Only Jesus - Pastor Tom Loghry
In response to the tragic events of the week before, Pastor Tom offers encouragement from Romans 1:28-32 and Ephesians 6:10-19 to stand firm in the faith in light of hardship.
Transcript:
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground and after you have done everything, to stand.
Words fail to adequately express the tragedy which has unfolded these past few days. Charlie Kirk was a Christian, he was and is a brother in Christ. Now, perhaps you disagreed with him on some things, well, that's to be expected among brothers and sisters in Christ, we all disagree with each other about some things, but we extend grace to one another. I didn't follow him closely, but I have learned that above all things, he was committed to the truth of the gospel, and that two months ago when asked in an interview how he would like to be remembered, he said that he wished to be remembered by his courage for his faith. Charlie demonstrated that courage, not by violence, but by pursuing civil and peaceful conversation, the open exchange of ideas on college campuses. We have sadly learned how courageous that was. So we pray, God shine your face upon his wife and his children.
I don't usually step away from the planned course of preaching to react to a current event. Lord willing, it's not going to become a regular occurrence. Many tragedies unfold, many people die, and I don't address these terrible things. So why this? I address this because it is bigger than Charlie Kirk himself.
The fabric of our free society is being stretched tight to tearing. It's not mere politics. We are in the midst of a moral crisis. This tragic death might have been overlooked as one among too many others except for the disgusting reactions. Reactions, not just from fringe anonymous accounts online or blundering media personalities, but from among the common people, even among our neighbors here in Rhode Island. Casual glee at the death of this man, proud malice, mockery, all because he simply espoused different beliefs, often explicitly Christian beliefs.
We must go to God's word in light of this. We don't want our country to be this way, and we're going to recall this morning why people are acting like this and how Christians should respond. First, we're going to consider the why in two parts. So we begin in Romans one. In Romans one, Paul gives us an account of the fallenness of humanity, humanity both before Jesus and currently without Jesus. And we look at Romans one, verses 28 through 32.
Now Paul precedes this passage by pointing out that, something that's iconic about our rebellion against God is our dissent into sexual perversions. Now, I'm not reading that part of this passage, not because it's not true, it's absolutely true, but because I think these particular verses especially strike home to what we're seeing.
He writes, furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They're full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice.
They're gossips, slanderous, God haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do those, these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
I, what we find here, I think is a fitting description of what we're seeing around us, that there's a certain rottenness that is coming to the surface, a rottenness that begins in the human heart, especially as it goes so far as that not only do they do, do these things, but we are seeing approval of of such gross evil.
And the reason why, where this comes from, where it begins is this exchange. It is, it begins with our departure from worshiping God and turning ourselves instead to other things. Paul says this earlier in verses 21 through 23. We have to know the root cause. We get upset at the end that we see around us, but we have to know the root cause.
And this is what he says, for although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
So what's Paul specifically picking up on? There, on there, on there is the kind of preponderance in his society for people to create graven images and worship these things as gods. Maybe we don't see that explicitly in our country right now, but what we have seen is a departure from God.
A departure from God, so that we no longer glorify him or give thanks to him. And so we see that the minds of our countrymen who were once closer to him and would at least give thanks to him, have become futile. Their thinking has become futile, and their foolish hearts have become darkened. Now, what Paul is doing here in the Romans is he's giving us a survey of the human condition, and he's not trying to say, oh, the real problem in this world is just this particular group of people. Again, this is kind of the end of evil, the sort of grossness that he's describing, but the fact is, is that what the point that he's working towards is what he says in Romans 3: 23. He says, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Both those who are Jewish, both those who are non-Jewish, all humanity altogether, we're not who we are supposed to be.
And the further that we stray from him, the greater our corruption becomes. And this is why Christ had to be sent into the world. Because without Jesus Christ, we think it's dark Now, you don't know the depths of darkness that we would be living in, if not for him, but there is also more than mere human corruption at work here. To say this is not to deny human responsibility, but to recognize the roots of the poisonous ivy that wraps itself around the human heart. So now we turn over to Ephesians and we cross over into both a further diagnosis and also how we must respond.
Ephesians six. We look at Ephesians six. This was the passage that was read verses 10 through 13.
Paul tells the Ephesian Christians this, he says, finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Therefore, put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Notice what Paul says we're up against here. We're not up against mere flesh and blood. So often we think that's the problem, that that's the real problem, that if we could just overcome other human beings, then everything would be just swell.
Well, it's not the case, because there are spiritual powers at work. He says, put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the devil's schemes.
This is what Paul is referring to when he talks about the rulers, authorities, and powers. He's talking about spiritual forces that are at work influencing human beings, and what we see around us in this current moment is demonic. And so often when we think about demonic, like we think about like horror movies and like Poltergeist stuff and like that's, yeah, that can be demonic, I would say that is demonic, but the sort of depravity that we, we see around us, that is demonic.
Now, the non-Christian who hears me say that, may think like, oh wow, you know, you're demonizing, demonizing people. That's, that's very alarming. Don't be concerned. The reason is this: is that we do not fight Satan with Satan's tool. Satan's tools do not bring about Satan's demise. You see, we hear so often in the media all these concerns of, you know, people reacting violently, and that is a great concern to have.
