August 2, 2026 – Resist: Victory Strategies: The Church | Baptist Bible Church, Sparta MI

I think depending on the day, there can be a lot of different attitudes we may come into church with Sunday morning.

Maybe you come in hoping that the songs today help me worship God.

Maybe you come in with the attitude, I hope this pastor's sermon is engaging today.

Maybe you come in and you say, I've had a hard week, it's been a stressful week, it's been a disappointing week.

I hope I leave church feeling better today.

Maybe you come in with some apprehension about future things, upcoming appointments, family interactions, project at work.

Maybe your hope is that maybe I can find some peace to help my troubled soul today.

I'd like to challenge you with this thought this morning.

What if I told you that God has designed the regular gathering together of the local church to be a means by which you are helped in your fight against sin?

How would that change the attitudes or dispositions or the frame of mind you have coming to church on Sunday?

How would that perhaps change the interactions that you have with others on Sunday?

What I'd like to do this morning in our continued study on the topic of spiritual warfare is to examine the scriptures together and to look at the several ways that God has designed the regular gathering together of the church to be an avenue by which you are equipped and enabled to fight sin.

And in fact, I have six ways this morning, six ways that God has designed the gathering together of the church to help you fight sin.

And as we examine each of these ways that God has designed the church, my challenge to you is to embrace the mindset and to think when I come to church, how is this affecting me or framing my mindset coming into church?

And the goals with, or the goals that I have, or the things that I hope are accomplished when I come to church on Sundays.

So, really hoping this morning that these passages of Scripture help give us a change of mind on Sundays that then better prepare us for the week ahead.

Think of Sunday as the day that prepares you for Monday through Saturday, and how you can be better equipped to fight sin on the days that we're not gathered together.

So let's go ahead and let's open our Bibles to 2 Timothy chapter 3 this morning.

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

2 Timothy chapter 3.

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

Let's pray and then we'll dig into the text.

Heavenly Father, thanks for today.

Thank you now that we have the opportunity to open up your word.

I pray, Father, that you would give us a spirit of humility as we approach your word this morning.

Break down any resistance we have in our own hearts or our own wills this morning.

And help us to just receive and accept what your word has for us today.

And I pray that as we do that, that uh we would be blessed, blessed in receiving the teachings of your word, blessed in how your word helps us to grow, and blessed and how it helps us to fight against sin and how it illuminates how you have designed the church to be an essential resource, just a vital resource in our own fights against sin.

So help us to embrace that today.

It's in Jesus' name I pray.

Amen.

2 Timothy chapter 3, beginning in verse 16, we read all scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

Now we have already noticed in our study on spiritual warfare the essential nature that the word of God plays in our fight against sin.

If you remember in Ephesians chapter 6, Paul refers to the Word of God as the sword of the Spirit, and we looked in Matthew chapter 4 and how Jesus defeated the temptations of the enemy with the Word of God, and we recognized the importance of biblical meditation, allowing the Word of God to become internalized in you, and then equipping and enabling you to fight against sin.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention Matthew 4 · chapter mention

And here, in a similar vein and a similar way, Paul elaborates on the benefit of the Word of God.

And we notice here the words that he uses in verse 16.

It's for teaching, reproof, correction, training in righteousness.

These are words that point to the concept of sanctification, this concept that we are called to progressively be turning away from sin and turning towards righteousness and walking in holiness.

And here Paul is explaining the word of God is profitable for this process.

And it even is able to complete you and equip you and prepare you to go out and live out your faith by doing every good work.

But what I want us to notice this morning is that right after Paul explains the benefit, the profitability of the scriptures for sanctification, he then goes on into chapter 4 and verse 1, and he says, I charge you, speaking now to Timothy, in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom.

This is a pretty weighty charge.

Preach the word.

Be ready in season and out of season.

Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching.

With the profitability of the word of God in mind, Paul then challenges Timothy to be faithful to preach the word.

Preach the word to the church.

Last week, our youngest Beniah fell down the stairs at our house and he broke his arm and had to go in, and we knew, we knew the proper treatments.

He had to get a cast.

But imagine if instead of putting him in a cast, imagine that we decided we were going to try other treatments.

