Poorly Understood: Misunderstanding the Gospel, Ourselves, and Resisting Temptation – Purity 1754
Purity 1754 09/05/2025 Purity 1754 Audio Podcast
Purity 1754 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo of some “office art” depicting a magnificent sunset sky over a lovely water scene and a damaged rowboat comes to us from yours truly as I stopped to capture this view during my stress test visit to Albany Associates in Cardiology’s Offices at 2 Palisades Dr in Albany on Wednesday.
Well, it’s Friday, thank God, and although I still have to meet with a cardiologist on the 15th, the initial reports from the stress test I took look positive as the results state that the stress test indicates that the “study is consistent with (the) patient (me) being at low risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (presumably a heart attack).
Of course, low risk is not “no risk” and as positive as that result may sound, I noticed that the positive results didn’t erase my diagnosis of “coronary artery disease involving native artery with native heart without angina pectoris”. Native artery & native heart means that my arteries and heart are still the ones I was born with. Without angina pectoris means I currently don’t have chest pains – thank God.
Ultimately, I think this all means that the calcium scoring test of my heart revealed that my unhealthy living for most of life had a serious negative effect on my heart health but, perhaps due to positive effects of the lifestyle changes I have made, I am not currently at an elevated risk for a heart attack.
The medical tests are confirming what the Lord convicted me to do over the last few years: to appreciate my life, to be a good steward to my body, and to be serious about changing the way I live: to be healthy and to prolong the time I have to share good news of Jesus Christ with others.
Last night I kept that mission going by speaking to a man who was struggling to accept hid identity in Christ. His struggles and concerns were familiar because they used to be my struggles and concerns.
Even though I had grown up in a liturgical church tradition and even made a few professions of faith in that system, I didn’t have any assurance of salvation and greatly feared that if I should die, I would go to hell instead of heaven because even though I heard about Christ’s work on the cross, I was confused about whether that was enough to save me (didn’t we have to NOT SIN too?) or that I had actually, really, truly believed and put my faith in Jesus like I said I did at my confirmation. However, thank You God, the Lord was faithful and led me to eventually accept and understand the gospel of Jesus Christ and how our salvation is not based on our performance. It took me a lot of trials and errors before I understood what the gospel means and how we are saved and made free by faith alone, in Christ alone. When I understood the gospel and experienced God’s amazing grace and love, it transformed my life and now I consider it my purpose to share what I know about the Lord and getting set free with others.
Last night, I helped a brother in Christ to let go of his fears and feelings of condemnation by leading him through each point of the Who I am in Christ List and explaining what each statement meant and how it applies to their life. The man walked away from our meeting with hope and a better understanding of the gospel of grace and how it could empower him to overcome his struggle with sin.
Resisting temptation and living a Christian life isn’t possible without knowing who you are in Christ and allowing the Lord’s strength and love to guide you into holiness. When we properly understand the gospel and accept who we are in Christ, God helps us to resist temptation and live victorious lives.
Speaking of resisting temptation, the Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah devotion for today, speaks on that topic so I am sharing it on the blog today to encourage us all to allow the Holy Spirit to help us to overcome.
“POORLY UNDERSTOOD?
Awake to righteousness, and do not sin. – 1 Corinthians 15:34
Why is it so hard to resist that temptation? Rutgers University recently received nearly four million dollars from the National Institute of Mental Health to study the issue. A Rutgers professor explained, “Improving the ability to resist temptations, urges and cravings is central to successfully managing many mental health disorders, but the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood.”
The university might do better to open the pages of the Bible. There we learn we have a fallen nature, and James 1:14-15 explains it perfectly: “Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death” (NLT).
When Joseph was tempted by Potiphar’s wife, he ran away from the temptation. He did it because he had awakened to the righteous life God expected of Him.
As we grow in our awareness of the righteous life God intends for us, we’ll be better equipped to resist temptation. It doesn’t take a university study; it takes a strong dose of the Holy Spirit!” – David Jeremiah
In all temptations let us consider not what he offers, but what we shall lose.
