to fight. And I didn't even have enough strength to resist anything.

I was broken. And at times like that old Satan likes to tell you if God really loved you look at what you're trying to do. And look you know you're doing all this and then here so and so comes and complains about something. And here so and so does this old Satan he can give you a bitter spirit.

He can give you all kinds of things in your mind. And dear friends I'm here to tell you when you can't fight back and you can't resist you better decide right now that you're going to remain. I am going to stand and having done all to stand not move and quit changing like everybody else is. It's about time we give God what He deserves.

A God that never changes and we give Him Christians that change all the time. It's about time we stand up for something and say Satan you're not moving this in my life. Father I thank you for your word.

Lord we've got a whole bunch of people that it would be absolutely ridiculous for me to try to motivate them to fight. Lord I'm just trying to motivate them to hold on. Just to stand. Lord I think about brother Charles in the midst of everything going on. He's just standing.

He's just staying. God we need stability like that. God would you help us? Lord it shouldn't matter what darts are thrown at us. It shouldn't matter all the things that hit our life or grievous.

It shouldn't change how we are in you and our beliefs on your word. Lord I love you. I have failed not only you. I've failed these people. I've failed my family so many times.

God I ask you to forgive me for it and help me to go on. And Lord help us on days like this just to put that armor on and say alright Satan I can't fight back right now. I wish I could. I can't even defend myself like I want to.

I wish I could. But I've got the armor of God. It's His might. It's His power.

It's His strength. And all I'm going to do is give you the word of God. That's the only thing I can fight back with right now. You're not going to move me and you're not going to change me. You can't have me. You've already lost and it's about time you know it. God bless you.