You Will Always Struggle with This! – Lies of the Enemy #27– Purity 1039

 

You Will Always Struggle with This! – Lies of the Enemy #27– Purity 1039

Purity 1039 05/09/2023 

Purity 1039 on YouTube: Coming Soon!

Good morning,

Today’s photo of a tranquil lake scene that highlights a mountain like reflection of the  sky comes to us from a currently unknown Facebook friend who shared this photo on social media on or around April 16^th.  At present I don’t know who the photographer is, I was almost certain it was Fred Dimmick or one of the other “usual suspects”, but my limited search this morning failed to confirm the source. So if this beauty of a shot is yours and you want me to give credit where credit is due, let me know and I will edit the blog post to give you my thanks and apologies.   

Well it is Wednesday, and I used today’s mountain like reflection to represent the arrival to another hump day, and as I will be launching a new Christian recovery ministry tonight ( the Celebrate Freedom Growth Group at Starpoint Church meets tonight at 6:30pm) I am also using it in the hopes that the Lord will use this group to “move mountains in people’s lives.

And just like I wish to give credit to where credit is due with today’s currently unknown photographer, I also would point out that the freedom I have frim my previous “hurts, habits, and hang ups” is only because of God. If the Lord didn’t call me out of the darkness of a false religion and my lifestyle of the sins of the flesh, I would have never gotten sober and found the freedom and continuous peace and joy that I have today.  

While I had seasons in my pre-Christ existence where I managed to stop drinking for a few months, I was “powerless to control my tendency to do wrong thing” and because I “wasn’t that bad… all the time” I remained in the bondage of my addictions and mired in denial.  

One of the sayings about being a drunk is:  “I don’t have a drinking problem. I drink. I get drunk. I fall down. No problem.  So brazen is this form of denial, you can even get that saying on a T-Shirt (in multiple colors, long sleeves, short sleeves, tank top, sweat shirt, or pullover hoody)  – You can be a drunk for all seasons. You can boldly display your depravity, where what should be your shame, becomes your pride. What should be your bad habit, becomes your identity.   

Rather than taking your alcoholism for the serious problem that it is, it becomes a joke.  But I know from experience, the tears of a clown when there is no one around, and how the high times of drunkenness and drug addiction are surrounded with desperation, anxiety, anger, and confusion.   Being an addict is no laughing matter… and even though the people locked in addiction know they have a problem don’t necessarily know they can be free from it. They may have heard that their addiction is hereditary or and they will “always struggle” with the things that they deny are a problem.  

And this brings us to our current series the “Lies of the Enemy”, which is an examination of some of the common lies, sometimes sneakily whispered into our minds as “first person” statements, that the enemy tells us to cause us to doubt our faith, lose our peace, cause division, or influence us to not follow the Lord with the way we live our lives.  So with this current situation in mind, I present   

Today’s big lie is:

Lie #27:  You will ALWAYS struggle with this!  

This LIE is so pervasive that mental health professionals, doctors, and pastors who are supposed to encourage healing and the ability to be well have been known to say it.  In some circles, addiction is considered a chronic addiction, and to be fair, I guess in some ways it is, meaning that now that I have a huge amount of evidence that proves that I “have a problem with drugs and alcohol”, it will be wise of me to never partake of those things again.   

When I talk about being free of addiction and that we don’t have to struggle with “this” anymore – I don’t mean that all has been cured and I can resume with “social drinking” or “casual sex”  again – I suppose I could give it a try but knowing what I know about alcohol, drugs, sexual immorality, myself, and God – I know that those habits are wrong and that I can find my peace and have my needs met in legitimate rather than illegitimate ways.  

I reject the lie that I will always struggle with “this” because I don’t struggle anymore and as hard as it may be to believe I’m serious when I say that. Temptations to drink, to do drugs, or to be sexually immoral are so few and far between in my life now that they are practically nonexistent and if any fleshly suggestions try to come into my mind, they are quickly dealt with and rejected as a fleshly impulse or a temptation from the enemy. 

Alcohol, drugs, and sexual immorality are things that I don’t do or even entertain in my mind anymore  because I know:

 A: they are sin,

B: I know the negative consequences involved with them from experience,

C: they are not who I am anymore and

D: they would disrupt the harmony that I have with the Lord. 

