I Can’t be Forgiven – Lies of the Enemy #4– Purity 1016

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's photo of a brick tunnel pathway comes to us from my sister-in-law Megan Seguin, who shared this scene on social media yesterday from a road trip family vacation that made a stop at Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia. Well, it's Thursday, and as is my habit, I'm 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 live our lives, um, there will invariably be some pushback 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 thought lives. And, 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, um, not to follow the Lord with the way we live our lives. So today's big lie is Lie Number 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 of their sins? This lie that I can't be forgiven for all the things I've done, or that really bad thing I've 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 of the world. Romans 6:23, uh, tells us, 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 tells us that God 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 Pharisee, an immoral woman came and washed Jesus' feet with her tears and hair and anointed them with an 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 much love— how we love much when we are forgiven much— Christ declared that the sinful woman was forgiven, and it wasn't because of what she did. Jesus said in Luke 7:47-50, 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 little, only little love. Then Jesus said to the woman, your sins are forgiven. The men at the table said among themselves, who is this man that he goes around forgiving sins? 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, John tells us that when we sin, we only need to confess them to God and repent. And, and that verse says, but if we confess our sins to him, he He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. And if you think, you know, this is limited in some way or is inviting you into a sin-confess cycle of licentious living, John goes on to say in 1 John 2:1-2, my dear children, I'm 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. He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—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 tells us, for God so loved the world that he gave his only, his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 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 the word, uh, that, that what the Bible says is true, and thus know and experience the freedom, victory, and new life that 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 leave— well, never— oh boy, never, never stop living, uh, in the past by continuing to live in sin. Yeah, I gotta watch myself, um, in more than one way. Um, 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. Uh, if we, if we don't feel forgiven because we are being condemned by thoughts of the way we used to live but have actually not lived that way for some time, even one day, uh, 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 us 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— but we have been set free, and to experience the freedom we already have, we just have to know who we are in Christ and and live like it. So reject the lie— that, that lie that you can't be forgiven— and stand in the truth of your new life in Christ. Uh, today's Bible verse comes to us from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men. This morning's meditation verse is Psalm 18:30, and it says, God's way is perfect. All the Lord's promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look for— 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, and 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 mtforchrist.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 we're going through the conclusion, and we're given just a few paragraphs, a couple paragraphs today basically, to get us to the next point in the conclusion. So brief reading there if you're continuing in that study, um, and, uh Yeah, so we'll see. If you want to know what A.W. Pink has to say about the sovereignty of God and how he's concluding his book, go to mtforchrist.org to check out that resource. Also, at the end of the blog post, you'll also discover encouragements to check out our, our discipleship teachings that we've done that are on the podcast and our YouTube channel for Victory Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, and Freedom in Christ. If you want, you can contact me via email at mtforchrist247 @gmail.com to receive the class materials that I gave out for those classes. So you could listen, or listen and watch— they're just audio teachings on YouTube— to the, uh, the classes and do the study guides and, uh, you know, learn about your, your who you are in Christ, learn about the, uh, the spiritual forces of darkness, and learn about how to experience your freedom in Christ. And, you know, we share that material for free because it's life-changing, and, you know, I received it freely and I'm going to give it freely. However, you should, you know, if you feel moved or convicted in any way, you can go out and purchase Neil Anderson's books, you know, that contain all the material basically, not just what I provide. Um, anyway, we also obviously encourage the study of God's word. You know, all those Bible verses that tell us that we're forgiven and, you know, that we have new life in Christ are in the Bible. Um, so we need to know what the Bible says in order to stand on the truth of the word and to resist the enemy and combat his lies. And we fight, we fight his lies with the truth, and the truth is in the Bible. And so we, you know, there's lots of material out there that would tell you that we can trust the Bible and that, you know, it's a— the evidence for the Bible, real quick, are, you know, archaeological, basically, you know, things that have been found have validated what the Bible has said, even when people didn't believe it was true. So archaeology does that. And the other way we can know the Bible is true is the fulfilled prophecies, the things that the Bible tells us, you know, would happen, did happen. And a lot of those prophecies are the— have to do with Jesus Christ. I always direct people to Lee Strobel's, you know, The Case for Christ documentary on YouTube that we have under our links page basically for you to check out, and it's on our YouTube channel on the playlist. Because it's really compelling. It talks about eyewitness testimony and, you know, basically how Lee Strobel, a total skeptic, a non-believer, in his investigation of the claims of Jesus Christ discovered that, oh my goodness, it really is true. Jesus is who he said he is. And he became a Christian apologist, and he's written many books on all about the case for this, the case for that, the case for faith, case for miracles, uh, case for heaven. He's done a bunch, uh, of case for books. So if you need to be convinced that what you believe is true, or to believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ, we invite you to check out Lee Strobel's work, or crossexamine.org. Frank Turek, the apologist, we, uh, we recommend his stuff too. Very compelling. It's really good for Christians who doubt, you know, that, you know, I don't know if it's going to win atheists over because they're spiritually blinded But if we want to be assured that our faith is, you know, the real deal, apologetics is a great way to be convinced that, wow, I'm not just believing, uh, in something because I'd like to, uh, I'm believing in something because it's, it's, it's the truth and, uh, it's, it's, it's real, it's rational, and, um, you know, we can trust what the Bible says. So that's all we got today. Uh, today I have the day off, but I'll be doing workout in the You know, in springtime, which is great, but things spring up and you have to maintain your property and be good stewards to what the Lord has given you. So I'll be out there mowing the lawn today as long as the weather cooperates, and, uh, who knows, chopping things down because, uh, I like a clear path. And there's some bushes on my property that might not be with us at the end of the day. Um, we'll see about that, but You know, so yeah, if you don't like things, change it. And so there you go. I don't like that bush, it might be gone. Um, we'll see about that. Um, but yeah, so that's the thing, you know, as, as Christians, we, we, we do pray to God for help and strength and guidance, but, um, God's given us abilities and talents of our own to, to handle the things that come before us. And so we should always be working for peace. Uh, by getting rid of things that don't take away our peace, or, you know, correcting situations that we messed up. Um, you know, it's all about repentance. It's a life of faith and repentance. And when we discover that we're— we got to clean some things up or organize some things, we should do that, because God doesn't want us living in a mess. Um, that's, you know, relationally, you know, and literally in your house you know, godliness and cleanliness and all that. Anyway, um, I gotta prepare myself for a day of work on my day off, um, that I'm self-imposing. So let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much for all that you've given us. We thank you for this home and the property that we have, that we have to maintain. But, uh, you know, some would say, oh, that yard work's a curse, but Lord, I know it's a blessing, um, that you've given it to us, um, and we rejoice over it. Lord, we also rejoice over anyone who else who's on the path of Christian discipleship, who's following you in spirit and in truth, and who just wants to represent you, um, in this world and your kingdom in this world. And, um, Lord, so we pray for anyone blessed, uh, listening or reading today's message, that they'd be blessed, that you'd come alongside their prayer requests, and that you would guide them in the way they should go. Lord, we just pray as always that you would open our eyes to the things you want us to see today and to move us in the things you would have us do, because all we want to do is represent you in your kingdom, Lord. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.