Many Paths to God – Lies of
the Enemy – Purity 1013
Purity 1013 04/10/2023 Purity 1013 Podcast
Purity 1013 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo of a blue sky view through the tops of
trees comes to us from yours truly as I decided to capture what I saw when I
decided to look up somewhere along the 4.2 mile expanse of the Wilkinson Trail at
the Saratoga National Historical Park as my wife and I decided to “Do Something!”
with the pleasant spring day that the Lord provided us with this past
Saturday. Despite getting our feet wet,
because of some marshy portions of the trail, and because TammyLyn decided to
trust me when I didn’t know where I was going, we had a pleasant hike and day
together.
Afterwards, I was struck by just how appropriate,
our spontaneous hike turned out to be as Saturday was Holy Saturday – a day
that many Christians use to reflect on the death of Jesus who died for their freedom,
and we were walking the grounds of a Revolutionary Battlefield where regular
men paid the ultimate cost for American Independence. It was also seemed to be fitting because we
had been to the site of what was essentially the last battle of the American Revolution
while on vacation in Virginia with our visit to Yorktown, and here we were
again with what was essentially the first decisive American Victory of the
Revolution, and the first time that a British Army ever surrendered in the
field of battle- ever, causing the French to lend their support to the American
cause that eventually was won. History
is really is amazing but when we consider that our Sovereign God is directing
it we really get a sense of how these “fortunate events” were purposefully
crafted to lead us where we are today as a nation and as individuals.
That’s right, where we are today has everything to
with who God is, who we are, whether or
not we have been called by Him into His kingdom, and what we have done in
response to that call if we have heard it.
So it is with this consideration on my mind that I
have decided to begin a new series that will be of my own design and creation
as I feel led to examine the “Lies of the Enemy” that I have encountered
throughout my life that may or may have not caused me to stay in darkness for
the 38 years of my life before the light of the gospel brought me to life
everlasting and before my faith in Christ compelled me to get on and stay on
the path of Christian discipleship.
I will rely the Holy Spirit to guide me in this new
venture and would like to temper expectations now. I have limited time each day
with which to write and I realize that some of these “Lies of the Enemy” could
require an entire book to unpack all the different aspects of the deceptions
that would cause us to doubt or draw away from the Lord and the life of faith
He is calling us to. So forgive me,
beforehand for my limitations, and for the spontaneous nature of this “new
series”.
Lie # 1: There are Many Paths to God and His
Kingdom.
This particular lie is one of the favorites of our
current society and is increasing in popularity as more and more people either consider
non-Christian philosophies or religions or have claimed “non-religious” or atheist
status. Bumper stickers proclaiming “Co-existence”,
“Tolerance” or “Diversity” advocate for a peace despite our individual
differences, which is a noble sentiment, but it does so in a universe that is
enmeshed in a spiritual war where there is actually no peace to be had other
than the peace with God that is found in Christ alone.
Christians just finished celebrating Easter or
Resurrection Sunday which proclaims that Jesus Christ is who He said He was –
The Messaih, The Son of God and God the Son. The Resurrection proves that
Christ is God and that everything He said was true.
Among the many things that Jesus said that reveals
the falsehood that “There are Many Paths to God and His Kingdom” is
John 14:6 (NKJV) where He said to “doubting Thomas”
6 … "I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
Here Christ makes the claims for the
exclusivity of Himself to bring one to God and the Resurrection proves that His
claim was valid.
I myself was greatly deceivedby this lie of the enemy. Before fully understanding
the gospel and coming to faith in Christ, I considered the doctrine of the
exclusivity of Jesus to save as quite unloving and even spent several years of
my life as a follower of a false religion.
However, I realize now that God is gracious to provided even one way to be
forgiven for our sins and the historical witness of Jesus begs us to seriously
consider the implications of what He said and did and the fact that He was
resurrected.
This forum doesn’t give me a lot of time
to convince people may not believe and so I offer apologist, Frank Turek’s web
site, (https://crossexamined.org/),
and will every day of this series, for those curious enough to intelligently research
the claims of the Christian Faith.