But it is not a concern they should have of Christians if we are following Christ, because Christ has told us in his testimony before Pilate, right before he was gonna be crucified, he told Pilate this in John 18:36. He says, my kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders, but now my kingdom is from another place.
And when he was casting out the demons, people were accusing him, him, of using demonic powers to cast out demons. And he says, that's foolishness. Satan doesn't fight Satan. In Matthew 1228, he says, but if I cast out demons by the spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.
We do not need violence. We do not need hatred and malice and response. What we need is the power of Christ. To exorcise the demons around us, to cast them out in the name of Jesus, again, not for the destruction of our countrymen, not for the destruction of our neighbors, but for their salvation, so that they too, like us, may be redeemed.
Our strength does not come from the weapons of this world. Paul says that we would be, so that we would be strong in the Lord, Lord and in his mighty power. And so he calls us to put on the armor of God. He says, put on the armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you've done everything to stand.
We need the armor of God in order to be courageous, yes. Otherwise we'd give way to fear. And this is a moment in which many Christians may become fearful and say, well, I'm just gonna become real quiet now, 'cause I don't, I don't want anything bad to happen to me.
But our confidence is not in ourselves. It is in Christ. There's also this though too, we need to armor ourselves with the armor of God. We need to suit up because not only because of fear and the potential of us kind of backing away, but because we might become compromised. That the evil that we see around us may surreptitiously creep within us and corrupt us, so that even as we say that we want to resist the evil that we see around us, it comes to occupy our own hearts. That's the greatest danger. Verses 14 through 20 take us deeper into how we must respond to the evil that surrounds. Says, stand firm, then, with the Belt of Truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel for which I'm an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
The first item of this armor of God that Paul identifies is the truth, and we must buckle ourselves up with the belt of truth. Without the truth everything falls apart, it is this belt that holds us together. And as Christians, we must stand firm upon the truth. No matter how much others may tantrum against it, no matter how much they might threaten violence against us for speaking the truth, we must stick with the truth.
If we compromise the truth, we lose everything. We don the breastplate of righteousness once again, as I just said, because we need to protect our hearts. We must do what's right even when the others don't.
And if we don't don that breastplate of righteousness, again, we're just gonna get pierced through the heart. We will have lost the battle before it's even begun.
And our feet must be fitted with the gospel of peace. We go with the gospel of peace because of this: only Jesus can fix what we see around us. Only Jesus. I'm not denying that the role of government has a, a role to play in upholding justice, and God help them do that. But the sickness that we see around us, only Jesus can fix that, and he's calling us to go.
And as I pointed out in the beginning, we don't have to go to the halls of power to do that. We have enough around us to do right here in Rhode Island, the gospel that we bring offers to all people grace, forgiveness, healing, true peace.
Jesus tells us that those who would be called the sons of God are peacemakers. That blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God, sons and daughters of God. That's the hallmark of the Christian, is we bring peace. And the peace that our country enjoyed, now our country's not perfect, let me make that up front. Our country is not perfect. But in so far as we have enjoyed peace in this country is then because of Jesus Christ. And in so far as we have begun to lose peace is because we have departed from Jesus Christ. Now we can only go with that gospel if we have faith. If we do not have faith, then we'll be cynical. We'll be like, yeah, right, that's gonna work.
If we don't have faith in Jesus, and we will only put faith in the, in the means, the instruments, the weapons of this world. We go forward with faith as our shield, as our faith, which allows us to advance. And our faith is not just this kind of ethereal thing. Oh, just have faith. It's not just faith itself, it's faith in Jesus Christ. I want you to notice this combination here. The Apostle John in his gospel and then also in his letter makes record of this. This is what he says Jesus spoke in John 16:33. Jesus says this, I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world. Our confidence is that Christ has overcome the world.
The devil conspired through Herod, Pilate, the religious leaders that Christ should be crucified. Little did they know that God was gonna flip that on their heads. That what they thought was going to be the demise of Christ and the end of his whole movement, his, his whole declaration that the kingdom of God had come upon them. Instead of that, it was the very confirmation of it because they could not keep Christ dead.
Three days later, he rose from the dead. And so even before he dies here in John 16:33, he can tell them this with confidence, I have overcome the world.
And that is our confidence. You notice what he says in 1st John five, verse second half of verse four into verse five. It says, this is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. And again, it's not our faith in and of itself. It's our faith, who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the son of God.
This is how we take heart. This is how we take courage. Because Jesus has defeated the evil powers that we see around us. They cannot, they will not win. Now this, the shield of faith, it protects us from the darts from the devil. Now, what those darts are can represent many things. It could be accusations of condemnation. The devil loves to make it, us feel as though Christ's sacrifice is not sufficient for our sins. It could be darts of of doubt, it could be darts of temptation. And I think we can say that it would also include, it would extend to the fear of death itself.
Again, it's very tempting to retreat when we see what's happening around us, but we should not take any step back because the wind is behind us. The king is with, with us. We plunge forward, we take no step back because the Lord is our salvation. He is our helmet. And so we can face the things coming at us, and perhaps most important here in thinking about how we respond, it is with God's word, we bring the message of God's word.