When you know all these things, in your heart and mind,  those sins of the flesh become “non-negotiable negatives” – as in their rejection has become so natural, and the thought of them are so abhorrent, that I don’t even have to “Just say no.” because they have become logical impossibilities for me.  Its not a matter of debate because there are no circumstances that I can conceive of that I would desire to ever do those things again.  

Of course, this is not my doing, this is the result of the word of God renewing my mind and that of the Lord turning my heart of stone into a heart of flesh because He called me out of the darkness and compelled me to trust and follow Him.    

We don’t have to “always struggle with this” but to be healed and free we have to exchange our broken lives of darkness for the life of hope, love, joy, peace, and light that the Lord has for those who follow and live for Him.

So don’t believe the lie that you will always struggle with this. Instead decide to “always follow the Lord” into the abundant life that He has for you.    

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For those who want more evidence for Christianity than my simple apologetic will provide, I offer apologist, Frank Turek’s website, https://crossexamined.org/ .

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”.

This morning’s meditation verse is :

Acts 1:8 (NLT2)
⁸  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Today’s verse are the words of Jesus who testifies of the power we receive when we walk in the Spirit and decide to be His witness. 

When we put our faith in Christ, we receive the Holy Spirit and when we decided to follow Him we can live through His power and the transformation that comes to our lives will cause us to be witnesses of His goodness, mercy, love, and power.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

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  “Satan, Demons & Satanism: A Sinister Reality” By June Hunt.

As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage you all to purchase June Hunt’s books for your own private study and to support her work.  This resource is available online for $7.99 (https://june-hunt.myshopify.com/collections/keys-for-living/products/keys-for-living-on-satan-demons-satanism_ ).

Satan, Demons & Satanism

A Sinister Reality

by June Hunt

IV.  Steps To Solution

Remember on early television broadcasts how the “bad guys” always wore the black hats? You could tell who would win by the color of their clothes. In Revelation 3:4, the Bible tells us that the followers of Christ will be robed in white. In contrast, followers of Satan are known for wearing black. The Bible also tells us who wins in the end … and it’s not the boys in black. Satan has already been defeated. He is trying to defeat as many of Christ’s followers as possible before he meets his ultimate end—the lake of fire.

“Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”

(Matthew 25:41)

A.  Key Verse to Memorize

“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

(1 Peter 5:8)

B.  Key Passage to Read and Reread

1 John 3:7–10

“Do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.”^[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 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, Spotify, iHeartradio, and Audible.com. 

These teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MT4Christ247

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 Ask Seek Knock blog (https://tammylynask.blogspot.com/ ),  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)

For those who require the assistance of a Deeper Walk International Prayer Minister to experience healing or your freedom in Christ, I highly recommend Christy Edge’s Life on the Edge Freedom Prayer Ministry. You can schedule a session by going to : https://cedge216.wixsite.com/life-on-the-edge     

“The views, opinions, and commentary of this publication are those of the author, M.T. Clark, only, and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of any of the photographers, artists, ministries, or other authors of the other works that may be included in this publication, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities the author may represent.”

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship

---

^[1] June Hunt, Biblical Counseling Keys on Satan, Demons & Satanism: A Sinister Reality (Dallas, TX: Hope For The Heart, 2008), 14.

I Don’t Have to Go to Church – Lies of the Enemy #16– Purity 1028

I Don’t Have to Go to Church – Lies of the Enemy #16– Purity 1028

Purity 1028 04/27/2023 Purity 1028 Podcast

Purity 1028 on YouTube: Coming Soon!

Good morning,

Today’s photo a view of the Hudson River under blue skies comes to us from yours truly as I captured this scene while one of my many local exploration adventures that I set out on in the Summer of 2020. This one is from the fishing pier that I believe is located at the end of Ferry Rd in the Nutten Hook Tidal Wetlands Area off of State Route 9J South of Stuyvesant. I am a little vague on the directions because I discovered it after hiking through the forest trails that began over on, I believe Ice House Rd where a small park is located.  

