Going to the Son: The Pathway to Peace
Purity 453 06/24/2021 Purity 453 Podcast
Today’s photo of a rushing stream beneath the peaks of mountains,
possibly Heaven’s peak, at Lake MacDonald’s Glacier Park in Montana is brought to
us from a friend’s extensive wilderness vacation out west. A quick peak at Google Maps causes me to
believe this is McDonald Creek that runs parallel to the “Going-to-the-Sun Road”
that flows from the Glacier Park and pours into Lake MacDonald.
I share it because it is an awesome photo but also because I love to
share pictures of pathways on Thursdays to invite people to join me on the path
of Christian Discipleship by attending our Community Freedom Discipleship Class
tonight at Rock Solid Church at 6:30 pm, or by joining the class remotely via
the mt4christ247 podcast. We are
currently teaching from Dr Neil Anderson’s the Bondage Breaker, and I feel it
is a valuable teaching for experiencing your freedom in Christ.
As for our photo, McDonald Creek isn’t your typical pathway in that it
is water, but I have recently made more friends who are kayak enthusiasts and
had to admit that this creek would be a pathway for some. Even though there are rapids, and many wouldn’t
have the equipment, opportunity, or motivation to follow this particular pathway,
some would approach it and follow its twists and turns with zeal.
Likewise the pathway of Christian discipleship isn’t for everyone. When you decide to follow the Lord’s call and leadings
for your life, it usually doesn’t take long to discover that there will be twists
and turns and it won’t always be smooth sailing.
Christ said that the world hated Him so it will hate His followers as
well. Christians are promised persecution because they have no choice but to stand
upon the rock of Jesus Christ and proclaim Him as the sole means of salvation.
Regardless of the plethora of other spiritual pathways available to
choose from, Christ said that He was the way, the truth, and the life and that
no one goes to the Father except through Him.
So we are guaranteed to face some resistance on Christ’s path, but like
the Apostles who walked it before us, we know that Jesus is the Son of God and that
His way leads to eternal life, and we simply have no where else to go.
We know this truth in our hearts because God has revealed Himself to us
and we follow this path not out of some perceived obligation to follow the rules,
but we follow where the Lord would lead us because of our love for Him and because
we know His way is not just the only way, it’s the best way.
His path doesn’t just lead to eternal life. His pathway gives us the
power to experience heaven on earth by giving us increasing freedom from the
dark ways of the world as we cultivate the fruit of the Spirit and know the
peace that comes from living in harmony with God.
So go to the Son. Trust in Jesus as your Lord and Savior and follow the
path that God puts before you. The Lord
is always there to hear you and to guide you, but you have to ask for His help
and come along side Him by agreeing that He knows best and by trusting that He
will never lead you astray.
This morning’s meditation
verse is:
Isaiah 26:3 (NKJV)
3 You will keep him in
perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he
trusts in You.
Today’s verse encourages us and instructs us in how we are to experience perfect peace. If we trust in the Lord and keep our minds on Him, the Lord will keep us in perfect peace!
That shouldn’t be a
surprise to us for the promises of the peace that goes beyond all understanding
are presented throughout scripture to be contingent on our harmonious
relationship with the Lord which begins when we make Jesus Christ our Lord and
Savior.
That’s the thing
that those who are screaming for peace in our society and in the church seem to
forget. There is no true peace without having peace with God. And not only that
but those who have peace with God must keep the peace!
So we must introduce
those who don’t know Him to the way of peace: Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, I know from my personal
history and from my efforts to evangelize how hardened, resistant, and blind
those outside of God’s grace can be. So
don’t just present a gospel message, present yourself and the way you live your
life as an enduring testimony of God’s abundant mercy, kindness, and love.
Those who are
perishing need to know that we care. So speak the truth in love and be sure to
share what you were like before you knew the Lord so that they will understand
that the kingdom of God is for them too.
As for those in the
church who are without peace, encourage them to surrender some of their worldly
ways for God’s ways and to draw close to Him in regular Bible Study, prayer,
and worship. It’s hard to say our mind
is stayed on the Lord if we are living the way we used to before coming to
faith. Our relationship with the Lord
calls us to repent of the world’s course ways and to seek a righteous and holy
life.
I advise caution in
your attempts to transform because we can’t live the Christian life by the
sweat of our brows with forced obedience. We must love the Lord and willingly
decided to give more of ourselves to Him.
It’s not easy and I would say not to do everything all at once and
instead go in prayer and ask the Lord what He can help you with.
The chances are that
you already know the problems to address. They usually have been a negative
influence or ongoing dilemma of your life that you feel powerless to
change. But with God all things are possible,
but we might have to take the slow road to get there by experiencing and
claiming our freedom and victory each new day.
