I’m Damned if I do and I’m Damned if I don’t – It’s Hopeless – Lies of the Enemy #17– Purity 1029

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's photo come, uh, today's photo of the moon over Lake Ontario just before midnight comes to us from Celestial Blue Photography, as Rocco Saya must have been out walking before midnight as he shared this photo he entitled Night Dreams from his April 24th, 11:30 PM excursion to Brightbeck Park in Oswego, New York on social media a couple of days ago. I may sound old, but 11:30 PM on a Monday, or any day these days, is way past my bedtime, and I'm thankful that Rocco was up and out there to capture this dream of a nighttime scene. As a former night owl, I know that the evening hours hold a peace and a magic all its own. And that many prefer the evening's peace to the light of day. But as I also know, that— but I also know, um, the dark evening hours also provides a cover, a sense of COVID in which the dark desires of the heart can come out to play. It doesn't have to be that way, of course, but I, I fully understand the adage that nothing good happens after certain designated hours of the night? Is it midnight? Is it 2 AM? Is it 3 AM? I'm not sure, but if you're up that late, I would invite you to ask yourself why. What are you looking for? What are you hiding from? Are you looking for love in all the wrong places like I used to? Or are you on a search for excitement or meaning? That I know is best found in the presence of the Lord. Well, it's Friday, thank God, and I am rejoicing this morning and almost have that old excitement of the anticipation of Friday night that usually meant that I was looking forward to mischief, but now is the pure excitement of knowing if the Lord wills it, I will be in the presence of my beloved wife, uh, reunited, and it feels so good. That's right, there is nothing like the excitement of true love with— without shame. Or guilt. So instead of running down the cheap thrills of a night on the town, seek God's plan to get thee a wife or a husband with whom you can be naked and unashamed. Whoa. Anyway, the nighttime hours are also sometimes referred to as the desperate hours. And remember— and remembering my youthful life of sin, I know how desperately lonely someone running through the night can be. In that desperation, we can make some regrettable decisions. So give— some give themselves away to the lust of the flesh, and others lash out at the world with violence at the smallest offense. Not many people out at the clubs or bars at night have a deep relationship with the Lord. So the later things get, the more unpredictable the outcomes of the evening's final destination can become. Home alone, a stranger's bed, the hospital, jail, or the morgue, or the morgue are all possible possibilities in a lifestyle where anything goes. Those hours out in the dark without God can be desperate because without him nothing will bring satisfaction or peace. So those desperate hours can be hopeless too, and may cause some to lament I'm damned if I do and I'm damned if I don't. It's hopeless. Which just happens to be the 17th lie of the enemy that we will examine as part of our current series, The Lies of the Enemy, which is an examination of some of the common lies, sometimes sneakily whispered into our minds as first-person statements, that the enemy tells us to cause us to doubt our faith, lose our peace, cause division, or influence us to not follow the Lord with the way we live our lives. So in case you didn't catch it, today's big lie is Lie Number 17: I'm damned if I do and I'm damned if I don't, or simply, it's hopeless. This particular lie of the enemy is whispered into people's ears to bring them to their destruction. Uh, or to keep them locked in bondages and mired in depression. As a Community Freedom Ministry associate for Freedom in Christ Ministries, I've heard variations of this lie several times as people I have led through the Steps to Freedom in Christ have confessed about their past or current troubles when they can't see an easy solution to their problems. Uh, this lie can lead people to want to commit suicide because they can't see a way out. This lie makes people see their options as limited and their lives as hopeless, but it is a lie born of tunnel vision and possibly sown by the spiritual forces of darkness who are hell-bent on the destruction of those who believe it. But that's a lie. There is hope, and our actions matter. But I won't sugarcoat this. While we can affect change in our lives and can generally endure through troubling times, People don't always get a happy ending in the natural, and that's why we simply must put our hope in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. While there is— while there— let's see— while there is hope, um, while there is hope where there is life— there we go— um, that hope evaporates when you die if you don't have if you don't have peace, uh, with God through faith in Jesus Christ. Oh, by the way, I researched 'where there is hope, there is life,' or 'where there is life, there is hope,' to see who said that. And one of the people who said that unknowingly spoke that hopeful statement as a lie. Among the many people have been attributed to have said those words through the ages, Google offered up devout atheist Stephen Hawking as saying those hopeful words, even though he believed there was no God. So I guess if we were to follow, uh, this departed genius's logic, we have to believe that now that he is dead, there's no hope for Stephen Hawking, or at least no hope for heaven. If you don't believe in God, you can't believe he had a son who died for you in which to put your hope in. Um, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Those who believe in and put their faith in him, although they die, they shall live. So there is an eternal hope that we have in Christ. God will help us through many trials in our lives, but even if we should perish, we will live. Christ conquered death in the grave, and so the Christian has the hope of heaven and life everlasting in God's kingdom. We shouldn't blow that off when times get tough. It is the hope that can give us the wisdom to go to God to receive the strength and guidance that He can provide that will cause us to know peace and joy even in the most dire of circumstances. On the earth, if you have a problem and it seems that you are damned if you do or damned if you don't, remember, it's not hopeless. Go to the Lord for wisdom. He knows everything, and I know that He will make a way where when there is no way. Even if it takes a long time or it involves suffering, God will show his way, the third option of hope, meaning a purpose that has victory, freedom, and triumph at the end of its path. So don't believe the lie that it's hopeless, because if you have Christ, you have everything. You have eternal life and the hope of God working all things together. For your good. