Many Paths to God? – Self-Deception Series 15 – Purity 1104

 Many Paths to God? – Self-Deception Series 15 – Purity 1104

Purity 1104 07/26/2023 Purity 1104 Podcast

Purity 1104 on YouTube: 

Good morning,

Today’s photo of a high peaked rock surrounded by
the waters of the Pacific Ocean comes to us from Nik Harrang who captured this
scene while on a “Redwoods Camping” family vacation and a spontaneous trip to Whaleshead
Beach, Oregon.  

According to Bobby A. on Yelp (https://www.yelp.com/biz/whaleshead-beach-brookings),
 “Whaleshead is part of the Samuel
Boardman Scenic Corridor and it’s not terribly well-marked so you have to keep
a lookout for the turn-offs off of Highway 101 to” get there.

“It is also not a swimming beach, like the other
beaches along Oregon and Northern California, the water is way too cold and
turbulent and there are probably sharks in the area (since they like cold
water). This is more of a walking and exploring kind of beach.”

“With forested pines running along a cliff behind
you, few beaches are as wild as this one ….the natural beauty there is truly
pristine and overwhelming.”

Well, it’s Wednesday and I thought that jagged rock coming
out of the surf was more than an adequate “hump” to visually represent our
arrival to the midpoint of another work week. I also thought that the natural beauty
of Whaleshead Beach and the fact that it is apparently somewhat wild and off
the beaten path was a good analogy of the new life we discover on the path of
Christian Discipleship. The peace, love, and joy that results from walking in
the Spirit only comes to those who seek it and are willing to take a path less
travelled to find it.   We have to boldly
decide to leave the world behind to discover the beauty of the life that Jesus
has for us. We have to be willing to “go there” to be free, but those who know
will tell you that the fruit of the Spirit that grow along the path and the new
life that you find in Christ are worth the journey to get there.     

One of the ways “we get there” is by taking an honest
look at ourselves, the world, and the word of God and discovering the truth
that God wants us to live in.   Although
it is a fact that we live in a broken world, may have developed some bad
habits, and that the natural course points to things aging and falling apart
into nothingness, when we read the word of God we discover that there is an
unseen spiritual dimension to our lives and a loving creator God who reveals a
higher truth – the truth of how things really are – that overrides the seemingly
true and unchanging “facts of life”.   

The world says everybody dies and nobody can change.  

But Jesus tells us:

John 11:25 (NKJV)
²⁵  …“I
am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he
shall live.  

And

John 8:36 (NKJV)
³⁶  Therefore if the Son makes
you free, you shall be free indeed.

And although Jesus admits that hard “facts
of life” sometimes, He reminds us of His Victory over them in:

John 16:33 (NKJV) where He said:
³³  These
things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you
will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

So we have to look at ourselves, the world, and what
God’s word says to renounce the “lies” that are hidden in the “facts of life”
and agree with the Truth that is revealed in God’s word.   

And that brings us to our current series on Self-
Deception, where we have decided to investigate some of the ways we deceive
ourselves by walking through Step 2, Deception Vs. Truth, of the Steps to
Freedom in Christ to see what ways we may have been deceived by “the world” and
ourselves and in what ways we have wrongly defended ourselves. 

So we present the fourteenth “Way You Can Be
Deceived By the World”:

14. Believing that there are many paths to God and
Jesus is only one of the many ways.

The scripture reference for this point is:

John 14:6 (NLT2)
⁶  Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the
Father except through me.

The doubt over Jesus being the only
way to God is natural. We meet seemingly “good people” who don’t believe in
Jesus and think “Surely, a good God wouldn’t send these people to hell.” The
Jehovah witnesses go one further by denying hell all together.  But unfortunately these speculations are
based on our sense of “fair play” and what we think is right and are not based
on the realities revealed by the One who created all things  and determines our eternal destinies.   

Christ came to earth, lived a sinless
life, taught wisdom with authority, performed miracles, cast out demons, died
for our sins, and – here’s the “kicker” – rose from the dead  AND ascended to heaven to demonstrate that
what He said was more than just one opinion of many. Jesus’s sinless life, great
wisdom, atoning death, and miraculous resurrection and ascension were done so
that we would know that He was who He said He is – the Son of God and God the
Son – and that what He said was true.   

So although the human
imagination could conceive of countless ways to “go to God”, God – in human
flesh – Jesus told us Himself that no one can come to the Father except through
Him.   

To believe that something else
would make you right with God rejects what Jesus said and who He is. 

So we encourage you to know and
live this truth: That Jesus Christ is God’s beloved Son, the Word made Flesh
who dwelt among us – and believe Him when He tells you that He is the only way
to God. Above all the other opinions out there, put your faith in Jesus Christ
as your Lord and Savior and live.

——————————————————————————————–

Today’s
Bible verse comes to us from “The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling” By
John G. Kruis.

(
While Bible verses on various topics of Counseling can be found with a quick
google search, we encourage you to purchase this resource to support the late author’s
work. (https://www.amazon.com/Quick-Scripture-Reference-Counseling-Kruis-ebook/dp/B00CIUJZT2?ref_=ast_author_dp )

This
morning’s meditation verses come from the section on Affliction, Discipline,
Chastisement, & Trials.

Job 1:20-22 (ESV)
²⁰  Then Job arose and tore
his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped.
²¹  And he said, “Naked I came
from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD
has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”

²²  In all this Job did not
sin or charge God with wrong.

Today’s
verse falls under the third point of our counseling reference guide resource’s
section on Affliction,
Discipline, Chastisement, & Trials

 3. “Job did not get angry at God (which
would have been a sinful reaction). Rather, he accepted it by faith and
worshipped him.