The Bible, the scriptures in the hand of the Holy Spirit is a sword and its effect transcends mere rational persuasion. Even while we might engage in that, Charlie Kirk engaged in rational persuasion, that's a great thing, but our confidence is not in our intellect, our abilities. It's in the truth of God's word as it pierces the human heart as it hears it, because once again, spiritual warfare requires spiritual weapons.
This is the greater battle that far outstrips all other secular pre, preoccupations that dominate our headlines. And so we must pray. We must pray in the spirit. We pray for others. We pray for ourselves as, as Paul asks, that the Ephesian believers would pray for him. He says, pray also for me that whenever I speak, words may be given so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel.
Paul knew what it was like to face opposition. He's nearly stoned to death. Nearly drowned at sea. Spent years in prison.
He didn't back down because he wore the armor of God. He didn't back down because of the prayers of the people of God, so that he was able to speak the words that otherwise, he may not have been able to speak for fear, but God gave him the words to speak so that he would fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel. Right now, we must pray that we would be fearless, that you and I would be fearless, that all our brothers and sisters across this country and across this world, that the Holy Spirit would pour out upon them a boldness and fearlessness to preach the gospel so that the demons might flee, so that human hearts might be saved.
Without a doubt, our perfect hope lies in the future. We are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness dwells. Even so, that shouldn't make you think that our presence in the gospel message cannot have an impact today. We can help our country by our witness. Jesus tells us in Matthew five verses 13 through 16 the pre, what the, the effect of the presence of his disciples would have in the earth. It says you are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under foot.
Now, salt is a, a healing and preserving property. That's the presence that we are to have. He says, you are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your father in heaven.
I can't speak for all of you, but I can say for myself in my short life, I have so often felt cowed and hushed when it comes to speaking about Jesus and expressing belief in the gospel. So easy to keep that light under a bowl because it just seems impolite, it's awkward. Brothers and sisters, it is necessary. It is necessary not just for the eternal good of our neighbors, it's necessary for our immediate good here and now for the common good of our country. Yes, there might be a backlash, but continued silence will only deepen the sickness and the fabric of American society will be torn from top to bottom.
We must be radical, and there's nothing more radical than what Jesus commands us later on in Matthew five, it says in verses 43 through 45, you have heard that it was said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your father in heaven.
I have pointed out the sickness of our neighbors, not so that we would hate them, but so that we would go even deeper, farther in following Christ, that we would show them the radical love of Jesus. We need to pray for them. We need to confound and break the demonic curse that possesses them.
Again, they're not a separate class. We are all sinners as Paul says in Romans 3: 23, the gospel we bring to them includes the next verse, Romans 3: 24, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Our desire is that every person, including those who have sown such ugliness recently, will receive the forgiveness that Jesus offers. Our prayer must be that even the shooter, Tyler, will be touched right now by the grace of God. And I, I pray whoever goes to him would be filled with the Holy Spirit to minister the gospel to him, that he would repent and receive mercy, regardless of whatever temporal justice he must receive from the governing authorities.
For, for your comfort, God's beloved children, my brothers and sisters, I leave you with a word given to Israel, which in Christ is also God's word to us who believe here and now. Isaiah 41, 10 through 11, 10 through 13 rather.
So do not fear for I'm with you; do not be dismayed for I'm your God. I will strengthen you and help you; i'll uphold you with my righteous right hand. All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish. Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them. Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all. For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, do not fear; I will help you. Let's pray.
Oh, father,
there's so much to pray for. I
Father, we do pray that your grace and comfort would be upon the family of Charlie Kirk.
Father, we pray
that you would exercise the demons that we see around us, that by the power of your word, by the testimony of the gospel,
that you would redeem our people.
Father, give us boldness and fearlessness on the basis of our human strength, but on the basis of Christ who's overcome sin and death, may our courage be in him.
Father, suit us up in the armor of God by the Holy Spirit.
So that we would stand for the truth so that we would be righteous, so that we would go with the gospel so that we have the confidence of our salvation, and so that we would bring your word to all people.
Father, make clear the gospel message. Which is this, and if you turn from your sins and believe in Jesus Christ as your savior and look to him as Lord, you can be saved. Father, I pray that he would turn hearts to you that would make that confession, that that would be their prayer. We pray that also Father for Tyler, that he would turn to you.
That he be reconciled to you.
Make us courageous, Lord. Fill us with the love of Christ and let's bring glory to your name. We pray in Christ name, amen.
Hey there, Pastor Tom here. I hope you enjoyed this sermon I offered to Rockland Community Church. Rockland Community Church is located at 212 Rockland Road in North Scituate, Rhode Island, just around the bend from the Scituate Public High School. We invite you to join us in person or virtually this Sunday as we worship God and hear the preaching of his word. It's our joy to welcome you into our community
Intro/Outro Song
Title: River Meditation
Artist: Jason Shaw
Source:http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jason_Shaw/Audionautix_Acoustic/RIVER_MEDITATION___________2-58
License:(CC BY 3.0 US)