I have an embarrassing confession to make in regards to this trip, and it is not the fact that I didn’t quite now where I was going and stumbled upon this awesome view of the river after emerging from a hiking trail to an “unknown road”.  I was really impressed with this quaint area and in the summer of 2020 I had several ideas in my head that I was thinking that were “from God” but turned out to be wishful thinking. 

At the time there was talk of my local church possibly doing a church plant in the Reformed church in Stuyvesant. One of our Pastor’s actually stepped into perform a service there one Sunday and there was speculation that he would plant a church there.  I was also in the possession of a new house and I was officially 8 months single after my divorce and I had ideas about marrying one of the young women who attended my local church, someone who I was fond of but who I had yet to even mention anything about dating, mind you. . So on that day in August, thinking about a possible church plant just down the road from where I live and thinking of the possibility of having a Christian wife, my imagination had me put 1 and 1 together to get 8. I know that math doesn’t work but it is indicative of the quantum leap of faith and assumptions my “prophetic vision” – or imagination was making.

 In my mind it was all “falling in place” – I would marry this young woman and together we would join the pastor in this new church plant and live happily ever after living at my place down by the River and serving the Lord at the nearby church in Stuyvesant! It “all made sense”!  I could see where the Lord was leading me and I liked it!

So pie in the sky were my thoughts that on the day I discovered this fishing pier, I thought I had stumbled upon the place I would propose to my future wife. I could see it all so clearly and I couldn’t wait for things to fall into place.  

But as Smokey Robinson sang: “It was just my imagination, running away with me.”  The church plant in Stuyvesant never happened. The pastor in question started a commercial roofing business and moved out of the Stuyvesant area. As for the young woman, I respectfully kept my distance and admiration a secret until I foolishly messaged her on Valentine’s Day of 2021 to get an idea if there was any possibility for a relationship that was more than friendship, because I just “had to know” and was politely informed that I was barking up the wrong tree.  

My “prophetic vision” was way off.   But the Lord was with me and was guiding me to my destiny all the same.  That same year I began a Community Freedom Ministry at my local church and decided to podcast the lessons to reach those who were too distant or fearful of Covid-19 to come to a local church meeting.  And it is through that ministry and podcast that the Lord introduced me to TammyLyn Sequin and by years end we were engaged and married on January 1^st of 2022!   

And it is a really good thing the Lord came though because not only did I find the Christian wife and soulmate, but I was also delivered from the awkward situation from going to church with someone I had expressed romantic interest in and been rebuffed.  Because of the distance between us TammyLyn and I had to decide where we would worship and because of that awkward situation and other considerations, I decided to leave my local church for hers and was publicly blessed and “released” from my local church in December of 2021.   

So in this story and through my checkered religious past of 2 other liturgical denominational churches, I can understand how difficult it can be when there are awkward situations or problems at a local church and how it could cause some, like me in my 5 year journey into Buddhism,  to abandon church all together.  

And that brings us to our current series, which is an examination of some of the common lies, sometimes sneakily whispered into our minds as “first person” statements, that enemy tells us to cause us to doubt our faith, lose our peace, cause division, or influence us to not follow the Lord with the way we live our lives.   So today’s big lie is:  

Lie #16: “I Don’t Have to go to Church!”

In my experience, this lie was planted in my youth when I learned about God’s omnipresence.  I was paying enough attention in church one day to understand that God is everywhere and immediately thought that “If God is everywhere, that means I can worship Him anywhere.” And rather than rejoicing that I could have a close personal relationship with the Lord that went beyond the Sunday service, I thought, perhaps with demonic encouragement,: “I don’t have to go to church!”    

Of course I had no intention of worshiping the Lord somewhere else, on my own, I just thought that I could use the priest’s words against him and be free of the forced routine of my liturgical worship services.   I wasn’t abused at this church. I was only expected to sit quietly, behave myself, and conform to the ritualized responsse of the service. But I didn’t want to and could imagine that God would be fine with me staying home watching TV, playing with my toys, or resting.  

It was a childish rebellion born of ignorance and selfishness but unfortunately this attitude can and does extend to many people who would identify themselves as Christian or “spiritual” who have decided to forsake any assembly of corporate worship. 57% of Americans either never or seldom attend church,( or synagogue,) as opposed to the 20% of Americans that attend every week (https://www.statista.com/statistics/245491/church-attendance-of-americans/) . 

