Kerwin Baptist Church Daily Broadcast

Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today.

Our guest today is a man that we want to deal with this morning. Be angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.

I want to look at a couple of things tonight. And the Bible gives us numerous, I guess you would call it, instruction about the subject that I want to deal with this morning. I'm afraid that sometimes there are individuals sitting in a church that have allowed a hurt feeling, that have allowed something that somebody did, something that somebody said to hurt them. Ephesians chapter 4, and I want you to look at verse 30, and I want to continue there. Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice.

Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ sake hath forgiven you. Today I'd like to preach on the giant of bitterness. The giant of bitterness. And may I say this to you this morning, it is a giant. And I will say this, that if you are struggling with the giant of bitterness in your life, all these other giants I mentioned, you will not have a chance to defeat any of them till you defeat this one.

And this will stop you from making any progress in your spiritual life. You say, how do you know? Well, I kind of know from experience, to be honest with you. But that's my business. But it could be here this morning that maybe there's something that's been said, something that's been done, maybe a circumstance, it might not have been anything anybody did, it might have just happened to you, and you've been bitter, you've been angry. I talked to an individual this week that was, thank God, honest. And this individual said, I've just been mad at God.

And I said, well, we've all been there. But this is a giant, folks. And according to our passage, no believer has a right to be bitter. And I want to talk about that this morning as our first giant that we face is the giant of bitterness. Father, Lord, I know Satan does not want this preached. In fact, Lord, I know that if Satan had his way, the individual sitting in this church would be bitter at something or somebody. Satan would absolutely love that. But one thing, Lord, I know he doesn't want is he does not want one person that has been struggling with bitterness that walked into this building.

He does not want them walking out of this building with victory over that. So Lord, I know he's going to do everything he can do to fight this this morning. He'll bring things to people's minds, trying to get them to daydream and wander and think of things different than what's being preached. So, Lord, I ask you to strike Satan from our presence this morning and from the minds of our people and that you would allow each person to listen with an open heart and an open mind and open ears to what your word has to say. In your name we pray. Amen. The Bible says neither give place to the devil, look at verse 30, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. That means this, there's two things that bitterness does in your life.

Number one, it gives Satan place in your life that he's not supposed to have. You know, we don't have to give him anything. We don't have to give him any ground in our life. We don't have to let him in anywhere. We don't have to give him any access to anything. God's given us victory over that.

He's made that available. We don't have to give Satan anything. But if we allow bitterness to fester in our life, we are giving place to him.

The second thing it does is this, it grieves the Holy Spirit of God. Can I tell you something? I believe with all my heart, there's no way to know.

Only God knows this. But I believe with all my heart that not just here at this place, I'm sure it's happened here. But I'm going to tell you, I spent 10 years in evangelism.

I preached in churches all over the country, from California to East Coast, and you know, from up in Delaware down to Florida, and I preached in Washington down to Southern California. And I'm going to tell you something. I believe that many a times God wanted to do a work, but bitterness sitting in the audience stopped what God wanted to do. Because it grieves the Holy Spirit of God. You say, preacher, why does it grieve the Holy Spirit of God?

Let me tell you why. Anything that controls you other than the Holy Spirit of God, then grieves the Holy Spirit of God. You see, the Holy Spirit is supposed to control us. That's what we call living in the Spirit. You all agree with that?

Say amen. But when we're bitter, bitterness controls you. That's why it grieves the Holy Spirit. Because He's supposed to have control of you, but He can't as long as bitterness does. And folks, bitterness does exactly that.

I know we always, sometimes we get leery of preachers going to preach on bitterness again today. But listen to me, bitterness can just simply control you. It controls your mind. It can begin to control your thoughts, your actions.

Then it controls your whole life. And the Bible says that the way it contaminates your life is this. It gives Satan place in your life now, and it also grieves the Holy Spirit.

