If it Makes You “Happy”, It Could be that Bad - Self Deception Series 3 – Purity 1092

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 rainbow leading to one of the Maid of the Mist boats on the Niagara River with the American Falls and the Rainbow International Bridge in the background comes to us from the distant past and yours truly, as I decided to take a look back in time and retrieve this scene that I captured back on July 7th, 2016 while on a family vacation to O Canada and the Canadian Falls. Well, it's Wednesday, and while today's photo only has one half of a rainbow, I figured it was enough of a hump to visually represent our arrival at the midpoint of another work week, and that it had enough of the glory of God's creation to remind and inspire us that God is good, and when we decide to trust and follow him, our lives become an amazing adventure of transformation if you follow continuously. That's right, this thing we have with God is a relationship. Before coming to faith in Jesus, it wasn't a good one, as we were still spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins. We decided— we believed the lie that God wasn't real, or that we— what we believed and what what we thought and did in life was our business, and we could decide what was right and wrong for ourselves and do what we wanted. But that view was a little short-sighted and completely self-centered. And if you are walking on the path of Christian discipleship as a follower of Jesus, we were fortunate enough to have God open our eyes to the truth of the brevity of our lives, the depth of our sin, and the gospel of Jesus Christ. He showed us the truth, and in a moment of faith in Christ, we were forgiven and given a new life as adopted sons and daughters of God. We were given eternal life and power over sin. However, we have to contribute— or we have to continue— we can't contribute, um, well, we can play a part. Uh, we have to continue to remember who we are in Christ now and live as God intends for his children to live. He— we have to choose not just to talk the talk of a Christian, but we have to renew our minds and walk the walk of a disciple of Jesus Christ. A big part of our new lives of faith is knowing the truth and discovering what lies we have believed and in what ways we have been deceiving ourselves. And that brings us to our current series on self-deception. Where we have decided to begin this investigation into 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 second way you can be deceived by the world. Number 2: Believing that food that eating food, drinking alcohol, or using drugs can relieve my stress and make me happy. The scripture for this point is Proverbs 23:19-21, and it says, my child, listen and be wise. Keep your heart on the right course. Do not carouse with drunkards or feast with gluttons, for they are on their way to poverty and and too much sleep clothes them in rags. Today's, today's way to deceive ourselves that food, drugs, or alcohol substance can relieve our stress and make us happy is very appropriate for today, as I will be leading the Celebrate Freedom growth group at Star Point Church, where I'll be encouraging other Christians who have believed this lie and are seeking to experience or increase their freedom from the bondage they have lived in because of it. Have a drink, smoke, or take this, or eat something to feel better was advice we received from our family or friends that led to our bondage. They probably didn't mean us any harm, or they may have— drug dealers are not your friends— but the pleasure that these substances brought caused you to stop seeking the comfort and happiness that is available to you in the Lord and the non-addictive things of this world. The relief these substances gave you made them a habit and caused you to believe the lie that this substance, this thing, is the thing I need to relieve my stress and feel happy, when there were other ways to find peace and joy. Unfortunately, not everyone is the same. And there are some who don't seem to have a problem with these substances and can enjoy their good attributes in a measured way that doesn't turn into addiction. How much is too much is a personal thing, but if your substance causes you to be separated from the Lord or causes disruption in your life, it's a problem and should be eliminated from your life. While many will preach that moderation is the key, the Word of God generally advises us to cease doing the things that cause us to sin. Sin. The things that go against God's word, like drunkenness and gluttony, as pointed out in Proverbs, and the things that prevent us from not doing what is right. James 4:17 says knowing the good they ought to do and not doing it is sin. Um, so if you believe the lie that you need something to relieve your stress or make you happy, Realize the truth that God is the Comforter and a harmonious relationship with him brings love, joy, peace, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, patience, and the self-control to say no to the things that we used to need. You might need help and support of other Christians in these areas of the flesh, so confess your problem to God and others that will encourage you to leave the darkness of addiction. To substances behind for the peace that comes from a life of freedom in Christ. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the new— well, no, it's not. Sorry, that's the old resource. It comes to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis. This morning's meditation verse comes to us from the section on adultery, and today's verse is 1 Corinthians 16:11. From the English Standard Version, the word of God says, and such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God, of our God. Today's verse falls under the 12th point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on adultery. Number 12: God forgives the sin of adultery and frees the sinner from it. Today's verse follows the bad news in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 that says, "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." Do not be deceived. If your life is defined by these sins, you should be convicted to repent. Verse 10 was one of the quote-unquote drunken verses in the Bible that sent me into recovery, so you don't have to ask me if I know how difficult it can be to turn from a lifestyle that defined you to pursue a new life in Christ. Yes, as Christians, we are forgiven of all these sins, But as verse 11 points out, we are to be set free of them, and those behaviors should no longer be a part of our lives as Christians. That's what repentance is— not only changing our minds about what is right, but deciding to actually, actually agree with God's word and, and making the decision to obey it by turning from our former sins. And we are all called to repent. Quote unquote carnal Christians can either be a work in progress on their way to freedom, or they could be self-deceived, claiming faith