So us regular church going folks are the minority. Most people have decided that church attendance is not required as part of their faith.  And technically, they are correct. They don’t “have to go to church to be a Christian”.  We can conceive of all kinds of scenarios and excuses where church attendance is either difficult or impossible and thus we will not declare that a Christian “Must” attend a church regularly. 

But the intention of this blog and current series is to encourage Christians to live out their faith as authentically as possible and the following bible verses indicate that “church” – membership, attendance, and service – should be something a Christian should want to be a part of.   

I am sharing a link to Open Bible.Info’s 100 Bible Verses about church for those who want to see some scripture on the matter (https://www.openbible.info/topics/church_ ) but will share a few to make the point that we might want to enter into a local assembly of the saints.  

I think the go to verse on this subject has to be:

Hebrews 10:24-25 (NLT2) where The Apostle Paul writes:
²⁴  Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.
²⁵  And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

Even Paul had to acknowledge that some people blew off church in his day, but He encourages us to NOT neglect meeting together because the corporate gathering can motivate us to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.  

Another go to verse for church is: 

Matthew 18:20 (NLT2) where Jesus said:
²⁰  For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.”

Jesus indicates that there is something about our gathering together that is blessed by God. Jesus tells us that when we gather together, He is in our midst! He blesses us with His presence.

Corporate worship comes from our faith’s beginnings as God called the nation of Israel to be His people and to sacrifice and worship Him with songs.  David sung about what a joyful experience “church” could be in

Psalm 122:1 (NLT2)
¹ I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD.”

And I can understand that may not be everyone’s church experience and I don’t mean to condemn anyone but merely want to encourage Christians that the church is the place where we can grow and meet our purpose in Christ.  

My skeptical faith became strong faith through my worshipping and serving in a local church. Through my former local church, I learned more about God, myself, and how to actually live a Christian life. And while sometimes the “iron sharpening iron” could be frustrating and painful, I know that the growth I have experience in my faith could have never happened without my church experiences and the growth opportunities that came from being a part of a local church.    

So I encourage you to not stand in your liberty to forsake the assembly of the local church and to instead seek out and find a body of Bible believers where you can worship the Lord in spirit and in truth, where you can increase your capacity to love your neighbor as yourself and where you can increase your faith and discover your purpose in Christ.   )

I know Satan loves it when we isolate. SO resist the devil by choosing to serve and worship at a local church.

I know my examination of this lie was mediocre and thus I am sharing links to several articles on the blog today for Biblical reasons to go to church form Bible Reason.com (https://biblereasons.com/reasons-for-attending-church/ ), the Billy Graham Evangelistic Associaton ( https://billygraham.org/story/why-should-i-go-to-church/ ) , Christianity.com (https://www.christianity.com/wiki/church/why-is-it-important-to-go-to-church.html) and crosswalk.com (https://www.crosswalk.com/church/pastors-or-leadership/10-reasons-to-go-to-church-even-when-you-don-t-feel-like-it.html)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For those who want more evidence for Christianity than my simple apologetic will provide, I offer apologist, Frank Turek’s website, https://crossexamined.org/ .

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”.

This morning’s meditation verse :

Isaiah 41:10 (NLT2)
¹⁰  Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

Today’s verse confirms that the Lord is with those who have faith in Him.  We are not left alone on this island Earth. This verse reflects the truth of God’s presence in His people’s lives that really has come to bear with the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit for those who have put their faith in Jesus.  

When we surrender our lives to do His will rather than our own and commune with Him regularly through Bible study, prayer, and worship – may be in a church setting – we learn of the experiential reality of the Lord’s presence in our lives. He encourages us. He strengthens us. He helps us.  And if we faithfully follow Him, He leads us to victory and in victory.  When we put our faith in Christ, we have won. We are accepted into God’s kingdom. Nothing can separate us from His love and nothing can harm us in the ultimate sense.  We are victorious in Christ for eternal life but when we repent and decide to live as Christians we also get to experience the victories that the Lord prepares for us here on the earth and all we have to do to experience them is to choose to go “His way” rather than our own.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

APPENDIX IV

1 JOHN 2:2

There is one passage more than any other which is appealed to by those who believe in universal redemption, and which at first sight appears to teach that Christ died for the whole human race. We have therefore decided to give it a detailed examination and exposition.