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men. This morning's meditation verse is John 16:33, and Jesus says, 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. Today's verse reminds us of how good God is as it perfectly aligns with our hope, hope hopeful encouragement. Christ has overcome the world. We can be overcomers because of him. We can have peace because of him. While we will have tribulations in this world— how's that for a promise— we can be of good cheer— that's joy— because of what Christ did for us. He paid for our sins and gives, gives us forgiveness and peace with God. And brings us into the royal family of God's kingdom through him. So trust in the Lord and never forget the hope we have because of the one who overcame the world and gave us eternal life. 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 Christ with their walk. Uh, today we continue, and actually we are concluding sharing from A.W. Pink's The Sovereignty of God, as we have exhausted all the pages of that book, um, as we share, um, the conclusion of Appendix Number 4, which is on John 1:2-2. Um, and we're on the fourth point that he's making from that, as it says, in the fourth place. So if you want to see what AW Pink has to say in the 4th place, and actually see the 5th and 6th place, uh, as well, and actually the 7th place, um, and all the principal texts that were examined through the, through the, um, uh, through his book on the sovereignty of God. So if you want Bible verses on the sovereignty of God, there's a whole list of every Bible verse that he touched on in his entire entire book that I'm providing at the end of today's blog post as well. So if you want to see that, um, you know, section in all those Bible verses— just the references, mind you— um, they are at the end of today's blog post on mtforchrist.org. Also at the end of today's blog post, you'll see an encouragement to join our discipleship classes for Freedom in Christ, The Bondage Breaker, and Victory Over the Darkness. As we podcasted those back in 2021. So they're available on the podcast, our YouTube channel, and, um, and so we invite you to check those out to know who you are in Christ and to experience your freedom in Christ. Because when you have your freedom in Christ, you have hope that doesn't run out. Um, and when you have a deep relationship with the Lord that's, you know, founded on a daily discipline of, uh, you know, practice of talking and walking with God, um, nothing gets you down too far down. Um, you know, granted, there will be seasons in our lives where we will suffer from loss or want, and that's why it's so important to have the hope of the Lord with us all the time, so when those times come, we can go to him for strength and guidance. And the ability to overcome and endure those things, because life's not always easy. I've walked through suffering in my life, and I know many people are suffering right now with certain circumstances. So I don't want to be Pollyanna-ish in my, in my encouragements, but this is the truth that we need to believe. This is the truth that will give us the strength to to persevere through life, and it'll give us comfort and peace as well. And that's not just the truth, it's a relationship with the Lord. It's the, the peace that we have from connecting relationally with God and having a conversational relationship with him all the time. So we encourage that. We also encourage Bible study because you want some wisdom, it's, it's in the Bible. Ecclesiastes 9:4 basically told us where there's hope, there's life. You can look that up. It's not about a dead dog, but he said there's hope for the living. So there's your, there's your Bible reference for that verse if you needed it. I needed it, and that's why I looked it up, but I didn't share it in the blog, so you get that. It's a podcast bonus. Um, so it's important, uh, if you want to be fully encouraged, to check out the podcast every day, even though I fumble through it with my, uh, my typos and whatnot. So we appreciate your you checking it out. So, um, today's Friday. Looking forward to the end of the day as I will prayerfully be headed up to Easton to be with my wife Tammy Lynn, who, uh, you know, in whose presence, uh, you know, it's not the fullness of joy of God, but man, it's, it's good just to be with my wife because she is a gift from heaven. As the Lord, you know, took our lives, we were not, you know, there's really no chance of us ever connecting and being as distant from one another, um, except for the podcast. And she heard it and she came to my classes, and the rest is, um, Christian romance history. Uh, so, so I'm happy about that, and I'm happy that we've all made it to the weekend together. And I just want to pray for all of us. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Thank God it's Friday. And Lord, we just thank you for anyone who's listening or reading today's message, Lord, that you would come alongside them and bless them with your wisdom and your presence and your comfort and love. Uh, Lord, we need it as we walk through this world. It's not always easy, and we know with you there's so much hope, peace, and joy to be found. And so we, we just pray for you to stay close to us today, Lord, because really you couldn't do anything else. It's keep us close to you, keep our minds and hearts on you as we walk through our day. And Lord, we just pray for you to go before us, um, to set things up, to keep us safe. And Lord, we just want you to open our eyes to all the things you want us to see today and lead our steps into the things you would have us do. Because Lord, all we want to do is represent you and your kingdom on this earth. And Lord, we just, we just pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.