you are God's, if I am God's, by one means or another, He will
graciously see to it that we find our all in Christ the Lord,
and only in Him. He will take away our No matter
how painful, every other prop, every other support, every other
comfort. Thank you, our God, for such
faithful grace as to force us to look to Christ alone for righteousness
and holiness and redemption and hope and comfort and peace and
strength and help all through our pilgrimage here. Open your
Bibles, if you will, to the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 6 verses 11,
12, and 13 will be my text. And I won't if God will enable
me to talk to you for a few minutes as plainly as I can and as instructively
as I can about our warfare. In the 10th verse, the apostle
says, finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord. and in the
power of his might. While we live in this world,
you and I who are gods are a people at war, relentlessly at war. We must therefore seek the strength
and courage of confident faith in Christ our Lord. In verses
11, 12, and 13, the apostle shows us why such holy courage is required. It was the desire of this noble
warrior as he was about to leave the field of battle to prepare
his successors for the battle they must face. The fight is
on. We must be strong. Therefore,
he says in verse 11, put on the whole armor of God for this purpose,
that you 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 taken to you the whole
armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil
day, and having done all, to stand. Throughout this epistle,
Paul lays great stress upon both the absolute sovereignty of God
and the responsibility of man in the matter of salvation. Salvation
is the product of God's free sovereign grace in Jesus Christ
the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. Yet it is so much the gift of
God to man's faith that our Lord Jesus spoke to those whom he
healed by his grace and said, thy faith hath made thee whole. These two things are beautifully
combined by the Spirit of God in this epistle. We must equip
ourselves with a full suit of arms. That's our responsibility. We're to put the armor on. That's
our responsibility. We're to use it skillfully. That's
our responsibility. And yet the weapons are called
the whole armor of God. It's God who forged them. It's
God who gives them, not man, but God. Man is not able to employ
those things mentioned in this passage of scripture as the armament
of God if God doesn't put them on us and give us grace to use
them. The battle is the Lord's and
the victory is the Lord's. We're soldiers at war and we
shall overcome. We will be triumphant. but our
victory will be by the blood of the Lamb and no other way.
William Hendrickson commenting on this passage said, overcomers
are conquerors. And in order to conquer, one
must fight. Victory is sure. God's church,
God's kingdom shall prevail. We shall be triumphant at last. But the conflict is something
that goes on constantly as long as time endures and God's people
live in this world. A long time ago, I told you a
story. There was a janitor working in
a large church building and had some goings on. And he was sitting
over in a corner waiting for whatever was going on to finish
up so he could close things up and go home. And he was just
sitting over at the corner reading scriptures. And one of the preachers
came over and asked him what he was reading. He said, I'm
reading the book of Revelation. He said, do you understand that?
He said, well, yes. He said, what's it teach? What
is it you think it teaches? Jesus wins. And that's a pretty
good summary of the whole declaration. When all is done, Christ rides
forth conquering and to conquer, and he shall subdue all things
under his feet. We have enemies who are hell-bent
on our destruction, the destruction of our souls, the destruction
of God's church, the destruction of our cause, the glory of God,
the furtherance of the gospel, the building of God's kingdom.
Therefore, we must be valiant warriors. And if we would be
valiant warriors, if we would prevail over our foes, we must
put on the whole armor of God. Paul uses a specific word when
he speaks of this warfare. He says we wrestle. We wrestle. When I was in junior high school
and high school, I did some wrestling. And wrestling involves hand-to-hand,
face-to-face, foot-to-foot contest. It's not something that's off
at a distance. It's something that you're personally involved
in, something that involves personal effort and personal conflict.
Having declared the necessity of the warfare, Paul points out
the enemy. He says, our enemies are not
material. They're non-material. They're
not flesh and blood. I had a letter again today, I
didn't read much of it since I saw what it was. Someone writing
a letter, they'd written to, or planning to write to 500 pastors
in Kentucky, wanting to join forces to fight some. I just
threw it away. I refuse to engage in anything
in the name of Christianity with folks who despise the gospel
of God's grace. I urge you not to get involved
in the pro-life protest against abortion, not to get involved
in the temperance movements against the sale of alcohol, not to get
involved in the public demonstrations of any kind with unbelievers.