“And He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2). This is the passage which, apparently, most favors the Arminian view of the Atonement, yet if it be considered attentively it will be seen that it does so only in appearance, and not in reality. Below we offer a number of conclusive proofs to show that this verse does not teach that Christ has propitiated God on behalf of all the sins of all men.

In the first place, the fact that this verse opens with “and” necessarily links it with what has gone before. We, therefore, give a literal word for word translation of 1 John 2:1 from Bagster’s Interlinear: “Little children my, these things I write to you, that ye may not sin; and if any one should sin, a Paraclete we have with the Father, Jesus Christ (the) righteous.” It will thus be seen that the apostle John is here writing to and about the saints of God. His immediate purpose was two-fold: first, to communicate a message that would keep God’s children from sinning; second, to supply comfort and assurance to those who might sin, and, in consequence, be cast down and fearful that the issue would prove fatal. He, therefore, makes known to them the provision which God has made for just such an emergency. This we find at the end of v. 1 and throughout v. 2. The ground of comfort is two-fold; let the downcast and repentant believer (1 John 1:9) be assured that, first, he has an “Advocate with the Father”; second, that this Advocate is “the propitiation for our sins.” Now believers only may take comfort from this, for they alone have an “Advocate,” for them alone is Christ the propitiation, as is proven by linking the Propitiation (“and”) with “the Advocate”!

In the second place, if other passages in the New Testament which speak of “propitiation” be compared with 1 John 2:2 it will be found that it is strictly limited in its scope. For example, in Rom. 3:25 we read that God set forth Christ “a propitiation through faith in His blood.” If Christ is a propitiation “through faith” then He is not a “propitiation” to those who have no faith! Again, in Heb. 2:17 we read “To make propitiation for the sins of the people” (Heb. 2:17, R. V.).

In the third place, who are meant when John says, “He is the propitiation for our sins”? We answer, Jewish believers. And a part of the proof on which we base this assertion we now submit to the careful attention of the reader.

In Gal. 2:9 we are told that John, together with James and Cephas, were apostles “unto the circumcision” (i.e. Israel). In keeping with this the Epistle of James is addressed to “the twelve tribes, which are scattered abroad” (1:1). So, the first Epistle of Peter is addressed to “the elect who are sojourners of the Dispersion” (1 Pet. 1:1, R. V.). And John also is writing to saved Israelites, but for saved Jews and saved Gentiles.

Some of the evidences that John is writing to saved Jews are as follows. (a) In the opening verse he says of Christ, “Which we have seen with our eyes … and our hands have handled.” How impossible it would have been for the Apostle Paul to have commenced any of his epistles to Gentile saints with such language!

(b) “Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but anold commandment which we had from the beginning” (1 John 2:7). The “beginning” here referred to is the beginning of the public manifestation of Christ—in proof compare 1:1; 2:13, etc. Now these believers the apostle tells us had the “old commandment” from the beginning. This was true of Jewish believers, but it was not true of Gentile believers.

(c) “I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known Him from the beginning” (2:13). Here, again, it is evident that it is Jewish believers that are in view.

(d) “Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us” (2:18, 19). These brethren to whom John wrote had “heard” from Christ Himself that Antichrist should come (see Matt. 24). The “many antichrists” whom John declares “went out from us” were all Jews, for during the first century none but a Jew posed as the Messiah. Therefore, when John says, “He is the propitiation for our sins” he can only mean for the sins of Jewish believers.^[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 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, Spotify, iHeartradio, and Audible.com. 

These teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MT4Christ247

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 Ask Seek Knock blog (https://tammylynask.blogspot.com/ ),  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)

“The views, opinions, and commentary of this publication are those of the author, M.T. Clark, only, and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of any of the photographers, artists, ministries, or other authors of the other works that may be included in this publication, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities the author may represent.”

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship

---

^[1] Arthur W. Pink, The Sovereignty of God (Swengel, PA: Bible Truth Depot, 1949), 269–271.