Let's just give him a bunch of vitamin C.

Or let's just make them drink a bunch of milk.

Milk helps bones, right?

Let's just make them drink a bunch of milk.

You know, or maybe if we just soak it in water for three hours a day, that'll fix the problem.

If I came up here and I told you we were doing these things, you would say, What are you doing?

Get them to the hospital and put them in a cast.

It's the only way that will heal the bone.

It needs to be set and put in a cast so that it's not moving around.

You need to allow it to heal.

We know the remedy for the problem.

And I think as believers, we need to recognize that we we know that we need the word of God to fight sin.

We need it.

We need God's word internalized in us.

We need the word of God to help us to fight against sin.

And so we recognize this morning when we gather to church for together for church, when we gather together as believers, this is a primary function.

We don't come together to get self-help manual, you know, six ways to make your life better.

We don't gather together for that on Sundays.

We don't gather together to, you know, open up the newspaper and study, you know, let's let's all look at the news together today.

That's not the purpose or function for why we gather.

We gather together because we have the remedy for sin.

We need it.

So we come together together humbly submit ourselves before what the text says.

And as we do so, it is the word of God that works in our hearts and empowers us and enables us to fight sin and to live for Jesus.

So as you come on a Sunday morning, let me challenge you to come with the mindset and really the prayer that says, God, help equip me with the truths of your word today to help me to fight sin.

Come Sunday morning with that attitude and that prayer in mind.

Help me today, God, with your word.

Equip me to fight sin today.

Okay, that's one reason, or that's the first way that God has designed the local church to strengthen and equip you to fight sin.

The ministry of the word in the local church equips you with scripture to fight sin.

Secondly, Colossians chapter 3.

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

Colossians chapter 3, verse 16.

Colossians 3:16

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

So we notice here two components to the gathering together of the local church.

One, we've already noticed the preaching and teaching of the word of God, and the challenge here to let that word dwell in you, internalize it.

Don't let it go in one ear and out the other and forget what you've heard.

He says, Let the word of Christ let it dwell in you, let it live inside of you.

But then, interestingly enough, he goes on to explain one of the avenues by which we internalize the word of God.

And he says there in the second half of the verse that is a participle that modifies the command, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in verse 16, he says, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.

So another way that God has designed the local church to strengthen and equip us in our fight against sin is through the worship of the local church, as the church gathers together to worship, through the singing of songs.

And it is this scripture-saturated worship that stirs the affections of our hearts toward the Lord.

I think that there are times living in Michigan when we can begin to complain about the weather here.

If that's you, if you've ever complained about the weather in Michigan, would you just slip your hand up?

Admit it, admit it, every hand should be raised here.

We've all done it.

We've all done it.

There are times when we grow weary of the snow or the, you know, the smoke from Canada or, you know, whatever else we complain.

The heat.

We've had a heat wave recently, and we complain, don't we?

But then there are times when we maybe go to the beach and we enjoy the Lake Michigan that we have here.

And maybe there are times where we're driving and we enjoy the beauty of the fall colors here in Michigan that are just so beautiful here.

Or there are times where maybe you go out and you pick fresh blueberries, like we just did a week or two ago.

And you eat the blueberries, you pick one and you eat one, and you pick one and you eat one, and you're reminded of the delicious, the delicious produce here in Michigan.

And as you experience these good things, you're reminded of the fact that, hey, I actually like it here.

Hey, I actually like it here in Michigan.

There's goodness here, there's good things to enjoy here, and these these things that that happen, they draw our hearts back to reminding that I can be thankful for living here, even if I have to deal with snow.

I can still be thankful.

And when we think about the songs that we sing on Sundays, especially as we think about the songs, as they contain biblical truths.

They contain, they're rich in scripture and biblical concepts and important reminders, and they magnify the character and nature of God.

And as we dedicate ourselves to singing these songs together, there is something important that's meant to be happening in your heart as we do that.

You are meant to be drawn to the Lord.

The affections of your heart, your loves, it is your heart is meant to be shaped in its love and affection for the Lord as you sing songs rich in the truths of Scripture.

So, could I challenge you this morning when we come together and we sing, are you allowing that to happen in your hearts?

