Simply Amazing – Don’t Doubt Who You Are In Christ - Purity 724
Purity 724 05/06/2022 Purity 724 Podcast
Good morning,
Today’s photo of “a beautiful view late in the afternoon with
some silhouettes of people enjoying the day” on the shores of Hallet Cove Beach
in Adelaide South Australia comes to us from Dave Baun photography. You can
follow Dave on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/DaveBaunPhotography/)
with a link on the blog today and you can also read a blog post I shared last
year about how a photographer from Pennsylvania found himself living in the
land Down Under. His wife Liisa shared their
” beautiful story of how God can take two hearts from opposite sides of the
planet and make them collide” with me after she discovered my teachings of
Victory Over the Darkness on the mt4christ247 podcast and allowed me to share
it on the blog. Follow this link to read Liisa’s story in her words and see the
wedding video (https://www.mt4christ.org/2021/04/this-is-testimony-of-my-australian.html).
Well it’s Friday and stories like Liisa and Dave’s, and My wife
TammyLyn and mine, testify of the fact of how God will move people to do things,
to go places, and to meet people that they would have never experienced if they
didn’t answer the call to make the Lord a part of their life. In our stories, we sought the Lord first and
followed where he led us not knowing what He had in store for us.
Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV) says
6 But without faith it is
impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He
is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
If I were to only able to share one piece of advice or one word
of encouragement, it would be: to seek the Lord. The rewards we receive for faithfully
seeking the Lord lie beyond our imagination because when we decide to seek and
to follow God we simply do not know all the things He will work together for
our good. A life dedicated to following
the Lord’s call is best described as amazing. It is amazing in its grace that
takes us from death to life and amazing in the true sense of the word as we
will live in the definition of amazing – that we will encounter things “causing
great surprise or wonder”. Things that are “astonishing.”
Last night, in the Men’s Freedom in Christ Course that I facilitate
on Zoom, even though we are only in the half of the class, one of the participant’s
is already testifying of the peace that he has found now that he has decided to
investigate the Christian faith for himself and to apply the truths of God’s
word to His life.
In this world where one’s religion can be seen as a list of
requirements, and Christianity can be no different, one can wonder and doubt whether
they really are a Christian.
This particular participant didn’t necessarily come boldly into
the class proclaiming himself as a Christian so I was somewhat hesitant to
directly ask him if he has put his faith in Christ but as we have advanced in
the course the questions in the course are presented with the presupposition
that at this point the participant’s have alrready put their faith in Christ. So
last night it was a little awkward asking they guys about what they have
noticed has changed since becoming a Christian, when in this man’s case I didn’t
know for sure if he was a Christian.
So, being me, and actually following a basic principle of
Nouthetic (biblical) counseling, I just asked the question: are you a Christian?
And this is a good point to recognize, if in our walk we come to
a place where we are in conflict, may be we find ourselves between two people
who are presenting different views of what they are going through and we really
don’t know what to think and while we don’t want to offend anyone, we are stuck
in our ability to advice or counsel because things are unclear. So what do we do? Well we have to make things clear. We have to confront the “elephant in the room”.
We have to present what we have heard, how we perceive it, clarify if our perceptions
are correct, and point out the inconsistencies that we are getting from the various
views and try to rectify them with the wisdom found in the word of God. When we are seeking to reconcile people to
God and put them on the path to peace that comes from being in harmony with Him,
all problems are considered through the lens of the Christian faith. We recommend just doing what feels good or to
do things according to what society deems okay, we direct people to seek and
follow the Lord’s wisdom for our lives.
So when the course brought us to a place where the presumption
was being made that the participants had faith in Christ, I had to ask the awkward question and clarify
things, one way or the other. Have you
put your faith in Christ? Are you a Christian?
And not surprisingly, I was asked a clarifying question in
response.
Well, what do you mean by “Christian”? Yup, he “Bill Clinton”ed me! And you know what? that’s okay. Sometimes we need to know what the meaning of
“is” is!
So for him, and for you, I simply presented being a Christian through
the lens of scripture, right? With
Romans 10:9 (NKJV) which says
9 that if you confess with
your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him
from the dead, you will be saved.
And I should have included
Romans 10:10 (NKJV) which says
10 For with the heart one
believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation.
Because I then asked him if there was ever a point in his
life where he had a moment where he say the truth of who Jesus was and made a decision
is his heart to ask God for forgiveness of his sins and to make Jesus his Lord
and Savior.
To which my friend, and now fully confirmed brother in Christ
said: “Oh, yeah! Absolutely.”