I Have to Earn It – Lies of the Enemy #9– Purity 1021

I Have to Earn It – Lies of the Enemy #9– Purity 1021

Purity 1021 04/19/2023 Purity 1021 Podcast

Purity 1021 on YouTube:

Good morning,

Today’s photo of a view of the mountains of Georgia along part of the Appalachian Trail comes to us from Fred Dimmick who shared this scene from his visit to Hogpen Gap, Georgia on social media a couple of days ago.     

I’m sharing Fred’s photo to mark our arrival at the midweek summit of “humpday” and as a reminder that in order to experience some good things in life you are going to have to “step up” and work for it.  

In my limited research of Hogpen Gap this morning I discovered that it was along the Appalachian Trail and there is more than one way to get there. One hike listed the distance as a mile, another from Neels Gap to Hogpen Gap gave a round trip distance of 16.1 miles. So how much walking of climbing you want to do is up to you, but I didn’t see any ways to get there by doing nothing.  To experience the view Fred experienced, you have to get up and work for it. 

Whether it’s worth the trip or not would be up to you, my journey there would require me to get to Georgia first, so that won’t be on the to do list in the near future, but I understand that to experience this view it would cost me something. It would require time, money, and physical effort to hike my way there and I don’t get to experience it unless I’m willing to pay the cost.  

This is a basic concept of life here on earth. If you want something, you are going to have to set goals and work for it.   And believe you me, some things are definitely worth the sacrifices and hard work that it will take to experience them.  

However, as much as this is true, the enemy, Satan and his associate demons of the kingdom of darkness, just love to twist the things that are true to lead us astray and to steal, kill, and destroy our peace if not our very lives.  

And so that brings us to our current series, which is an examination of some of the common lies that the enemy tells us to cause us to doubt our faith, steal our peace, or to influence us to choose not to follow the Lord with the way we live our lives.

 

So today’s big lie is:

Lie # 8:  I Have to Earn It.

This is the lie from the pit of hell that kept me out of the kingdom of God and the joy of my salvation for most of my life.  

I was raised in a liturgical church setting and although I knew that “Jesus died for our sins” and was well acquainted with the fact that I was a sinner, I never had any hope that what Jesus did on the cross had the power to save me.  My church tradition gave me the impression that I had to have faith in Jesus but I also had to “be a good person” and if I didn’t walk straight and behave myself I might very well find myself in hell at “the hour of my death”.  Even though our church supposedly believed in Jesus’ atoning work on the cross, I don’t recall any one ever proclaiming the joy or assurance of their salvation. 

As a sinful youth and young adult, I knew I wasn’t “good” and even though I tried to stay out of trouble for the most part, my heart wasn’t really into following any rules that would get in the way of me doing what I wanted.  That included theft – “you want something? take it, just don’t get caught.”   That included vandalism- “let’s break it! Let’s destroy it! Let’s just not get caught. Look out, the cops!”  That included sex, “I don’t care what they say at church, a man has needs and I am not ready to get married, just don’t hurt anyone – get consent – and by all means do get anyone pregnant!   That included drunkenness –“What I can’t drink? Since when? Watch me! Whatever… I’m sorry I’m not a saint!”  

So you can see, why I didn’t think I could ever earn my way to heaven. Not only was I not working towards it, I was actually doing things that would indicate that I was NOT a Christian, I was not a “good person” and unless the Lord actually did recognize “one baptism for the forgiveness of sins” (I was baptized, right mom?) I was on the highway to hell.   

Because the emphasis of my liturgical church was on the fact that I was a sinner and I had to “be good and obey”, I eventually decided that there was no God and “religion” was the creation of man in his efforts to control his neighbor.   

It was ignorant view born of my desire to sin, but because there seemed to be a performance aspect to Christianity that I seemed powerless, and frankly unwilling, to attempt to meet, I walked away from church and God.  

The enemy’s lie that “I have to earn it” made me hopeless of having a relationship with God. I just couldn’t do it and I knew that if God was mean enough to crucify His own Son, who didn’t do anything wrong, there was absolutely no hope for me.    So I decide not to play His game, because I knew I would lose and so I gave up on God.