In order for that to happen, you need to be intentional about what you're singing.

It needs to be engaging, heart and mind together.

Not just singing just to, you know, hum the tune along, you know, because uh that's a catchy tune.

You know, all right, for I've sung this one a hundred times.

You know, I know this one.

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da.

Oh, this is meant to be a time where we are gathering together and in the form of song, in the form of worship through song, our hearts are being stirred in our love for God.

We're being drawn to the Lord.

And by the way, drawn away from sin.

Turned away from sin and to enjoying and delighting in God and in his goodness as we reflect on these wonderful truths from Scripture as we sing.

We need these reminders on a regular basis, don't we?

We need to be reminded of the goodness of God, what he's done and who he is.

And as those reminders take place, this then produces the fruit of thanksgiving in our hearts, Paul says at the end of verse 16.

So when you come to church on Sunday, pray.

Embrace the attitude and pray, God, draw my heart away from sin and toward you today.

Draw my heart away from my sin.

Draw me toward yourself today, as we gather together.

Third, first Corinthians chapter eleven.

First Corinthians chapter eleven, verse.

Let a person examine himself then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.

That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.

But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged.

But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined, so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

So, in this context, in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, Paul is offering instruction on the Lord's Supper and how to rightly worship the Lord through this practice.

1 Corinthians 11 · chapter mention

And we notice in the text here that one of the essential components to the practice of the Lord's Supper is self-examination.

Do you see that in verse 28?

Let a person examine himself, and then, after examining himself, eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

This time of self-reflection, of self-examination is meant to be a time where we look within our own hearts and we search out our hearts before the Lord.

And as we search our hearts and we see that, okay, I've sinned here, or this is a spirit of rebellion or disobedience, or this is an area in which I have not been faithful to the Lord.

And as we take time to reflect and open up our hearts before the Lord, it's a time for confession before the Lord and a repentance to say, God, here is where I've sinned.

God, please forgive me.

As I turn away from that sin.

And in fact, there's a warning here.

Paul gives a warning in this text, and he says, if you don't judge yourself, be warned.

God will do the judging.

And he refers to it here as a form of discipline, indicating there is a seriousness to the Lord's Supper.

We shouldn't approach the Lord's table with a flippant attitude or with an attitude that doesn't really take sin very seriously.

It shouldn't be just routine either.

This is meant to be a time where we seriously reflect in our own hearts before the Lord and say, God, here's where I have sinned.

It's an opportunity.

It's an opportunity to confess that sin and to restore your fellowship with the Lord.

Martin Luther wrote that the entire life of a believer is a life of repentance.

Isn't that interesting?

Repentance isn't a one-time action.

The point he was making is that we must be in a regular state, a constant frame of mind where we are regularly turning away from sin and turning to Jesus over and over and over again.

And what's interesting about 1 Corinthians 11 is that Paul is explaining, this is what we do at the Lord's Supper.

This is what we are, this is as we are remembering and reflecting on the sacrifice of Christ.

And we are, we are remembering what was accomplished at the cross, remembering that Jesus gave his life to die for our sins.

As we do that, it is a time for us to repent of that sin and turn to Jesus and receive grace and mercy as we do so.

It's not unlike the regularly scheduled oil change for your vehicle.

It's important to go in on a regular basis and have the oil changed in your vehicle, isn't it?

What happens if you go five, six, seven, eight, nine thousand miles without bringing your vehicle in for an oil change?

What eventually happens to that vehicle?

It's headed for destruction.

It's headed for disaster.

There's forced maintenance.

Forced maintenance.

I have to bring the vehicle in in order to get it changed.

And I think it's helpful maybe to think of the Lord's Supper in this terminology, in this way, perhaps.

That as the local church gathers and regularly practices the Lord's Supper, this is something the church does on a regular basis, as there's a routine to it.

And that's intentional, so that we never can get too far along in our sin without being confronted at the cross.

There's never a time in life, if we're regularly joining together and gathering together as a local church, there are going to be regular pit stops, regular oil changes where we are taking time and we are about to partake of the bread and partake of the cup, and it's a time to go before the Lord.