Richard Sibbes
Amen. Isn’t it amazing that even the secular world can recognize that resisting temptation, urges, and cravings is a key to good mental health? Ironically, this admission by a Rutgers professor is often contradicted by certain schools of psychology that would train people to stifle feelings of guilt and the conscience’s call to suppress certain desires and would encourage people to give into their temptations instead of doing what the Bible would tell us is right!
However, as much as some would encourage us to let go of guilt and just do what we want to do, I would hope they would admit like this unnamed Rutgers professor, that unchecked giving into temptation and urges doesn’t lead to good mental health, it leads to brokenness and dysfunction!
Thus, the fruit of the Spirit are faithfulness, goodness, kindness, gentleness, patience, and self-control which lead to experiencing the other fruits of the spirit of peace, love, and joy.
However, please don’t take this order as “gospel” or a recipe because the Bible lists love, joy, and peace FIRST indicating that it is from love, joy, and peace that we are able to live righteous lives.
Although practicing goodness, faithfulness, kindness, etc. would increase feelings of love, peace, and joy – we must know a measure of peace, love, and joy from the Lord to be able to practice the kindness, faithfulness, etc. that are fruit of the Spirit.
We must receive God’s love, first, by putting our faith in Jesus.
When we do that then we have JOY because our sins are forgiven, we receive eternal life, and the power to live a holy life. We experience the joy of our salvation and being accepted by God!
And when know God’s love and can rejoice over the new life we have and know that God accepts us, we will experience God’s peace.
And when we know we have peace with God and experience the peace of a harmonious relationship with the Lord, then we can live according to our new lives in Christ.
God’s love, joy, and peace motivate us and gives us the power to resist temptation and live righteous lives.
Resisting temptation is often poorly understood because people think we can just practice self-control control in our own strength.
However, when we do this we often become rigid, hard, unloving, and self-righteous because we are “doing it wrong” by doing it backwards.
We have to connect with the Lord through His grace, mercy, and love FIRST and know that we are accepted by faith, not performance. It is only then that we can stop gripping so hard. We can stop white knuckling it and let go and let God help us to overcome.
When we lean on God’s love and strength, we can experience the peace and power that we never knew before. Love saved us and it will be our love for the Lord and His ways that will guide us into freedom and victory.
So, love the Lord with all your heart – accept His grace, rejoice over His forgiveness, and maintain the peace He has given you by following Him on His right path.
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For those who want more evidence for Christianity than my simple encouragements provide, I offer apologist, Frank Turek’s website, https://crossexamined.org/.
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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. (The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling By John G. Kruis on Amazon )
This morning’s meditation verse comes from the section on Peace – Rest.
Isaiah 9:6 (NLT) And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Today’s verse falls under the twelfth point of our counseling reference guide resource section on Peace – Rest.
12. Jesus is the Prince of Peace.
Today’s Bible verse is part of an Old Testament messianic prophecy that speaks of the coming savior. The prophecy has been fulfilled in the Lord Jesus as it is only in Him that man can truly have peace.
Jesus is the Prince of Peace because it is through His work on the cross and through His Lordship that man can be reconciled to and have peace with God.
There is no other name by which we can be saved. Jesus is the Prince of Peace.
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As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.com 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 “Day by Day Along the Way” By Jay E. Adams.
As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage you all to purchase Adams’ books for your own private study and to support the late author’s work. This resource is available online for less than $20 at many sites.
Day 253
a man named Joseph … a member of the council … who had not assented … – Luke 23:50–51
Joseph was a good, righteous person, who refused to give an affirmative vote to condemn Jesus. He was looking for the Messiah’s kingdom and believed that Jesus was bringing it. When Jesus was crucified, Joseph asked for His body and placed it in a new tomb of his own. Not all the leaders were corrupt. Take heart from this, since we live in a day in which very few leaders in our country can be trusted; many are dishonest, if not downright vile. But God has His own followers in every calling of life; there are even some well-known religious figures who are not in it for money, fame, or power! Because Joseph acted as he did, he fulfilled the prediction in Isaiah 53 that Jesus would be with a rich man in His death. Men assumed He would be buried with transgressors, as He would have been, if Joseph had not intervened. Real love and devotion break through the dark clouds like a ray of sunshine.[1]
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[1] Jay E. Adams, Day by Day along the Way (Cordova, TN: Institute for Nouthetic Studies, 2020), 261.
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