That's not the problem. And I'd love to see all those
things ended. I'd love to see them ended right
now. But that's not where our warfare is. Our warfare is not
with liberal politicians or conservative politicians. Our warfare is not
with Democrats or Republicans. Our warfare is not with flesh
and blood, but with principalities and powers. spiritual wickedness
in high places, principalities and powers that are the rulers
of the darkness of this world in high places. He's talking
about a conflict between the kingdom of God and the kingdom
of darkness, the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan, the
kingdom of God in righteousness and the kingdom of darkness and
unrighteousness. It's a religious warfare. A warfare
not with religion, but a warfare against Satan. A warfare not
against the souls of men, but against Satan. Not to conquer
men, but to conquer Satan. Our purpose is to see men conquered
by Christ, healed by Christ, saved by Christ. Not to destroy,
but rather to build. If we would be triumphant over
the prince of darkness, we must be clothed with Christ, the armor
of light. Now in these verses, Paul gives
us three words of direction. In verse 11, and I plan to deliberately
spend the bulk of my time here, Paul tells us that if we profess
faith in Christ, we must prepare for war. In verse 12, he tells
us that we must recognize our enemy. And then in verse 13,
he commands us to meet the enemy. First, if we profess faith in
Christ, we must prepare for war. Put on the whole armor of God
that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Our Savior made these statements
in the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew 10, he makes two of them.
Matthew 16, he makes the other one. He said, think not that
I'm come to send peace on the earth. I came not to send peace,
but a sword. Wherever Christ comes, into whoever's
life he comes, wherever Christ rules, there's going to be immediate
conflict. There's going to be immediate
division. Immediate separation, not something
that's caused by you who are conquered by him, but caused
by the fact that you've been conquered by him and you've enlisted
under the banner of the cross. Our Savior said, he that taketh
not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me. He said,
if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take
up his cross and follow me. The life of faith, I'm not talking
about just any faith, I'm talking about faith in Christ. The life
of faith is the greatest conflict, the greatest fight on this earth.
The gospel trumpet is blown. Let those who would follow Christ
prepare for battle. And no man goes to war without
preparation, if he has any sense. If he goes to war without being
prepared, you will find him very soon either wounded or dead on
the battlefield, or you'll find him cowardly hiding in a ditch
somewhere. Paul calls for us to prepare
for war by putting on his armor, the armor of our God. What is
this armor? It's the armor of Christ himself.
Turn back to Romans 13, look at this, Romans 13. These things
Paul's describing in Ephesians 6 he's talking about Christ.
He's talking about Christ not something separated from Christ
He's on the Christ himself. The believers armor is Christ
Romans 13 verse 14 put ye own the Lord Jesus Christ and make
not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof Paul
is here telling us to avoid our carnal lust, lust of riotousness
and drunkenness and wantonness. And you may think, well, pastor,
how can I avoid the lust of my flesh? How can I avoid those
things? Saying no to ungodliness, we
put on the Lord Jesus Christ, put on the Savior. He doesn't
say put on sobriety, or put on temperance, or put on chastity,
as moral philosophers might. He says, put ye on the Lord Jesus
Christ. And until Christ is put on, you're
unarmed. Some of you are here still without
Christ? Did you hear what I said? Until Christ is put on, You are
unarmed. Unarmed. The believer's armor
is the grace of God in Christ. Grace that God provides and gives
to those who trust him. The girdle of truth. The breastplate
of righteousness. The shield of faith. But the
unregenerate soul is unarmed. To be without Christ is to be
naked where a battle's raging. You who are without Christ are
in a helpless condition before the fiend of hell who seeks to
destroy your soul. Unarmed, unarmed before Satan,
the prince of darkness. unarmed before the raging lion
of hell who would devour you. A soul out of Christ is naked,
destitute of all armor with which to defend himself. To be without
Christ is to be alienated from God. To be without Christ is
to be without any promise from God. No promise. Now, folks quote
the Bible in times of trouble and they recite scripture and
preachers come along and tell them to look to the promises.