Now think about this. It gives Satan place, and it makes the Holy Spirit lose ground. So that means when you have bitterness now, Satan gets ground, and God loses ground. Do you get it? That's why he says don't give Satan his place.

Because if you give anything to Satan, he'll take it and run with it. Do you get it? Do you get it? Are you cynical? Are you negative? Do you complain all the time?

Are you mad at everybody? It could be that somewhere inside of all this, that the fact that you've allowed bitterness there, it has then taken over your life. And when you give Satan that kind of place in your life, it then leads to other things.

Can I say this? If you allow bitterness to fester in your life, it won't be long until there will be other fruits of the flesh that show up. That's because we've now given place to Satan. We've now allowed him to take control of this area of our life, and before long he will try to control every area of our life. The contamination of bitterness, and I don't think I have to tell you it contaminates.

It just does. Second thing I want you to notice this morning is the cause of bitterness. Look if you would at verse 30 you say, well this is a stretch for you to get this out of this phrase.

Now I want you to think, you've got to listen to me on this one. Look at verse 30, and the second part of verse 30. It says, Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

Okay, who's he talking to here? He's talking to saved individuals. Because he's talking to those that have been sealed unto the day of redemption.

By the way, I always give the commercial. And you notice, I said this last time, that periodically you just cannot preach the Bible without coming up with a verse after verse that teaches eternal security in Christ. This Bible says that if you've been saved, you are sealed unto the day of redemption. Can I have an hallelujah right there? That means, you know what, preacher, I might struggle with bitterness, and I might struggle with some sin, and I might struggle with some anger, and all of us struggle, by the way.

Don't you dare have a condescending look at others because they deal with something, and they deal with this. I had an individual that's a friend of mine, and he's been a good friend of mine, and just came to church a couple weeks ago. I've been trying for months, and he's a wonderful guy. And two weeks ago he called and he said, listen, I've been working all day. And this guy has nothing to do with church, nothing to do with church lifestyle.

And he emailed me and he said, listen, I've been working all day doing all kinds of yard work, and I sat down and enjoyed a cigar. Is that wrong? Now what would some of you say?

Some of you are like, no, absolutely not. I'll have one with you. Now you know what he's probably trying to think, okay, I want to see if this preacher's going to judge me. That's the whole thing. And I just got him in the church.

You think I'm going to give him a whole sermon? This is what I said. I said, well, the Bible teaches that our body is the temple of God. I said, that is the principle from scripture why many will say that that's wrong. I said, but can I tell you, overeating is just as wrong. And gluttony is just as wrong. And I said, I struggle with my gluttony, apparently.

Why are you laughing at that? I don't appreciate that. My wife will tell you, I don't eat a lot. I just, I just use it well. You know, it just, I make the most of what I eat.

But I told him this, I said, you're not going to hear me complain about your cigar until I can fix my problems. Let me tell you something, dear friend, we all struggle. But isn't it nice to know that even though we struggle, we are sealed unto the day of redemption. Thank God for that.

Because we all struggle. But if you've been saved, you're sealed. Nobody can touch you, including Satan.

Oh, he can fight you and scratch you. Man, he can try to get you to do all this kind of stuff, but he can't get your soul. Thank God for that. I want you to notice the cause of bitterness. You say, out of that phrase that we are sealed unto the day of redemption.

What does that mean? That means this, let me tell you what causes us, number one, ignoring the providence of God. You see, dear friend, if you are, if you've been saved and you are sealed to the day of redemption, that means this, God is in control. And you know why you and I get bitter? Because we get bitter because we think something's happened that shouldn't have happened to us. Somebody said something that shouldn't have been said, and we think that we're a victim, and we think that circumstances have gotten out of control, and this should have never happened to us.

Look at me. But that is ignoring the providence of God. If God thought you couldn't have handled it and you couldn't have taken it, God wouldn't have allowed it. So for you to let yourself get bitter, you're basically saying, God, you're not doing a good enough job of controlling my life. Second thing I want you to know about this, it means you're ignoring the protection of God. Because not only is God in charge, God protects.