He then explained that he had doubts about his faith or
status as a Christian because of the other Christians that he had experienced in
his life seemed to present the Christian faith with a lot of “have to’s” or “should’s”. Like you “have to go to church, and read the
Bible, and do street preaching, and tithe, and etc, etc , etc.”
So looking at Romans 10:9, we can see that all that “stuff”
while good are not required for salvation. If you confess with your mouth Jesus
as Lord, Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart (like really believe -not just a
mental assent) that He was raised from the dead (why is this a big deal – oh maybe
because His resurrection proves He is God). then you will be saved. That’s it.
That’s all folks. It is through faith in Jesus Christ ALONE that we are
saved.
This basic truth was a great relief to our friend, our
brother in Christ. After this exchange,
a burden seemed to be lifted from his shoulders and he testified of how he was
greatly encouraged by the Case for Christ documentary, link on the blog (https://youtu.be/rbTSyqbUz1A) , that I
had shared with Him because it demonstrated how the Christian faith was
rational and reasonable and he described how since he started investigating his
Christian faith he has increasingly experienced peace that he simply didn’t
have before. Amazing.
So, if you are a sheepish sheep in the Lord’s flock, who
may doubt your membership in God’s royal family, let me assure you that the
only requirement for being in the faith is faith, faith in Christ.
If you believe in your heart that Jesus was and is who He
said He is, and that His death on the cross was meaningful, that it did pay for
the sins of all who put their trust in Him, and you believe that He was raised
from the dead, you are saved. You are forgiven. You are a child of God and only
need to believe and trust in what the Lord has already done for you. In Christ
we have new life, it’s only a matter of believing that truth, and living
according to it, to experience the amazing life that God wants you to live.
So Thank God it’s Friday, and keep walking and talking with
God because when you do that you will be amazed at what Lord has in store for
you.
______________________________________________________________
Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible Promise Book
for Men”.
This morning’s meditation verse is:
Luke 1:37 (NKJV)
37 For with God nothing will
be impossible."
Today’s Bible verse comes from a heavenly messenger and encourages us
to know that there is nothing that is impossible with God.
This statement was from the Angel Gabriel who was sharing the amazing
news that Mary would have a baby through the power of the Holy Spirit. Talk about
impossible. But Mary was a virgin and Christ was born, as the song says “on
Christmas day in the morning!” Nothing is impossible with God.
God is the creator of the universe.
He literally created everything out of nothing. He is self-existent. No one created God. He
is the One who has always been and is over above time and space and will
determine the course for His creation.
The miracles of Jesus teach us that Jesus was God and that things we
would think were impossible were possible through Christ.
Testimonies through out the history of Christendom speak of miracles in
the lives of believers. While miracles
are very rare, they prove that God is still active in our world and nothing is impossible for Him.
In our lives as disciples as we repent from our worldly ways, the Lord
may put it on us to do things we never would have even through to try to do before
coming to Christ. Changing our lives and obeying the Lord might seem
impossible. But the Lord gives all believers the indwelling presence of the
Holy Spirit to empower us to accomplish all that He call us to do. If we believe, if we have faith, if we trust
the Lord and do what He calls us to do, not just get what we want
necessarily, we will see the Lord help
us to do what we thought was impossible.
We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us but the first
step to being amazed is believing that with God nothing is impossible.
As
always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I always share insights from
prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and
sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today
we continue sharing from John Piper’s “Don’t Waste Your Life”.
As always, I share this information for educational purposes
and encourage all to purchase John Pipers’ books for your own private
study and to support his work. This resource is available on many
websites for less than $5.00.
Risking for the Wrong
Reasons
There is more than one
danger in calling Christians to take risks. I mentioned one of them in Chapter 4,
namely, that we might become so fixated on self-denial that we are unable to
enjoy the proper pleasures of this life that God has given for our good.
Another danger, which is worse, is that we might be drawn to a life of risk for
self-exalting reasons. We might feel the adrenaline of heroism rising. We might
scorn the lazy and cowardly and feel superior. We might think of risk as a kind
of righteousness that makes us acceptable to God. What would be missing from
all these mistakes is childlike faith in the sovereign rule of God in the world
and in his triumphant love.
I
have been assuming that the power and the motive behind taking risks for the
cause of God is not heroism, or the lust for adventure, or the courage of
self-reliance, or the need to earn God’s good will, but rather faith in the
all-providing, all-ruling, all-satisfying Son of God, Jesus Christ. The
strength to risk losing face for the sake of Christ is the faith that God’s
love will lift up your face in the end and vindicate your cause. The strength
to risk losing money for the cause of the Gospel is the faith that we have a
treasure in the heavens that cannot fail. The strength to risk losing life in
this world is faith in the promise that he who loses his life in this world
will save it for the age to come.