If you're without Christ, there ain't a promise in this book
to you. There's nothing held out in this book for you except
wrath and judgment and everlasting condemnation in hell. To be without
Christ is to be utter without armor. Those who are without
Christ are in utter ignorance. taken captive by Satan at his
will. Turn over a few pages to 2nd
Timothy. How wisely in this pastoral epistle,
the apostle Paul was inspired to instruct preachers and tells
preachers how to instruct those who are trusted to their pastoral
care. 2nd Timothy 2 verse 14. He says,
of these things, put them in remembrance, charging them before
the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit. If
you should happen to go to the feed store, or go to the liquor
store, or if you should happen to stop by the truck stop, or
go to the bank, and you mention anything at all about religion,
or give anybody an opportunity to, They will immediately talk
about lots of stuff. Everybody has an opinion. I have
been pastoring now for 40 years. That's a long time. I'm sorry,
a lot longer than that, my soul, 48 years. And I don't know that
I know much about it, but I'll tell you what I found out. I
found out early, every mother's son is an authority on how it
ought to be done. I mean, everybody is anxious
to tell you what you ought to do as a pastor. Everybody, whether
they know God or don't, has an opinion about religious things.
Paul says, tell God's people, tell God's servants, don't strive
about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the souls,
to the subverting of the hearers, this constant conflict and strife
about nothing. Folks fuss about nothing. He
says, study to show thyself approved unto God, not approved to men,
not to get degrees and put them on the wall so folks can see
how smart you are, but approved unto God. What kind of man is
that? A workman that needeth not to
be ashamed. He got nothing to be ashamed
of, nothing to be bashful about. Faithful men, study and study,
seeking to know God, his truth and his word, to teach it to
others with boldness, with confidence, and have nothing to blush about.
Rightly dividing the word of truth. That is rightly teaching
from the scriptures what the scriptures teach. Fitting the
scriptures together so that men are made to see the whole truth
of God. But shun profane and vain babbling. Profane and vain babblings, just
the yak of men about religion. I hate to hear folks talk about
this book, who don't have any idea what they're talking about.
And I hate to hear folks speculate about this book and talk about
it as if you're talking about an article in the newspaper.
This is God's Word, Mark. It's to be dealt with with reverence,
bowed to, not debated. For they will increase unto more
ungodliness. Fighting about this book. Just
an increase of ungodliness. And their word will eat as doth
a canker, of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus, who concerning
the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past
already. Well, that doesn't seem like such a bad thing. We don't. And overthrow the faith of some. Oh, where's our peace? Where's
our comfort? Where's our security? Nevertheless, the foundation
of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them
that are his, and let every one that nameth the name of Christ
depart from iniquity. Merle, that's not talking about
drunkenness and adultery and fornication. That's talking about
doctrine that's iniquity. That's talking about corrupt
doctrine, corrupt teaching. But in a great house, they're
not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and
of earth. And some to honor and some to
dishonor. God uses all kinds of people
to build his house. All kinds of people to build
his church. All kinds of people to build
his kingdom. People who never are part of
it, but God uses them in the ways that he sees fit. I remember
years ago, Brother Mahan and I were driving back from a meeting,
and we'd gone through some difficult times. We'd seen some friends
going through difficult times, and he said, he said, Brother
Fortner, the Lord uses a lot of scaffolding to build his house. And it took a minute for it to
set in. I'm not a builder. The scaffolding is not part of
the building. When you get done with the building,
you just tear the scaffolding down and get rid of it. Some
vessels of honor, some dishonor. Some gold and silver and precious
stones, others just wood and hay and stubble. They don't. If a man therefore purge himself
from these, babbling, nitpicking, fussing, fighting, squabbling
people. He shall be a vessel unto honor,
sanctified in meat for the master's use, and prepared unto every
good work. Well, don't you think we ought
to answer them? No, I think you ought to ignore them. Ignore them. Well, don't you think you ought
to try to see their side of things? No, ignore them. Don't you think
you ought to investigate it? No, leave it alone Why on earth
I I don't some folks get upset with this and if you do you'll
just have to get upset I don't know why on earth Anybody would
eat out of a garbage can when they eat off of a fine spread
table with steak and gravy and potatoes. I don't understand
that. I don't know why folks want to
read trash when they read something good. I don't know why anybody
would want to investigate nonsense when they can investigate the
light of heaven given in the Word of God. Flee youthful lust. but follow after righteousness,
faith, charity, peace with them that call on the Lord out of
a pure heart. Pursue those things that clearly
promote and teach and focus your heart and mind on righteousness
and faith and love and peace. Why is that so hard, Mark? Why? Why would folks rather fight
than be at peace? Why would folks rather fuss about
stuff that matters not than follow righteousness and faith and peace? Whatever it is that divides brethren. I'm not talking about dividing
light from darkness. I'm talking about brethren. It's evil. Whatever
it is that doesn't promote the righteousness of God in Christ,
it's evil. Whatever it is that doesn't help
faith is a hindrance to faith. Read on. But foolish and unlearned
questions. That's what he's talking about.