That's forced upon you, isn't it?

Now, I guess you don't, you can just sit there and just nod off and go to sleep if you wanted to.

But it's woven into the fabric of the gathering together of the church that we will regularly be going together before the Lord, partaking of the bread, partaking of the cup, and doing so with an attitude and a posture of repentance.

So as you come together, as you join together for the gathering of the local church, we are in prayer called to confess and repent of our sin.

This is another avenue in which God has designed the local church to strengthen and equip you to fight sin.

It keeps you in a state of repentance.

It keeps you going before the Lord exactly.

Examining your heart and confessing sin.

How about the next one?

Hebrews chapter ten.

Hebrews chapter ten, look in verse twenty-four.

Hebrews ten, twenty-four.

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another.

And all the more as you see the day drawing near.

So we notice here the challenge to regularly gather.

And in this context, the community of the local church strengthens us to persevere against sin.

Notice here in the text.

A church in which people simply come and receive and then leave without any kind of interaction, without any kind of developing of bonds or community would have been foreign to what the author of Hebrews is writing about here.

This concept of I just come to church and then I leave and I have, I develop no relationships, there's no community, there's no camaraderie, there's no accountability.

No, in Hebrews chapter 10, we notice this is the vision, this is the idea.

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

A church in which there is mutual encouragement, mutual building up of one another, mutual stirring one another up for love and good works.

A thriving and active community whereby believers are helping and encouraging one another to keep on living for Jesus.

This is the community that's envisioned here, a community that is investing in you, a community that's loving you, a community that is encouraging you.

And this kind of community is a powerful resource in your battle against sin.

To know that you have a church family that is invested in you in this way and is encouraging you in this way.

One Puritan by the name of Richard Baxter wrote this: dead stones in an arch uphold one another.

And shall not the living?

Referencing this right here.

Living stones built up, built together, built into a spiritual house.

This is the vision.

This is the vision the author of Hebrews is laying out here.

That we are a church body that is being built together, that the Christian walk, the Christian faith isn't an isolated journey or a solitary path where it's you against your sin and you're all on your own.

The local church is meant to be a body of believers that is mutually helping each other take that next step in your faith.

Take that next step in your fight against sin.

And so as you come to church on Sunday, pray, God, use me for the purpose of sanctifying fellowship in this body.

Use me to help someone else grow in their faith.

That should be the attitude.

Notice I didn't say, God, when I come to church, make everybody invest in me.

If everybody has that concept or that attitude, then nobody invests in anybody.

It requires a focus when you come to church to say, who can I encourage today?

What relationship can I foster and develop today?

How can I be part of facilitating, sanctifying fellowship in this body of believers?

And in doing so, function as a living stone that is being built up into a spiritual house together.

The community of the local church strengthens us to persevere against sin.

And just a couple pages, a couple chapters over, Hebrews chapter 13, we notice another avenue by which God has designed the local church to help in our fight against sin.

Hebrews 13 · chapter mention

That would be the leadership of the local church, offers help in your fight against sin.

He says, Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account.

Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

The phrase here to keep watch literally means to go sleepless.

It indicates an alertness or a watchfulness.

Pastors and elders are meant to alertly watch over the spiritual lives of those that they are responsible for.

And we notice here in the text that they will one day give an account for how they kept watch over those souls.

This is a charge and a challenge to pastors and elders.

But notice here in the text that this is indeed a two-way street.

The leading, the shepherding, the counseling, the preaching and teaching of the pastors and elders must be received in order for it to actually be helpful.

He tells us here obey and submit.

Let them watch over your soul with joy and not with groaning.

And the promise is that as you receive the leading and the shepherding of the pastors and the elders, that it will be a help to you in your own faith and in your own fight against sin.

And so as you come to church on Sunday, pray, God, please use my pastor and elders to lead me in a way that honors you and use them to help me grow in my love for you and my fight against sin.

One last one here in Matthew chapter 18.

Matthew 18 · chapter mention

Matthew chapter 18, verse 15.

Matthew 18:15

If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.

If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.

But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.

If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church.

And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

We notice here that Jesus gives a model of accountability that is meant to be implemented in the local church.

And we notice the purpose of this accountability in verse 15.