So there you have it, I know I am not
even scratching the surface of these big lies and am perhaps not really
providing enough evidence to convince someone to surrender to the Lordship of
Christ but that’s not my job. The Holy Spirit will convict those God calls unto
salvation. I can only point to the truth
and testify of the many lies that kept me from the abundant life that the Lord
had for me all along.
So come back tomorrow and I will reflect
on this lie some more or might look at another. But until then, I would
encourage you to seek the Lord and ask Him to reveal Himself to you if you don’t
know Him or to keep on walking and talking with God and live according to His
wisdom and guidance if you do.
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Today’s
Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”.
This
morning’s meditation verse are:
Isaiah 26:3 (NLT2)
3 You will keep in perfect
peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!
Yes, for those who don’t know before the
40 day Journey with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, we used to share a verse of a day from
a little devotional that my wife gave me as a gift - The
NLT Bible Promise Book for Men – and we are almost through it, as we are picking
up where we left off – on page 70 of 84.
So I want to finish what we started by sharing the verses and just a few
thoughts or observations regarding what it bring to us each day.
Today’s verse tells us
like it is. We will be in perfect peace
when we trust in the Lord and when we keep our thoughts fixed on Him.
Our faith in Jesus gives
us peace with God and when we realize what we have received through the gift of
God’s grace, we need no longer fear death or doubt the truth of God’s word. When we think about the joy of our salvation
and how God has led the history of the world and our personal path of faith, we
should experience the fruit of the Spirit of peace. But this peace is conditional. We have to have faith in Christ and we have to
trust the Lord and keep our thoughts fixed on Him to experience it.
Skepticism doesn’t help
us. Doubts and questioning the goodness of God doesn’t give us peace. So trust the
Lord, learn from His word, apply it to your life, and experience His peace.
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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 A.W. Pink’s “The
Sovereignty of God.”
As always, I share this information for educational
purposes and encourage all to purchase A.W. Pink’s books for your own
private study and to support his work. This resource is available on
many websites for less than $20.00.
THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD
By
ARTHUR W. PINK
CHAPTER TWELVE
THE VALUE OF THIS DOCTRINE continues
We shall now consider
the Value of the doctrine in detail.
10. It provides a resting-place for the heart
Much that might have been said here has
already been anticipated under previous heads. The One seated upon the Throne
of Heaven, the One who is Governor over the nations and who has ordained and
now regulates all events, is infinite not only in power but in wisdom and
goodness as well. He who is Lord over all creation is the One that was
“manifest in the flesh” (1 Tim. 3:16). Ah! here is a theme no human pen can do
justice to. The glory of God consists not merely in that He is Highest, but in
that being high He stooped in lowly love to bear the burden of His own sinful
creatures, for it is written “God was
in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself” (2 Cor. 5:19). The Church of God was purchased “with His own Blood” (Acts 20:28). It is upon the gracious self-humiliation
of the King Himself that His kingdom is established. O wondrous Cross! By it He
who suffered upon it has become not the Lord of our destinies (He was that
before), but the Lord of our hearts. Therefore, it is not in abject terror that
we bow before the Supreme Sovereign, but in adoring worship we cry “Worthy is
the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength,
and honor, and glory, and blessing” (Rev. 5:12).
Here then is the
refutation of the wicked charge that this
doctrine is a horrible calumny upon God and dangerous to expound to His people.
Can a doctrine be “horrible” and “dangerous” that gives God His true place,
that maintains His rights, that magnifies His grace, that ascribes all glory to Him and removes every
ground of boasting from the creature? Can a doctrine be “horrible” and
“dangerous” which affords the saints a sense of security in danger, that
supplies them comfort in sorrow, that begets patience within them in adversity,
that evokes from them praise at all times? Can a doctrine be “horrible” and
“dangerous” which assures us of the certain triumph of good over evil, and
which provides a sure resting-place for our hearts, and that place, the
perfections of the Sovereign Himself? No; a thousand times, no. Instead of
being “horrible and dangerous” this
doctrine of the Sovereignty of God is glorious and edifying, and a due
apprehension of it will but serve to make us exclaim with Moses, “Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the
gods? who is like Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing
wonders?” (Ex. 15:11).[1]
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tomorrow------------------------
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Encouragement
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