Foolish and unlearned questions. Avoid. knowing that they do gender
strifes. That doesn't mean they sometimes
do, that means they always do. And the servant of the Lord must
not strive. Don't get involved in the squabble. Just don't do it. Not the preachers
and not the people. Just don't get involved in it.
But rather be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient. Just proclaim the gospel and
wait. Just preach the word and wait. Just spread the gospel
and wait. Just pray and wait. in meekness,
with bold confidence, knowing whose you are and who God is,
instructing those who oppose themselves, it just might be
God will bless it. That's what it says next. If
peradventure, God will give them repentance to the acknowledging
of the truth. and that they may recover themselves
out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him
at his will. Paul's talking about unregenerate
men, men who have no armor, women who have no armor, taken captive
by Satan at his will. I haven't followed much of the
news, I just saw a little bit of it last night, and I've been
working all day today, or whatever they found out about that shooting
in Las Vegas. How do you explain that? How
do you explain that? Successful businessman, man seemed
to have good sense, nobody expected him from, old man, man my age. Go and just slaughter people
senselessly? Men are taken captive of Satan at his will. At his will. Oh, Brother Dobbs,
we don't believe in that scary stuff. Well, it's high time you
pay attention. Men and women are taken captive
of Satan at his will. And I'll tell you what it takes
for that to happen. Just for God to leave you to yourself.
That's all it takes. The unregenerate are children
of darkness. They may be ever so wise in this
world, but they're ignorant of all things spiritual. Ignorant
of Satan, ignorant of sin, ignorant of the devices of hell, and they're
impotent as they are ignorant. If they would do any better,
they don't have any ability to do so. In a state of friendship with
sin, Friendship with ungodliness. Friendship with hell. Friendship
with Satan. Joining league with hell by voluntary
consents in hatred for God. There's no in between ground.
Either you bow to Christ the King, and worship and serve him. Are you in league with hell,
hating God and fighting God? Now there are some very practical
things for us to understand here. When Satan comes against the
natural man and overthrows every moral restraint, it's no marvel. The man is unarmed. It's unarmed. But when he comes against one
of the weakest of God's saints, he can do no harm. God's saints
are protected with the walls of salvation, and the fury of
hell cannot break through the bulwark of Zion. Twice, God tells
us by the prophet Isaiah, they shall not hurt my holy mountain. when Paul was bitten by an atter. He just shook it off and felt
no harm, felt no harm. You may rest assured, Satan will
rage wherever the gospel is preached, for the preaching of the gospel
is the battering ram of God by which he destroys the gates of
hell. And when a man stands forth to
preach the gospel, He's sure to be the object of Satan's fierce
opposition. But the gospel and the gospel
alone is the power of God under salvation. The gospel prevails. One angel, one preacher goes
out to preach the word. And as soon as he goes out to
preach, another flies back with a report, Babylon is fallen,
is fallen. And it happens all the time.
all the time, just when you think it looks like Satan's won the
day, it looks like the gates of God's church are about to
topple, the walls are about to fall over, the Lord God Almighty
raises his mighty arm and conquers Satan in another place and Babylon
falls before our Redeemer. It was by the gospel that the
apostles turned the world upside down. And by the gospel, the
kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of God's
dear son. Realizing what a sad condition
men and women are in by nature. You and I ought to be faithful. Oh, God, make us faithful while
we have breath in publishing the gospel of God's free grace. The armor we must put on is called
the armor of God. Sitting here trying to think
how I'm going to approach this when I get to this part of the
text. The armor of God. People, religious folks, preachers,
religious leaders, train men how to build churches. And there
are lots of ways to get it done. But it always involves entertaining
folks and rubbing them the right way and making them feel good
and doing this and doing that and having this and having that.