He says, if he listens to you, you have gained your brother.

The desired outcome, the desired outcome of the accountability of the local church is that it produces repentance and keeps people away from sin.

We can think of it like if you're driving down the road and maybe you begin to fall asleep.

You begin to veer off the road.

What's the first thing that will happen to you as you begin to veer off the road?

Rumble strips.

Yeah.

Yeah, I thought maybe somebody would give the sound.

Is that Brian?

Did you hit any of those on the way home?

Yeah.

I bet they were extra loud with a trailer behind you.

What is that meant to do?

Wake up! Danger! Alerts, alerts! And if those rumble strips don't work, then what happens?

Maybe you're on a stretch of road where there are railings on the side of the road, or maybe a hill or something that's meant to keep you from going into a dangerous place, either a ditch or in the other flow of traffic.

Maybe concrete is separating you.

There are things in place that are meant to keep you in your lane.

And there's even cars now where if you start going in the wrong lane, the vehicle itself will start to beep at you, to warn you, you're drifting, you're drifting.

We ought to think of the local church in this way.

But one way God has designed the local church to function is to be those rumble strips, to be that guardrail.

The accountability that's meant to be fostered and developed and facilitated in the context of a local church is meant to keep you in the right lane and guard you against turning into sin and turning into a life of unrepentance.

But that is not only a mechanism, we practice the mechanism of that through church membership.

Church membership enables the church to function as that accountability mechanism, and that's important, but that also must be invested in.

Meaning we can't just be a church where we're just going around pointing fingers.

Hey, you're sinning.

Hey, stop sinning.

Hey, don't look at me.

Look at these people.

They're all sinning.

If we primarily view accountability as the concept of we need to be calling out everybody else's sin, we're not gonna help anybody.

That's why a passage like this goes hand in hand with a passage like we saw in the book of Hebrews, chapter 10.

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

There must be a loving accountability in the context of the local church that must be developed, that must be worked towards.

A genuine loving relationship.

And it's in that context where this in Matthew chapter 18, verse 15 can take place in an effective way.

Matthew 18:15

Because notice what does Jesus say?

If he listens to you, you have gained what?

Your brother.

Your brother, your family, someone you love and cherish and care for deeply.

So when we come to church, when we gather together as a local church, pray, God, use this church body to guard me against sin and help me to graciously be that accountability for others.

When we gather together as a church, it is a time to strengthen and bolster our defenses against the enemy.

It's a time for you to turn your own heart away from sin and turn it to the Lord in worship and in love.

So as we gather together, come to church with this mentality, this mindset.

When I come on Sunday morning, God help equip me today to fight sin.

And may what happens today, what happens at the local gathering of this body of believers, may it equip me Monday through Saturday this week to be more effective at fighting against sin and resisting the assault of the enemy.

Lord, use your church, use your church to help me to grow in my faith, to grow in my holiness, and to fight sin.

Father, we thank you for today.

We thank you for this opportunity we've had to open up your word and to look at several passages this morning that help us to see how you've designed the church to be a resource for us in our fight against sin.

We're thankful for your church.

We're thankful for the believers here.

We're thankful for the fellowship, the community that we enjoy here.

We recognize this morning that the church is more than just an avenue for seeing friends or enjoying small talk or going to get coffee and uh treats.

But God, that it is the body of Christ, and that gathered together, assembled together, it does some amazing things.

And so help us, help us today, Father, to uh allow ourselves to be molded and transformed in our fight against sin through the ministry of the local church.

Help us to approach with humility, with gratefulness, and with open and receptive hearts and minds.

And help us to contribute to a body, a church body that is an effective resource and a help against sin.

Help us to contribute to that and how we pour into and invest in this church.

We love you, God.

We're thankful for the resources you provide us in our fight against sin.

Help us.

Help us to fight.

Not because we just want to be good rule followers.

Not because we believe we have to be morally perfect to receive your love or your grace.

But because we love you and we know that your way is best, your righteousness is good, there is great benefit to walking with you and in you.

And yours are so much better than sin and what anything sin can offer us.

Compel us toward holiness for these reasons.

It's in Jesus' name I pray.