This
is very different from heroism and self-reliance. When we risk losing face or
money or life because we believe God will always help us and use our loss, in
the end, to make us more glad in his glory, then it’s not we who get the praise
because of our courage; it’s God who gets the praise because of his care. In
this way risk reflects God’s value, not our valor.
This
foundation for fearlessness must not be assumed. We are wired to risk for the
wrong reasons. Without Christ, we are all legalists or lechers at heart—wanting
to do our own thing, or wanting to do God’s thing in our way to prove our own
ability. Since we are wired this way, we need protection. God has given us
another way to pursue risk. Do it “by the strength that God supplies—in order
that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 4:11).
And the way God supplies his strength is through faith in his promises. Every
loss we risk in order to make much of Christ, God promises to restore a
thousandfold with his all-satisfying fellowship.
The Power to Risk Is in the Promise of God
Earlier in this chapter I
mentioned Luke 21:16 where Jesus says to his disciples, “Some of you they will
put to death.” But I did not mention the promise that follows: “You will be
hated by all for my name’s sake. But not
a hair of your head will perish” (verse 18). This is one of those painful
paradoxes in the Bible: “Some of you they will put to death.… But not a hair of
your head will perish”! What does this mean? What is Jesus trying to say to us
when he says, “Go ahead and risk obedience; some of you they will put to death;
but not a hair of your head will perish”?
I
think the best commentary on these verses is Romans 8:35–39.
Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep
to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through
him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor
rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor
depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the
love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Compare
these terrible and wonderful words with what Jesus said: “Some of you they will
put to death.… But not a hair of your head will perish.”
Like
Jesus, Paul says that the love of Christ for us does not eliminate our
suffering. On the contrary, our very attachment to Christ will bring suffering.
What is Paul’s answer to his own question in verse 35: “Shall tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword separate
us from the love of Christ?” His answer in verse 37 is a resounding NO! But
don’t miss the implication of the question: The reason these things will not
separate us from the love of Christ is not because they don’t happen to people
whom Christ loves. They do. Paul’s quoting of Psalm 44:22 shows that these
things do in fact happen to Christ’s people. “For your sake we are being killed
all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” In other words,
Christ’s love for us does not spare us these sufferings. Risk is real. The Christian
life is a painful life. Not joyless. But not painless either.
Does God Really Supply All We Need?
This is the meaning of the
little word “in” found in verse 37: “In all
these things we are more than conquerors.…” We are more than conquerors in our afflictions, not by avoiding
them. So Paul agrees with Jesus: “Some of you they will put to death.”
Obedience is risk. And it is right to risk for the cause of God. Some of the
risks are mentioned in verse 35:
• “tribulation”—the trouble and
oppression of various kinds that Paul says we must walk through on our way to
heaven (Acts 14:22).
• “distress”—calamities that bring
stress and threaten to break us like a stick (2 Corinthians 6:4; 12:10).
• “persecution”—active opposition from
the enemies of the Gospel (Matthew 5:11–12).
• “danger”—every kind of threat or
menace to body, soul, and family (2 Corinthians 11:26).
• “sword”—the weapon that killed James
(Acts 12:2).
• “famine and nakedness”—the lack of
food and clothing.
I
put “famine and nakedness” last because they pose the greatest problem. Did not
Jesus say:
Do
not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor
about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body
more than clothing? … do not be anxious, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What
shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” … your heavenly Father knows that you
need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all
these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:25, 31–33)
“Well,
which is it?” we might ask. Are Christians subject to “famine and nakedness” or
will God provide “all these things” when we need them? Will Christians never
hunger or starve or be ill-clothed? Have not some of the greatest saints in the
world been stripped and starved? What about Hebrews 11:37–38? “They were
stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about
in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated—of whom the world
was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves
of the earth.” The losses and miseries of these believers was not owing to
their unbelief. They were faithful—people “of whom the world was not worthy.”[1]
---------------------------more
tomorrow------------------------
Join
our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, "Freedom in
Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the mt4christ247 podcast!
at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can
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(https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The
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These teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 You
Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTxjSNstREpuGWuL0bF3U7w/featured
Email
me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class
materials, share your progress, and to be encouraged.
My
wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via her Facebook Group:
Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask,
Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)
Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship
[1]
John Piper, Don’t Waste Your Life (Wheaton, IL:
Crossway Books, 2003), 90–93.
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