and a covering of sin that they will be shown was not effective or real, as their faith will be shown as false, as they never really believed God because they never really, never repented. They never attempted to be sanctified. Who are the goats and who are the sheep? Who is, who, who is the wheat and who are the tares? I don't know, but the Lord knows. And the ones who persist in their hardness, hard hearts and lives of sin should seek out their salvation with free fear and trembling, because they may hear Jesus say, I never knew you. This is a matter of life and death, of salvation and damnation, and freedom and bondage, quite frankly. And if your heart isn't convicted by the sin in your life, you may need to question if you are a disciple of Jesus or not. A disciple follows his teacher, and Jesus lived a life free of sin. While we will never get there completely here on earth, we should be following Christ's example and see the fruit of the Spirit grow in our lives. So while technically we are all sinners saved by grace, we are saints now, and "such were some of you" should describe our relationship with our former darkness as we are following the one who was free of sin. 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 Holy Spirit as we are, uh, in chapter 13 on the Spirit convicting. And today's section is entitled Not Conviction of Sin. So if you want to see what, what A.W. Pink has to say about something not being the conviction of sin, uh, go to m.t. for christ.org and you'll find that resource at the end of today's blog post. As always, we encourage a life of repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, as we have learned firsthand, um, you know, what happens when you not only believe in Jesus but decide to follow him. As today's photo from 2016, I was a totally, you know, somewhat totally different person. While I did have a year of sobriety under my belt Sexual purity was not a thing in 2016. That decision to repent of that sexual immorality, as it's pointed out in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, is on the list too. And I didn't decide to repent on that until after, after, after my divorce, when I had to decide, you know, how I was going to live the rest of my life now that my marriage was over. Was I going to jump into sexual sin and explore the freedom of licentious living, or was I going to actually persist and continue in my Christianity? Was I going to be a disciple in a way that I never even attempted before? And luckily the Lord was— luckily, no, there's no luck about it. The Lord's faithful to help us when we repent. And I've been walking in purity, and that's why the podcast is— or the messages are called Purity, because it was something we, we couldn't, couldn't have done without Christ. So we have sexual purity, and we have freedom from the addiction to drugs and alcohol. We've made great strides in our food addiction, and we were further convicted in that. So as your faith, you know, as you continue walking by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit, freedom and victory increases. Every day it's— we get another day of victory, and every day we look for other areas in our lives where we can, you know, surrender to the Lord. When we do this in a continuous fashion we experience the fruit of their spirit in our life as a present reality. The kingdom of God is here on earth for those who believe in Christ and decide to follow him. You can experience it. And when you hold back, that's when, that's when you're in trouble. That's pride. That's self-deception. Well, I don't have to do this. Well, I don't want to do that. Um, yeah, I think the promises of God are yes and amen, and And when it comes to repentance, we should be, uh, should have that attitude as well. Um, and you know, there's grace for that, and I love you guys. And you know, I counsel people sometimes who, who take one step forward and three steps back, um, but it's because of their pride. They, they fail to trust the Lord and they fail to follow, um, or fail to do something that they probably should do. Um, like confess and forgive and, you know, turn from their sins. Um, you know, this isn't a game, this isn't a show, this is our lives in Christ, and we should try to follow him in spirit and in truth. So that's what we suggest, that's what we try to do. Um, we're by far from perfect, um, and we continually look for areas to improve and to be more like Christ. You know, it's not self-improvement, it's not behavior modification, it's spiritual transformation. It's, you know, and that's what we, we try to do. We ask God to help us and to reveal the things that we need to do and, uh, and do them when we get, we get that conviction. So, um, I have to go to work, so that's one thing I need to do. And, uh, because there was, you know, the Lord blessed me, the sovereign God of all creation, uh, decided to put it in someone's heart to, uh, uh, take my Saturday, uh, work shift. And, uh, so I'm working today and, but I have off on Saturday, so we're looking forward to that. Um, but we got things to do. And if you're in the Capitol District, um, you know, if you wanna work on some of these things, we invite to go to Celebrate Freedom Tonight at Starpoint Church, 6:30 PM, uh, in the 4th, 5th grade classroom. You'll see me and a bunch of other people who are trusting the Lord to, uh, to work in our lives. So that's about it. We also recommend our teachings that are on YouTube for Victory Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, and I actually got a positive response in regards to my series on Dietrich Bonhoeffer's discipleship. So that's out there too, uh, if you wanted to watch, uh, me and a bunch of PowerPoint presentations run through the cost of discipleship. Anyway, let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much for the victory we know every day because of Jesus Christ in our life and the Holy Spirit guiding us. Lord, we thank you for how far you've taken us since 2016 and, and through all the days of our lives. You've never left us or forsaken us, and you've brought us into the kingdom to, to, you know, to, to meet our purpose in Christ. So Lord, we just pray for you to help us with that today. We also pray for the people who may be reading or listening to this message, that you would bless them and come alongside them in their prayer request and their walk of faith. Because Lord, we need your help. All, all, all our strength, the things that really matter, our wisdom comes from you, and we need it, and we're asking for it today. And, uh, Lord, we just pray for you to go before us today, open our eyes to the things we need to see, move us in the way we should go, because all we want to do is represent you and your kingdom here on earth and to invite other people to experience the love and freedom that's found in you alone, Lord. So we thank you, we praise you, and we love you. And we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.