The story of Job is an
excellent example of a man of God choosing to agree with God’s higher truth
rather than being devastated by the “facts of life”.  Yes, Job did in quick fashion – in a single day
– lose untold livestock, possessions and all of his children – fact – but Job rightly
saw those loses through the lens of faith – the higher truth that God had
provided Job with all of these things, that Job had been born with nothing, and
one day would go to the grave and go into eternity with none of the things he
accumulated in this life.   Job knew and
focused on the truth that God gave Him everything and that God had the right to
take those things away.  The truth of the
matter is beyond this sudden tragedy, those things would have all been lost in
time, one way or another.   You can’t take
it with you. So are we to curse God for these hard “facts of life”?   

Not according to God’s
word.  Because Job stood on the truth and
chose to worship the Lord in spite of his loses, the word of God tells us that “Job
did not sin” or charge God with wrong.  

God doesn’t do wrong. There
is an eternal kingdom on the other side of this life and when we make peace
with God, through faith in Jesus Christ, we will live in it one day and all the
“hard facts of life” will be seen as the light affliction that they are. Our
suffering on earth is temporary, life in God’s kingdom is eternal.  

Christian martyr, Jim
Elliot, before his death in the mission field, wrote: “He is no fool who gives
what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” 

Our possessions,
relationships, and lives on earth are the things we can not keep, but the
eternal life we have in Christ is what we gain though our faith in Him and it
can not be lost.  

So remember that trials
and afflictions are temporary and will mature us in our faith and one day will
be rewarded in God’s kingdom.

——————————————————————–

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  The Holy Spirit By A.W. Pink.

As always, I share this information for educational
purposes and encourage you all to purchase A.W. Pink’s books for your own
private study and to support his work.  This resource is available online
for $0.99 (https://www.amazon.com/Holy-Spirit-Arthur-Pink-Collection-ebook/dp/B008CM5292/ref=sr_1_3?crid=AHKAQOM39CTN&keywords=a.w.+pink+the+holy+spirit&qid=1684376225&sprefix=a.w.+pink+the+holy+spirit+%2Caps%2C96&sr=8-3) 

A.W. Pink’s The Holy Spirit

15 – The Spirit Drawing

The
Spirit’s Drawing the Elect

Even after the elect have been quickened by
the Spirit, a further and distinct work of His is needed to draw their hearts to actually close with
Christ. The work of faith is equally
His operation, and therefore is it said, “we having received (not “exercised!”) the same
Spirit of faith” (2 Cor. 4:13) i.e., “the same” as Abraham, David, and the
other Old Testament saints received, as the remainder of the verse indicates.
Hence, observe the careful linking together in Acts 6:5, where of Stephen we
read that, he was “a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit;” full of
“faith,” because filled with the
Spirit. So of Barnabas we are told, “he was a good man, and full of the Holy
Spirit and of faith” (Acts 11:24). Seek to realize more definitely, Christian
reader, that spiritual faith is the gift of the Spirit, and that He is to be
thanked and praised for it. Equally true is it that we are now entirely
dependent upon Him to call it into exercise and act.

The Divine Drawer is
unto God’s people “the Spirit of grace and of supplications” (Zech. 12:10). Of grace, in making to their smitten
consciences and exercised hearts a wondrous discovery of the rich grace of God
unto penitent rebels. Of supplications,
in moving them to act as a man fleeing for his life, to seek after Divine
mercy. Then it is He leads the trembling soul to Calvary, “before whose eyes
Jesus Christ” is now “evidently (plainly) set forth crucified” (Gal. 3:1),
beholding the Savior (by faith) bleeding for and making atonement for his
sins—more vividly and heart affectingly than all the angels in Heaven could
impart. And hence it follows in Zechariah 12:10, “they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced.”
Then it is that their eyes are opened to see that which was hitherto hidden
from them, namely the “Fountain opened … for sin and for uncleanness” (Zech.
13:1), into which they are now moved to plunge for cleansing.

Yes, that precious
“Fountain” has to be opened to us, or,
experimentally, we discern it not. Like poor Hagar, ready to perish from
thirst, knowing not that relief was near to hand, we—convicted of our fearful
sins, groaning under the anguish of our lost condition—were ready to despair.
But as God opened Hagar’s eyes to see
the “well,” or “fountain” (Gen. 21:19), so the Spirit of God now opens the
understanding of the awakened soul to see Christ, His precious blood, His
all-sufficient righteousness. But more—when the soul is brought to see the
Fountain or Well, he discovers it is “deep” and that he has “nothing to draw
with” (John 4:11). And though he looks in it with a longing eye, he cannot
reach unto it, so as to wash in it. He finds himself like the “impotent man” of
John 5, desirous of “stepping in,” but utterly without strength to do so. Then
it is the Holy Spirit applies the
atonement, “sprinkling the conscience” (Heb. 10:23), effectually granting a
realization of its cleansing efficacy
(see Acts 15:8, 9; 1 Cor. 6:11—it is Christ’s blood, but the Spirit must apply
it.)

And when the awakened
and convicted soul has been brought to Christ for cleansing and righteousness, who is it that brings him to the Father,
to be justified by Him? Who is it that bestows freedom of access unto Him from
whom the sinner had long been absent in the “far country?” Ephesians 2:18 tell
us, “for through Him (Christ, the Mediator) we both (regenerated Jews and
Gentiles, Old Testament and New Testament saints alike) have access by one Spirit unto the Father.” Ah, dear
reader, it was nothing but the secret and invincible operations of the blessed
Spirit which caused you—a wandering prodigal—to seek out Him, whom before you
dreaded as a “consuming fire.” Yes, it was none other than the Third Person of
the Holy Trinity who drew you with the bands of love, and taught you to call
God, “Father” (Rom. 8:15)!^[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