Why would we get bitter? God will protect us. If it's something that's going to damage us the rest of our life, he will get us better. He would have protected us from it. If it was something we couldn't get victory over through him, he wouldn't have let it happen. But because he's the one that protects, and he's the one that's in charge, you and I should have comfort and trust in the fact we are sealed by the Holy Spirit of God. He's in control.

He's in protection. If it happened to me, God can give me the strength and the victory to get beyond it. And that leads us to the logical conclusion for the third thing. It means ignoring the peace of God. You know what? The fact that you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit of God ought to give you peace in your life.

Look at me. The fact that God has sealed you means that there shouldn't be one thing that any person here or in your life does to you that ought to make you bitter because you've been sealed by God. He's protecting you.

He's going to take you to heaven. We've got no right to be bitter. Now, we're going to be hurt, and we're going to have times where we get angry. That's why he said in verse 26, be ye angry and sin not.

There's going to be things that are going to happen. But you cannot ignore the peace of God. The Bible says that the peace of God passes all understanding. Say, how can I have peace in the middle of this? I don't know. Nobody can understand it, but God can give it.

Let me mention a fundraiser for Burtis and Vivian. If anybody has a right to be bitter about God, I think Burtis does right now. Now, I'm sure every one of you got your own story why you think you could have a right to be bitter against God. But I'm going to tell you something, Burtis doesn't have that right right now, I think. But the Bible says he doesn't have that right.

But I'm flesh. God's right, I'm wrong. I mean, you know, he's done nothing but serve God faithfully here for years, ran bus routes for years. You could probably count on one hand the amount of services that they've missed over the years. Nobody could be more faithful than they've done.

They've been faithful, been a good deacon here over here for years, been faithful, been loyal. And all of a sudden he's got all this stuff. Now he's losing his eyesight. You can't get a break.

You've got bills facing the eyeballs. And you would say, well, I thought God was going to protect me from this. God wouldn't have let it happen to Burtis if God wouldn't give him the strength to face it. And bless God, if Burtis cannot get bitter, what right do I have to get bitter at anything? The cause of bitterness. I want you to notice, third, the characteristics of bitterness. How does bitterness show itself in your life? Well, let's look at it real quickly and look at verse 31.

God gives a list here. But there's some principles associated with them. Notice the first thing he says this, let all bitterness, and by the way, that word bitterness comes from a Greek word, which is the Greek word pikria. You say, what does that mean? That word is the word for poison. Do you know that bitterness poisons your life?

I'll go on. The next thing he says is wrath. See, all these things go together.

It's just all going to come in. Wrath is passion, fierceness, indignation. Then he says anger.

Anger is violent passion. Then he says clamor. Clamor is outcry. That's when what's going on inside, look at me folks, wrath and anger and bitterness is coming in on the inside. But before long, when that stuff goes on, it's going to come out. And that's clamor. That's when you start making vocal what's been going on inside. That's when all the hurt feelings and the anger come out. All of a sudden now, before long, what's on the inside comes out. That's clamor. Then he says evil speaking.

Remember, now it's all coming out. This is blasphemy or vilification. That means this, it's twisting circumstances to make somebody look bad. It's trying to make a person the villain that's not really the villain.

It's about changing what you say and having a little bit of truth and then a little bit of lie and doing everything you can do to try to manipulate, to get somebody back or to make them hurt like you hurt. This all comes from bitterness. And then malice, malice is depravity or naughtiness. That means this you've just gone about as far as you can go. And that's what's going to happen if bitterness stays in your life.

That's where it's headed. Now, there's some principles that I want you to notice about bitterness. Number one is this, bitterness remembers details. Bitterness remembers details.

It keeps track. But I'm going to tell you something. You find somebody that's bitter. And by the way, I've been there, folks. I've been there. Most of you have been there. I'm not judging you because you are bitter. And you know what? You could sit down and make a case with me or anybody while you feel the way you feel.

