Grace Thoughts

Tim Kelley: God loves you.

Guest (Male): Hello friends. Welcome to Grace Talks, the radio ministry of Grace Connection Church with Pastor Tim Kelly. Grace Talks has been dedicated to preaching a clear gospel of grace for over 20 years. Here is Pastor Kelly.

Tim Kelley: Martin Lloyd Jones probably about 75 years ago said this statement. I've used it before in light of spiritual warfare. He says a man does not understand the nature of the problem he is confronting. A man that does not understand the nature of the problem he is confronting is a man already doomed to failure. So again, talking about spiritual warfare. In other words, he's saying that if we don't understand that we are engaged in a spiritual struggle, we are already a victim of that spiritual struggle. We are He went on to say, so we have to realize that we are called in the Christian life to a battle, not a life of ease, to a battle, to a warfare, to a wrestle, and to a struggle.

In Ecclesiastes 8 8 it says there is a battle without discharge. It is a unavoidable war. If you are unaware of spiritual warfare, you have already been victimized by spiritual warfare. Very important principle. Now, I'm not a demon chaser. I don't look for demons underneath the pillow. I don't look for them in Yankee Stadium, even though they've been known to hang out there and stuff like that. Just just picking on the Yankee fans cuz it's baseball season. But and and in my life, I I have not um had a lot of exposure to um demonism.

I believe that that um if I was to go to Syria now, I would face a demonic attack of fear and persecution from the from people who want to kill me for my faith. And that would be a persecutions are always demonic. It always comes from a demonic um launching pad. So I But I don't face that. I live in America. I live in a great place where I may face an attack. My biggest attacks I find may be passivity, complacency, um comfortability, if I can use that term. But I do want to relay one story back in the early 1990s.

It was in February sometime after um Valentine's Day. And I had gone to bed. My wife was in bed sleeping next to me. I don't know what time of the day it was. It was in the middle of the night and I was awakened by a noise in the room. It sounded like the best of black of better terms, a clause on a um rough wooden floor or or a stucco wall, like a like a clawing type of thing. I was a little bit um scared, just a little. I looked at my wife, seeing she would save me.

She slept on. Um I I I kept listening. I heard this noise and I kept looking. I didn't see really anything about I heard this scratching. And it wasn't floor level. It was up near the ceiling and I heard the scratching and the scratching. So I started praying, God, I rebuke this in Jesus's name. Scratching continued. I figured I didn't have enough faith. And And so and and that in a period of time, excuse me, I all of a sudden because I have a little bit of a light. I I I live on 30th Avenue and there was some a street light outside my bedroom window and there was a I guess a pinhole in my shade.

A little bit of light came through. I'm assuming that's what it was. And all of a sudden I saw this being of some sort um hovering right above the ceiling and it was just it was it odd sight and it all all I could see where the scratching was coming from. Now, I'm officially freaked out. I'm mashing myself into the bed, waiting to wake up my wife with a girlish scream and um to save to see if she would save me. But my wife, being as unprotective as she was, slept on. So and this is God's on the story.

So I um I'm watching this and I don't know how many time has passed, 5 minutes, 6 minutes, 7 minutes. And all I see is this revolving light thing and it's um and it's the scratching on the ceiling. Then it stopped. And where Okay, it stopped. Thank you, Jesus. I knew I had the faith. And and um and and then I look up and it's pitch black. I see something hovering a few feet above my bed. There is a body print in my mattress by this point. And it it was it was sort of there by my pressing myself as low as I could get in the mattress and the sweat pouring off my body as my wife slept.

And um And so I'm watching this and then and then um it it seems like it's getting lower. I can't get anymore mashed to the bed. I'm I'm there and I'm praying, dear Jesus. I close my eyes. Dear Jesus, help me here. Just God, I don't not equipped this middle of night. Just take this thing away. Whatever it is, Father, I rebuke it in Jesus's name claiming the blood of Christ. They open up and it's still there. I did that three times. Still there. Talking about spiritual warfare. Finally, I close my eyes. I pray. I wait.

Okay, I'm just not I'm just going to ignore it. I'm going to pray. Go back to sleep. I prayed already. God, you heard my prayer. Open my eyes. It's 18 in hovering above my head. At this point, I don't know what to do. I'm exhausted really all my prayer. I can't run. My wife won't save me. I closed my eyes. I said, oh God, back. And I And I punched the demon. Actually, it was a Mylar balloon that I had bought for Valentine's Day for my wife. And And it And the air conditioner and the air conditioner blew it into my bedroom when I was asleep.

And I I couldn't tell it was a Mylar balloon cuz it was dark and the light was reflecting off the back of the balloon. And so I went about about 20 minutes. This is that You think I'm making this up. This is actually really happened and and I and I still scarred emotionally to this day over it cuz my wife never did ever wake up and help me. But I I I want to speak about real spiritual warfare. Cuz in this particular case, it was just a balloon. But what if it wasn't just a balloon?

