I Can’t be Forgiven – Lies
of the Enemy #4– Purity 1016
Purity 1016 04/13/2023 Purity 1016 Podcast
Purity 1016 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo a brick tunnel pathway comes to us
from my sister in law, Megan Seguin, who shared this scene on social media yesterday
from her road trip family vacation that made a stop at Colonial Williamsburg in
Virginia.
Well, It’s Thursday and as is my habit, I am sharing
today’s photo as a visual encouragement to get on or to stay on the path of
Christian discipleship even if the going gets “tight” and you feel that the
world is closing in on you.
When we decide to follow Jesus Christ with the way
we lead our lives, their will invariably some push back from the world as
lifelong friends, or even family members, may reject your new life of faith and
possibly end their relationships with you because of it! Also the spiritual
forces of darkness are not happy to lose you to God’s kingdom and usually retaliate
with “fiery darts” to tempt, accuse or
condemn you.
Scripture reveals instances where the enemy
influenced people in their through lives and so when we have thoughts that would
cause us to go back to the sins we repented of or doubt the sincerity of our
faith or our worthiness, we have to realize that those thoughts may not be our
own and could be the Lies of the Enemy.
And so today we continue our examination of some of
the common lies the enemy tells us to cause us to doubt our faith or to choose
not to follow the Lord with the way we live our lives.
So today’s big lie is:
Lie # 4: I Can’t Be Forgiven.
What better way is there to keep Christians from
enjoying their lives and being a force for the kingdom of God than to make them
doubt that they could ever be forgiven for their sins?
This Lie, that “I can’t be forgiven for all the
things I ‘ve done! (or that REALLY BAD THING I have done!), is in direct opposition
to the gospel of Jesus Christ that tells us that Christ died to pay for the
penalty of all the sins of the world.
Romans
6:23 (NLT2) tells us
23 For the wages of sin is
death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Christ’s death paid the “wages of sin”
for anyone who receives the free gift of God, forgiveness of sins and eternal
life through faith in Jesus Christ.
Ephesians
1:7 (NLT2) tells us that God
7 … is so rich in kindness
and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave
our sins.
We
are forgiven of our sins by grace and through faith in Jesus.
Christ,
Himself, spoke of His authority to forgive sins throughout his earthly ministry.
At a dinner party of a Pharisees and\
immoral woman came and washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and hair and anointed him
with expensive perfume. It was quite a scene and it caused the host to wonder why
Jesus would let a sinner do this to Him. After telling a parable about the
forgiveness of debts and how we love much when we are forgiven much, Christ
declared that the sinful women was forgiven and it wasn’t because of what she
did. Jesus said in:
Luke
7:47-50 (NLT2)
47 “I tell you, her sins—and
they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person
who is forgiven little shows only little love.”
48 Then Jesus said to the
woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”
49 The men at the table said
among themselves, “Who is this man, that he goes around forgiving sins?”
50 And Jesus said to the
woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
She
was saved not because of her foot washing ability, she was saved because she
put her faith in Jesus! And likewise any of us, who put their faith in Jesus as
Lord and Savior are forgiven for our sins.
And that is all our sins! Past, present, and future.
The
Apostle John wrote to the early church to encourage us in our attempts to live
a holy life and even gave us instructions if we should go astray. In
1 John 1:9
(NLT2) John tells us that when we sin we only need to confess them to God and
repent:
9 But if we confess our sins
to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from
all wickedness.
And if you think
this is limited in some way or is inviting into a sin-confess cycle of
licentious living, John goes on to say:
1 John 2:1-2 (NLT2)
1 My dear children, I am
writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have
an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one
who is truly righteous.
2 He himself is the sacrifice
that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.
So we are to endeavor to walk away from
sinful living and to be assured that Christ’s work not only paid for our sins
but the sins of the world. As
John 3:16-17
(NLT2) tells us
16 “For
God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone
who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
17 God
sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world
through him.
So while Christ’s work paid for all the sins of the world, in
order to be forgiven and saved from God’s wrath, we have to believe – put our
faith in Jesus.
So to combat today’s lie of the enemy, that “I can’t be forgiven”,
we have to put our faith in Jesus, and know and agree with the fact that what
the Bible says is true, and thus know and experience the freedom, victory, and
new life that we comes from God and knowing that we have been forgiven for
everything we have ever done or will do, no matter how big or how many our sins
may be.