But the Lord didn’t give up on me and in 2010 He directed my path, when I was as far removed from Christianity as I could possibly be, to hear a gospel message on the radio in which I finally heard and understood the truth,  Through a “chance” encounter, I heard the truth that I didn’t have to earn it.  I didn’t have to “be a good person” to be accepted by God. I didn’t have to “make up for” all the things I had done wrong.  I didn’t have to work for my salvation or forgiveness of sins.  That radio message from David Jerimiah was all about the love of God and how it was expressed through Jesus paying for our sins on the cross.  

I didn’t have to pay for my sins or earn my salvation. Christ had paid the cost and God’s grace made that payment cover all the sins of the world, including mine. My past, present, and future sins were paid for by Jesus and all I had to “redeem” that payment was to put my faith in Him as my Lord and Savior.  

I was simply amazed at the simplicity and the love of God’s gift to us and because He revealed this to me I was joyfully and tearfully compelled to accept it and dedicate my life to Him that day.  

I had believed a lie based on the truth of an earthly principle, that I had to earn my place in God’s kingdom and was deaf and blind to the truth in God’s word that tells us otherwise.  

Ephesians 2:8-10 (NKJV) tells us
⁸  For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹  not of works, lest anyone should boast.
¹⁰  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.  

We are not saved by works! We are saved THROUGH FAITH and BY GRACE. IT IS A GIFT OF GOD.   And the “good works” are something we do AFTER we are saved. The good works are something God prepares for us to do – as evidence that we are His workmanship!  Our salvation leads us to do good as representatives of God.  

Anyone who thinks we have to “work” to be saved, has it backwards. We don’t’ have to earn it. Salvation is a gift from God and we only need to accept it.   

Smarter men than I have missed this fact. Martin Luther beat himself bloody and spent hours in his monstery’s confessional trying to be absolved of every sin, real or imagine and was utterly without hope.  But then He examined the original Greek language of the New Testament scriptures and made a startingly discovery – we are saved by faith!

He testified later of seeing the truth in God’s word through Romans 1:17. He said:

“At last, by the mercy of God, meditating day and night, I gave heed to the context of the words, namely, “In it the righteousness of God is revealed, as it is written, ‘He who through faith is righteous shall live.’”  There I began to understand that the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives by a gift of God, namely by faith.  And this is the meaning: the righteousness of God is revealed by the gospel, namely, the passive righteousness with which merciful God justifies us by faith.”   (https://steadfastlutherans.org/2019/02/martin-luthers-discovery-the-late-medieval-background/)

We don’t have to earn it. We don’t have to earn our forgiveness, our acceptance, or our place in God’s kingdom. It comes by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ, and is a gift of God.  

Now we should “study to be approved” after we are saved. We should study God’s word to renew our minds and be transformed into He wants us to be but in many ways that too, our sanctification, comes by faith – by simply knowing who we are in Christ and living like it.  

So don’t believe the lie that “ I have to earn it”, instead understand that Jesus paid the cost and did the work for you, and all we have to do is enjoy it and follow Him into the pathways of peace to the abundant life that He gave to us. Rejoice you have been saved by faith, believe it, receive it and live it.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For those who want more evidence for Christianity than my simple apologetic will provide, I offer apologist, Frank Turek’s website, https://crossexamined.org/ .

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”.

This morning’s meditation verse is:

Titus 1:2 (NLT2)
²  This truth gives them confidence that they have eternal life, which God—who does not lie—promised them before the world began.

 

Today’s verse reminds of the benefits of knowing the truth.  This actually goes well with today’s message on salvation by grace and through faith.  I encourage Christians to study the Bible.  Why? If we are saved by grace and through faith in Jesus what do I need the Bible for? 

 

Well today’s verse tells us why. This “truth” in today’s verse indicates not only the gospel message of Jesus’ atoning work, it also indicates the word of God – the Bible because verse 1 of Titus 1, Paul states that “this truth” “shows them how to live godly lives.”  

 

Paul was a big Bible scholar – He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees by his own admission but he understood all the Bible knowledge didn’t mean anything if it didn’t lead you to Christ.  However, like wise and paradoxically, he understood that a life that was redeemed by faith in Jesus needed the wise of counsel of the Scriptures to guide us in the way of the Lord.  