Do we ever face these things? Do we ever face a demonic presence? Well, maybe. I 'm not going to speak as much about that this morning as I want to talk about the armor of God. I know where I was going to speak on this this for over a week now. A 2-week series on the armor of God. It's really funny because last night I've been actually I I have trouble sleeping. I've had trouble sleeping for 4 years um since we lost our our daughter. I've had It's a It's a challenge in my life is to get a good night's sleep.

If I get 4 hours or 5 hours, it's a it's a victory for me. I've been doing pretty good lately. Been averaging 5 5 and 1/2 hours a night. Last night, Sadie wasn't home. Went with Miss Stephanie sleepover girl party. And um I'm home alone. Got to bed. I slept 1 hour 20 minutes. I tossed and turned all night, prayed, asked God to help me sleep, emptied my head, counted sheep, counted Red Sox balls. I just got anything I could count, anything to make my mind turn off that wouldn't turn off. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers.

Sometimes I think one of the easiest things where I get into the mess is the devil likes to do is to act like he's not the devil. The number one thing he likes to do is not to remain to remain uncovered, uncovered, unexposed. And to maybe invade our lives in these areas, whether it be the marriage or whether it be my physical health or but whatever it is, to invade our lives in these areas where where he doesn't um we can we can attribute something else to his doing. It was just another bad night's sleep, right?

I've had them before. Just happened to be preaching on um the devil this morning. Just happened to have a church service to get up and come to and preach a couple times. Just happened. That's all coincidental always. That's that's Or could it be that we are engaged more than we'd like to think in spiritual warfare. Let me read you Ephesians chapter 6. Now, before I go any further with this, I want to frame Ephesians chapter 6 because it's really really important as we go through the armor of God that we understand why why we're here, why we're in Ephesians chapter 6.

You take the first three chapters of Ephesians and you'll find that the riches of the gospel in just a smattering of Ephesians chapter 1, 2, and 3, we find all spiritual blessings, Ephesians 1 3, forgiveness of our sins in um Ephesians 1 7, acceptance in the beloved verse 6 of Ephesians chapter 1. Far above mights and dominions, principalities and powers under him who can do exceedingly and abundantly above all we ever ask or think, saved by grace in 2 8. We have we are with exceeding riches of his grace for all eternity in Ephesians 2 7.

All the great riches of the gospel can be found in the first three chapters of Ephesians. Then you go to chapter 4 and chapter 5 and half of chapter 6 and then then he takes those those wonderful truths and says this is what it looks like in church life, body life, in relationships. Then in Ephesians chapter 5 he says, and this is what it looks like in marriage. How how this first three chapters of Ephesians applies in the marriage. And then he continues in the family life and and such into Ephesians chapter 6 until we get here.

He ends the epistle with spiritual warfare. Because I've said all this, I've laid the foundation so now I can teach you what spiritual warfare really is and how to wage the battle that needs to be waged. As you all Let me just just read this. So finally, in light of everything I've said, that's what finally means. In light of everything I said, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Three words there, all synonyms, be strong in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you'll be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

The word schemes is the word method, methodia, where we get the word methods from. And the word stand is histamai and it's a it's a play it appears throughout this um whole passage. We'll see it next week too as we finish it. And it's an interesting word. It's it it means to stand. It's actually a really good translation. But it means to stand with with a firm footing. We'll see a little bit later. I gave the illustration back in 2004 we had the hurricanes come through. One of the hurricanes was dumping a lot of window, a lot of water in one of my windows.

And being the the fix it guy that I am, I went outside and drilled some holes in the window to get the water out of the of the of the let it drain out of a little trough there. While I was there, I heard a wind gust. I turn around looking back over the neighborhood. All of a sudden I see the the trees been being to move. And I could hear it coming like a train coming right at me. Just a wind gust from the storm that was now pretty much over us. And I remember as that was coming, I I thought to myself, you better lean into this.

And I did. I I sort of braced myself and it hit me and didn't knock me over or anything, but I I certainly if I was standing like this, if I wasn't braced braced for it, it would have knocked me over. That's what how this word stand means. It means I braced myself. I 'm hanging on. You on a boat and you're fishing in a in a choppy sea. You just don't stand like this, do you? No, cuz you you you you you spread your legs. You're hanging on to something. With me, I just get seasick.

That's what happens to me. But it's um But you hang on to something. That's the word stand. So be strong in the in the in the Lord in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you're able to stand against the methods or the schemes, good translation, of the devil. For we wrestle not. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against authorities, against cosmic powers over the present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Now, I'll just stop there. I won't comment much on that, but Kenneth Wuest, the old um Greek scholar for Moody Bible for all those years and others believe that this is talking about four different types of demonic activity, four classifications of demonic activity.

These are conservative guys. They're not moody. I mean, they're conservative scholarly. When you look at these different words in the Greek New Testament, they say that that the rulers is one type of demonic host, authorities is another type, cosmic powers over the present darkness and spiritual forces. Four types of demonic hosts that confront the believer. Then he says this in verse 13. Therefore Remember Therefore always looks back. Therefore in light of the spiritual battle that I just told you about in verse 12, take up now the whole armor of God. And now is in the tense in the Greek.

That you may be able to withstand There's that same word again. In the evil day, having done all, to stand firm.