Always involves something. that's pleasing to and gratifying
to the flesh. It is our responsibility in this
place, Lindsay, never to give it, never. But the children like,
do you want your children to smile and play games and go to
hell or do you want to hear the gospel? But my family likes,
do you want them to know God or do you want them to go to
hell? The only weapons of our warfare are the things that God
provides by the gospel of his grace. We don't decide for ourselves
what armor we'll wear or how we'll get the job done. The trash
of our own whims will not do. It's not left up to the soldier
to bring the weapons he pleases. He takes the armor of God. Our
armor is and must be just that. Employ anything else. and you
only build with wood, hay, and stubble, and you watch it burn. We dare not add anything to God's
word or God's rule or God's weapons. If you can't find it in this
book, it's not to be practiced in this house. If you can't find
it in this book, it's not to be practiced in this house. And
God helping me, as long as I'm pastor, it won't be. It just
will not be. But you've got to get in step
with the times. I have deliberately, Claus, walked
out of step with the religious world all my life as a believer,
and I'm trying to get as far out of it as I can. I want no
connection with it. I want no connection with it.
Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 3. Paul says, though we walk in
the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. We're living in these
material, physical bodies of flesh, but we don't war after
the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but
mighty through God, to the pulling down of strongholds. casting
down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself
against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every
thought, now watch what it says, to the obedience of Christ. Oh
God, will you graciously bring every thought of my mind in submission
to the obedience of Christ? There are many who had much,
the Papists and Protestants and Baptists, liberals and fundamentalists. We build God's church with the
gold, silver, and precious stones of the gospel, not the wood,
hay, and stubble of the flesh. Not only must we use the armor
that God has ordained, we must rely upon the power of God alone. You see, it is God and God alone
who makes the weapons, and God and God alone who makes them
effectual. Prayer. Oh, what a weapon that
is in God's arsenal, but only God can make it effectual. Faith
is a weapon in Christ's cause, but only Christ can make that
faith fruitful. Hope is a helmet to protect us,
but only God can give us a good hope through grace. Righteousness
is a breastplate by which we're protected by our God, but it's
the breastplate of the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, righteousness
that God alone can give. It's the prayer of faith, the
hope, the righteousness, which is born of God that overcomes
the world. He provides the armor, He bestows
the armor, and He alone makes it effectual. But how complete
it is, it is the whole armor of God. You can't take the shield
of faith without taking the breastplate of righteousness and the helmet
of salvation. The whole armor of God is put
upon God's people, and it's armor that must be used. We put it
on, we wear it, and use it in battle until our warfare is ended
and our course is finished. That ye may be able to stand
against the wiles of the devil. Satan is subtle. beyond all creatures, subtle,
crafty, a foe who knows how best to conduct his warfare against
us. He's always quick to bring young
converts, young believers into temptations by which he would
overthrow them. He tempts us severely when we're
brought down with afflictions. Anytime a man undertakes a noble
work for God's glory, Satan will assault him furiously. That's
especially true with regard to preachers. Pastors, preachers, missionaries
must be prepared to take whatever God in his providence sends their
way by Satan's vicious attacks. Be prepared to take it. What
do you do? Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. You stand. You stand. Don't you feel things? Yeah, but don't let him know.
Oh yeah, but you stand. Stand firm. When believers become
weak through pride and self-contentment, oh, how quickly they're tempted
and sifted. Ask David. Ask Peter. Satan uses clever strategy. He mixes truth with error. Did you ever pay close attention
to what he did with the temptation of our Lord? Do you know what
he did? Everything he tempted our Lord
with, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the
pride of life, he quoted scripture. Quoted it exactly. I said it
right here in the book of God. It's what it says. And twisting
it, seeking to ensnare the Savior himself, he still does. He appears to be an angel of
light. He fashions his ministers into apostles of Christ, makes
them preachers of righteousness, and Satan uses those we might
least suspect to turn us from God's gospel, God's word, and
God's will. Delilah did more with Samson
than all the armies of the Philistines. Job's wife, his dear companion. My suspicions are Job and Sister
Job were as dear to one another as Don and Shelby are to one
another. But Job's greatest temptation came from his wife, who said,
won't you cuss God and die? Peter, in what he thought to
be noble Noble, noble calls. Said, Lord, you can't go to the
cross. I won't allow it. And he said,
get behind me, Satan. You savor not the things that
be of God, but those that are of the devil. Agabus and Paul's
traveling companions tried earnestly to keep him from going up to
Jerusalem when he knew this is what God would have him to do.