 

Not only would the knowledge of the truth, help them to lively godly lives, it would also give them the confidence that they have eternal life, as God’s promises in the Old Testament all make sense in light of the Messiah’s coming.  Jesus fulfilled the prophecies of the Messiah and not only encouraged people to put their faith in Him, He also encouraged their repentance – changing their minds from their worldly ways to follow the word of God and His example.   

 

When we have the confidence that the promises of God apply to us and that we have received eternal life, we are moved to follow the One who saved us and gave us life. We are compelled to follow Jesus.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

CONCLUSION continues

 

It now remains for us to offer a few closing reflections and our happy task is finished.

God’s wisdom in the government of our world shall yet be completely vindicated before all created intelligences. God is no idle Spectator, looking on from a distant world at the happenings, on our earth, but is Himself shaping everything to the ultimate promotion of His own glory. Even now He is working out His eternal purpose, not only in spite of human and Satanic opposition but by means of them. How wicked and futile have been all efforts to resist His will shall one day be as fully evident as when of old He overthrew the rebellious Pharaoh and his hosts at the Red Sea.

It has been well said “The end and object of all is the glory of God. It is perfectly, divinely true, that ‘God hath ordained for His own glory whatsoever comes to pass.’ In order to guard this from all possibility of mistake, we have only to remember who is this God, and what the glory that He seeks. It is He who is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ—of Him in whom divine love came seeking not her own, among us as ‘One that serveth.’ It is He who, sufficient in Himself, can receive no real accession of glory from His creatures, but from whom—‘Love,’ as He is ‘Light’—cometh down every good and every perfect gift, in whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning. Of His own alone can His creatures give to Him.”

“The glory of such an one is found in the display of His own goodness, righteousness, holiness, truth; in manifesting Himself as in Christ He has manifested Himself and will forever. The glory of this God is what of necessity all things must serve—adversaries and evil as well as all else. He has ordained it; His power will insure it; and when all apparent clouds and obstructions are removed, then shall He rest—‘rest in His love’ forever, although eternity only will suffice for the apprehension of the revelation. ‘God shall be all in all’ (italics ours throughout this paragraph) gives in six words the ineffable result” (F. W. Grant on “Atonement”).

That what we have written gives but an incomplete and imperfect presentation of this most important subject we must sorrowfully confess. Nevertheless, if it results in a clearer apprehension of the majesty of God and His sovereign mercy we shall be amply repaid for our labors. If the reader has received blessing from the perusal of these pages let him not fail to return thanks to the Giver of every good and every perfect gift, ascribing all praise to His inimitable and sovereign grace.

“The Lord, our God, is clothed with might,

The winds and waves obey His will;

He speaks, and in the shining height

The sun and rolling worlds stand still.

Rebel ye waves, and o’er the land

With threatening aspect foam and roar,

The Lord hath spoken His command

That breaks your rage upon the shore.

Ye winds of night, your force combine—

Without His holy high behest

You shall not in a mountain pine

Disturb the little swallow’s nest.

His voice sublime is heard afar;

In distant peals it fades and dies;

He binds the cyclone to His car

And sweeps the howling murky skies.

Great God! how infinite art Thou,

What weak and worthless worms are we,

Let all the race of creatures bow

And seek salvation now from Thee.

Eternity, with all its years

Stands ever-present to Thy view,

To Thee there’s nothing old appears

Great God! There can be nothing new.

Our lives through varied scenes are drawn,

And vexed with mean and trifling cares;

While Thine eternal thought moves on

Thy fixed and undisturbed affairs.”

“Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth” (Rev. 19:6).^[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 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, Spotify, iHeartradio, and Audible.com. 

These teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MT4Christ247

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 Ask Seek Knock blog (https://tammylynask.blogspot.com/ ),  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)

“The views, opinions, and commentary of this publication are those of the author, M.T. Clark, only, and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of any of the photographers, artists, ministries, or other authors of the other works that may be included in this publication, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities the author may represent.”

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship

---

^[1] Arthur W. Pink, The Sovereignty of God (Swengel, PA: Bible Truth Depot, 1949), 251–252.