And we would say, well, I understand it. I'm simply saying, look at me, bitterness does not hurt the person that hurt you. Bitterness hurts you. So me as a pastor, you know what I care about? I care about you. Somebody outside of this place hurts you. Can I tell you something?

I'm just as mad at them as you are because you're my member. And whether you know it or not, I love you and I'm protective of you. But because I'm protective of you, I want to fix bitterness in your life because it's doing nothing but hurt you.

That person's going on living. Bitterness remembers. You ever get around a bitter person, buddy, they can bring back every last little thing that person's did, they can just about give you a date, time, and place.

You know why? Because bitterness remembers the details. And bitterness goes over those details constantly in your mind. You lay down in bed at night, buddy, that's what's on the mind. You'll go through the whole scenario of what happened.

And it'll go over and over. You'll try to think of it from every different angle. Second, bitterness accuses others and excuses self. You see, bitterness only sees the wrongdoing of others. Rarely have I seen somebody that's bitter. I've rarely seen somebody that was bitter come and say, well, but I did a whole lot wrong, too.

Well, this is where I did wrong. Oh, they got the details of what the other person did to them, but they for some reason can't remember a thing that they've done wrong. Bitterness accuses others but excuses self.

Let me give you this fourth thing. Bitterness always lives alone. I tell you what, you're tired of people bothering you and you want to live a quiet life by yourself with nobody around, that sounds good to you, Mr. Grinch.

I just can't say it without thinking of that song. If that sounds good to you, Mr. Scrooge, then you just get bitter because you're going to live alone. Nobody wants to be around it. Nobody can take bitterness very long. Lastly, I want you to notice this, bitterness always reveals itself.

Can I tell you a little bit of a secret, I guess, for us pastors? I'm not trying to say that we know more than anybody else. But because we care so much sometimes, look at me. Sometimes there are individuals that are bitter and they don't think that anybody knows they're bitter, but you can clearly see they're bitter and they don't know that you can tell. Because bitterness always shows itself.

It just does. I mean, somehow, some way, it's seen. And usually the bitter person is the last person to realize, but everybody else can tell that they're bitter. The characteristics of bitterness, I want you to notice, fourthly, the cure for bitterness. I want you to look at verse 26, if you will, as we look at how we defeat this giant. Verse 26 says, be ye angry and sin not. Notice this, let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Wrath was in that list that bitterness causes. I want you to notice verse 31. It says, let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking, notice this, be put away from you. Number one, you say, well, how can I cure bitterness?

How can I get bitterness? Number one, you have to let go of the offense. You have to let go of the offense.

What happened to you? The circumstances surrounding it. However everything laid out. Look at me, you've got to let go of that offense. You cannot let another day go by where that sun goes down on your wrath. You say, preacher, I've gone and tried to make it right.

And they didn't receive it. You're done. Congratulations. You did what God told you to do. You're free and clear. Go enjoy your life.

Let them grapple in it. Listen to me, dear friend. You've got to let go of the offense. That means all this stuff, this anger, this clamor, this stuff has got to be put away from you.

Now look at me. The Bible is just, it's wonderful. But the way it was written, the way God preserved it, look at me. It's just almost like if you'll stop and think about it, he makes it clear.

There's underlying commands that God gives. When he says that all these things have to be put away from you, who can do that? You. You're the one that has to be put away from you.

You're the one that has to. It would be wonderful if I could look over at you and say, oh, you're bitter over there. I'm going to take it away.

Come out. Suck it out. I'm going to suck that bitterness out.

I can't do that. You know how it's going to be put away? You're going to have to put it away. You know how it's going to be dealt with? You're going to have to deal with it. You know how it's going to, you're going to get over it? You're going to have to get over it. You're going to have to do what it takes. You're going to have to get in God's word.

You're going to have to get victory. But I'm here to say, bitterness will not get done in your life until you let go of the offense. It doesn't mean you forget it.