Preachers are certain Satan's favorite targets. He seeks to
disrupt the calls of Christ by turning men away with false doctrine,
with novelties, with religious controversy, with curiosities. Cotton Mather used to advise
young preachers, and it's good advice. He said, as much as possible,
avoid all controversy. And what he means by that is
all the yak men raise and debate about nonsense. Just preach the
gospel. You'll have plenty of conflict.
Just tell the truth. You'll have plenty of conflict.
Satan also assails God's saints as a malicious, deceitful accuser. He aggravates us with our sins.
He mocks our services. What do you think you're doing?
How do you think God's gonna bless that? How do you think
God's gonna use something like you? Look at your pitiful efforts.
He ridicules our faith. And we join him in the ridicule.
He seeks to destroy our peace, both our peace cooperatively
and our peace personally. And he tries always to keep us
looking in two directions, two directions. He always tries his
best to get me to look at you and you look at me and us to
look at ourselves. As long as we're inspecting one
another, we'll quibble and fuss. And as long as we're inspecting
ourselves, we'll stand in doubt and fear. If we look to Christ,
I got nothing to quibble with you about. I got nothing to fuss
with you about. And I've got every reason to
be confident before God. Now, briefly look at verse 12. Recognize the enemy. Recognize
the enemy. We wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against principalities and powers. Against the rulers
of the darkness of this world. That's not talking about Barack
Obama or Donald Trump, either one. That's not even talking
about Hillary and Bill. That's talking about preachers
and religious darkness. Spiritual wickedness in high
places, in heavenly places. the demons of hell, the principalities
and powers of the air, and men who have influence on men, on
their souls. Our enemies are not mere frail
flesh and blood, they're spiritual. But Christ, our mighty captain,
our omnipotent man of war, has conquered Satan already. Therefore
we have no reason to ever flinch in any conflict. No reason to ever flinch in any
battle. No reason to ever flinch before
any foe. And then in verse 13, Paul tells
us that we must go out and meet the enemy. Wherefore taken to
you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand
in the evil day. The evil day is on us. Sustained. And having done all to stand. Now, let me help you with that.
Having done all. The word is having finished all. Having fulfilled all. Having
conquered all. Having overcome all, stand. Don't be moved. Don't be moved. God give us grace together and
give us grace each of us who are his to stand, to stand. Our Savior says, all power is
given to me. All authority, all control, all
force, all ability, all competency, all might is in my hands. So
you go and preach the gospel and watch what I do. Let us be
found faithful, even in the heat of the battle. Someone said to
Athanasius one time, And he said, Athanasius, the whole world's
against you. He said, then it is I, Athanasius,
against the world. That must be our attitude. The
church of God must stand faithful to God's cause, to God's glory,
to God's gospel, to God's people. Stand firmly on Christ. the only foundation for your
soul before God. His blood is our only cleansing. His righteousness is our only
righteousness. His holiness, our only holiness. His forgiveness, our only forgiveness. His power, our only strength. Indeed, Christ is our only strength. Christ is all. Let me never look for anything
anywhere else except in Him, with Him, by Him, and from Him. Stand fast in the plain truth
of Holy Scripture and don't be moved away from it. As most of
you know, I'm from North Carolina. I was raised what they call a
Tar Heel. And there are lots of ways that
folks tell about how folks from Carolina got the name Tar Heels. This one's the one I like best,
that's the way I tell it. I have read that at the Battle
of Chickamauga, we went by it just the other day, where it
was located, The Confederate army was being overwhelmed and
the troops were ordered to retreat. And as others were pulling off
from the battlefield, the fellows from Carolina stayed right where
they were and held their post. And as folks walked away, somebody
said, those Carolina boys stand like they got tar on their heels. Plant your feet on the rock,
Christ Jesus, and stand, and let hell bring what it will.
Stand and be not moved, no matter what happens, looking to Christ
the Redeemer. Amen.