So rejoice! You can be forgiven! If you have put your faith in
Jesus, You ARE forgiven!
Often we don’t feel forgiven, because we either dwell on our
pasts or never stop living in the past by continuing to live in sin.
Telling ourselves that we are forgiven, when we are walking in
darkness can be cold comfort as the Holy Spirit convicts us that we aren’t
supposed to be living that way any longer.
To alleviate the conviction and to experience the fruit of the Spirit in
our lives, we have to be “real” with God and ask Him to give us the strength
and guidance to repent of our sins and to stop walking in darkness.
If we “don’t feel” forgiven because we are being condemned by
the thoughts of the way we used to live, but have actually not lived that for
some time (even one day), we have to realize that those feelings of guilt or condemnation
are not from God. Either we are beating ourselves up or the enemy is sending
thoughts to condemn and accuse of “not really being a Christian” or not “really
being forgiven”.
If that’s happening we have to realize that there is no condemnation
for those in Christ, and we need to choose to believe that God has forgiven us,
we are really Christians and reject the lies that the enemy wants us to believe
to keep us in chains.
But we have been set free, and to experience the freedom we
already have, we just have to know we are in Christ and live like it.
So reject that lie – that you can’t be forgiven – and stand in
the truth of your new life in Christ
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:
Psalm 18:30 (NLT2)
30 God’s way is perfect. All
the LORD’s promises prove true. He
is a shield for all who look to him for protection.
Today’s verse reminds us that
God’s way is perfect and all His promises are true and that He is a shield of
protection to all who put their faith in Him.
God’s way is Jesus Christ –
THE WAY – THE TRUTH – & THE LIFE.
And the promises of the forgiveness
of sins, a new eternal life, salvation, blessings, and protection are all
true!
Because we have the
promise of eternal life in God’s kingdom, we have the ultimate protection. Because
God’s promises are true we have the ultimate peace. And when we make the decision
to put our faith in Jesus (God’s perfect way) and following Him in the way we
live our lives, we can continuously discover just how perfect God’s way is!
————————————————————————
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
Once more. What a
word was that of the Lord Jesus as He stood before Pilate! Who can depict the
scene! There was the Roman official, and there also was the Servant of Jehovah
standing before him. Said Pilate, “Whence art Thou?” And we read “Jesus gave
him no answer.” Then said Pilate unto Him “Speakest Thou not unto me? Knowest Thou not that I have power to crucify Thee, and
have power to release Thee?” (John 19:10). Ah! that is what Pilate thought.
That is what many another has thought. He was merely voicing the common
conviction of the human heart, the heart which leaves God out of its reckoning.
But hear the Lord Jesus as He corrects
Pilate, and at the same time repudiates
the proud boasting of men in general: “thou
couldest have no power against Me, except it were given thee from above”
(John 19:11). How sweeping is this assertion! Man—even though he be a prominent
official in the most influential empire of his day—has no power except that which is given him from above, no power, even,
to do that which is evil, i.e., carry out his
own evil designs unless God empowers him so that His purpose may be forwarded. It was God who gave Pilate the power to sentence to death His well-beloved
Son! And how this rebukes the sophistries and reasonings of men who argue that
God does nothing more than permit
evil! Why, go right back to the very first words spoken by the Lord God to man
after the Fall and hear Him saying “I
will put ENMITY between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her
seed” (Gen. 3:15)! Bare permission of sin does not cover all the facts which are
revealed in Scripture touching this mystery. As Calvin succinctly remarked “But
what reason shall we assign for His permitting it but because it is His will?”
At the close of
chapter eleven we promised to give attention to one or two other Difficulties which
were not examined at that time. To them we now turn. If God has not only
predetermined the salvation of His own but has also foreordained the good works
which they are to walk in (Eph. 2:10), then what incentive remains for us to
strive after practical godliness? If God has fixed the number of those who are
to be saved, and the others are vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, then
what encouragement have we to preach the Gospel to the lost? Let us take up
these questions in the order of mention.[1]
—————————more
tomorrow————————
Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage
Breaker”, “Freedom in Christ” series of Discipleship Classes via the
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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
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Encouragement
for the Path of Christian Discipleship
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