It doesn't mean you wipe it out of your memory. And sin not. Wait a minute. Now you just had a list where it said anger. Now God says it's okay to be angry, but to sin not.

I don't get that. Look at me, folks. Whether you believe this or not, this is what I believe. If I'm wrong, then I'm wrong. But I believe there are occasions in your life where you cannot help. You have to let go of the offense, but become angry. But the way you are angry and you don't sin is you get rid of that anger. You've got to let go of the offense, and you've got to let go of the offender. It doesn't mean it's not going to make you angry when it happens, but if you let that anger stay, that anger turns to resentment, and that resentment then turns to bitterness, and bitterness then paves the way for clamor and evil speaking and malice and all these things.

Look at me. You are going to be angry, but don't let that angry have victory over you. Don't let that anger control you. That's how you can be angry, but sin not. I'm going to nip this thing, as Barney says, in the bud.

I want you to notice, if you would, verse 32. You've got to let go of another. You've got to let go of the offender.

You see, look at me, folks. A lot of times, we are bitter because we think if we're not bitter, that means that person got a free ride for what they did to me. We think for some reason, if we're still bitter, then we're still making that person pay.

And you're not. You're making you pay. So that person not only hurts you, then he's hurting you now. God says forgive them.

Oh, look at me. Let me let you in on a wonderful secret. Let me tell you why you forgive them. When you forgive them, now God has freedom to deal with them. As long as you stay bitter, you're trying to control it. And God can't be let loose.

Let me tell you something. You get victory over that. You let go of the offense. You let go of the offender, and you say, I'm going to forgive that person for my sake and for what Christ has done for me, and I'm going to forgive that person.

And you think, well, but if I forgive them and if I'm not bitter, then nothing's going to happen. They just got a free ride. They didn't get any discipline. They didn't get any judgment. They didn't get any problems. Oh, look at me.

Yes, they will. Because now God will deal with it. And God always does. You might not know when. You might not know where.

You might not ever see it. Look at verse 27. Look at verse 27. Look at verse 27. Notice what it says.

We read it. Neither give place to who? The devil. Look at me, folks. You've got to realize when you're bitter at somebody or something, you've got to realize, listen, this is a spiritual battle. This isn't you battling that person. Satan got involved in this thing a long time ago. Odds are Satan got involved with them to make them do to you what hurt you. And odds are now Satan is involved in you to make you bitter at what they did to you. I don't care how you look at it. Satan's the culprit.

Satan's the one to blame. And here we are. We're trying to do battle with each other because I'm bitter at you.

You did wrong to me. And we're trying to have a physical battle, a fleshly battle. But I'm here to tell you, bitterness is a spiritual battle.

That's why God says, don't give place to the devil because he's the one that hurts you, not them. You say, hold on. Listen to me. He's the one.

He's the one. You've got to realize this is a spiritual battle going on. This isn't just about me against that person. Satan caused this whole thing. He got into their minds, into their hearts, and they allowed him to get into their minds and their hearts, whatever the case might be, and he allowed them to get into their minds and manipulated them and they fell to him and they did wrong or they said wrong or they told wrong or they acted wrong.

Some of you sitting right in this building have been abused physically by family, by friends, by neighbors, whatever the case might be. And you sit here and you think, yeah, but they did me wrong. Look at me. Satan did you wrong. Be mad at him. Take it out on him.

You say, how? Let God loose. You let that bitterness out of your life. You say, I'm done with this. You say, because now I'm going to let loose so that God can have his way. You go, God, you fix it. God will.

I want you to notice fourthly, this is the killer. Remember that God forgave you. Look at verse 32, if you will. Be ye kind one to another. How do I do that? Look what they did to me. Tender hearted. How am I supposed to be tender hearted? They're the ones that hardened it by what they did for giving one another.

How can I do that? Look what they did to me. Even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Enjoy our services live and all our media on our website and church app. Thank you for listening to the Kerwin broadcast today. God bless you. We'll be right back.