When we surrender to
the Lord there may be seasons of turmoil but when we keep our minds on Him and
trust Him some how we have peace in the midst of the storm and find even more
when the rain finally stops.
As
always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I always share insights from
prominent Christian counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with
their walk.
Today we continue with Dr. Neil Anderson’s Victory
Over the Darkness, continuing in Chapter 4.
As always, I share this information for educational purposes
and encourage all to purchase Dr. Anderson’s books for your own private study
and to support His work. If you need this title you can find it online at several
sites for less than $15.00:
A New
Master
Because we are identified with Christ in His death and
resurrection, we have become new and are part of the new humanity. In this
change, we have a new power of dominion in our lives. This is clearly expressed
in Romans 6:5-7
(NIV): "If we have been united with him . . . in his death, we
will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that
our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with,
that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been
freed from sin." "Old self" in this passage literally means old
man. The old man in relation to the believer has been crucified in Christ and
he has put on the new man (see Col. 3:10).
Paul says, "Even so consider
yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus" (Romans 6:11). We
don't consider it so to make it so. We are to continuously believe we are alive
in Christ and dead to sin because it is so. Believing anything doesn't make it
true. God said it is true; therefore we believe it. Death is the ending of a
relationship, not an existence. Sin is still present, appealing and powerful;
but when you are tempted to sin, you can say, "I don't have to do that. By
the grace of God I can live a righteous life."
To illustrate, look at Romans 8:1, 2:
"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law
of sin and of death." Is the law of sin and of death still operative? Yes,
that is why Paul calls it a law. You can't do away with a law, but you can
overcome it by a greater law, which is the "law . . . of life in Christ
Jesus."
For instance, as mortals we can't fly
in our own strength, but we can fly in an airplane because an airplane has a
power greater than the law of gravity. If you don't think the law of gravity is
still in effect, then flip the switch at 30,000 feet. You will crash and burn.
If we walk by faith according to what God says is true in the power of the Holy
Spirit, we will "not carry out the desire of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16).
If we believe a lie and walk according to the flesh, we will crash and burn.
Saved and
Sanctified by Faith
Paul says in Romans 6:6,
"our old self was crucified" (past tense). We try and try to put the
old man to death and we can't do it. Why not? Because he is already dead.
Because many Christians are not living the abundant life, they incorrectly
reason, "What experience has to occur for this to be true?" The only
thing that had to happen for that to be true happened nearly two thousand years
ago, and the only way you can enter into that experience is by faith.
A dear pastor who heard of my ministry
asked for an appointment with me. He said, "I have struggled for 22 years
in ministry and I finally think I know what the answer is. In my devotions I
read the following passage in Col. 3:3 (NIV),
'For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.' That's it,
isn't it?"
I assured him it was, then he asked,
"How do I do that?"
I suggested he read the passage just a
little bit slower. This dear man for 22 years had been desperately trying to
become somebody he already was, and so do many other believers. We cannot do
for ourselves what Christ has already accomplished for us.
Too many Christians are trying to show
that the Bible is true by the way they live. It will never work for them. We
accept what God says is true and live accordingly by faith, and this abundant
life works out in our experience. If we try to make it true by the way we live,
we will never get there. Paul points out the futility of that thinking in Galatians 3:2 (NIV):
"I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit
by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After
beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human
effort?"
We are saved by faith and we walk or
live by faith. We have been sanctified by faith and we are being sanctified by
faith and by faith alone. We are neither saved nor sanctified by how we behave,
but by how we believe.
God's work of atonement changes
sinners to saints. The radical change, regeneration, is effected at the moment
of salvation. The ongoing change in the believer's daily walk continues
throughout life. The progressive work of sanctification, however, is only fully
effective when the radical, inner transformation by regeneration is realized
and appropriated by faith.
As a new Christian you were like a
lump of coal: unattractive, somewhat fragile and messy to work with. After time
and pressure, however, coal becomes hardened and beautiful. Although the
original lump of coal is not a diamond, it consists of the right substance to
become a diamond. Right now, you are a diamond in the rough, but given enough
time and pressure, you will be like a diamond, revealing the glory of God.
Anthony Hoekema comments, "You
are new creatures now! Not totally new, to be sure, but genuinely new. And we
who are believers should see ourselves in this way: no longer as depraved and
helpless slaves of sin, but as those who have been created anew in Christ
Jesus."
Victory Over the Darkness: Realizing the Power of Your Identity in Christ.
---------------------------more
tomorrow------------------------
God bless
you all!
Join our “Victory
over the Darkness” or “The Bondage Breaker” series of Discipleship Classes via
the mt4christ247 podcast!
at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The mt4christ247 podcast is
also available on Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, and Audible.com.
Email me
at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and to be
encouraged.
Encouragement for the Path of Christian
Discipleship
