The Beauty that Endures - Self Deception Series 4 – Purity 1093

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 warmer April evening at the intersection of King William and Hindley Street in Adelaide, South Australia, with that post-sunset glow, comes to us from Dave Bond Photography as Dave shared this Australian autumn scene to the Dave Bond Photography page on Facebook back on June 30th. While I don't share too many photos that highlight the creations of men because, because I try to place the focus on giving God the glory, I share today's nighttime city scene because I love how that post-sunset glow is over and above this nighttime city scene, as if to remind us that even in the heart of the city and in the heat heart of the darkness of our trials, the Lord is over and above it all and shining his light to comfort and guide us. Well, it's Thursday, and I also share this photo because it highlights a pathway of sorts, and I figure it can serve as my visual encouragement to keep on keeping on the pathway of Christian discipleship. Last night, more new people came to the Celebrate Freedom growth group at Starpoint Church. And I was happy to have them join us so we could encourage them to follow the Lord's light into the new life of freedom and victory that is available to all who put their faith— put their trust in him. As always, the emphasis was put on recognizing the lies that we have believed that contributed to our brokenness and how the truth of God's word can set us free. 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 versus truth, of the Steps to Freedom in Christ, to see what ways we have— we may have been deceived by the world and ourselves, and in what ways we have wrongly defended ourselves. So we present the third way you can be deceived by the world. Number 3: believing that an attractive body Phony personality or image will meet my needs for acceptance and significance. The scripture references for this point are Proverbs 31:10 that says, "Who can find a virtuous and capable wife? She is more precious than rubies." And 1 Peter 3:3-4 which says, "Don't be concerned about the outward beauty of, or of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes." You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God. Here, Scripture points out that what really matters and constitutes beauty in God's eyes— a virtuous, gentle, and quiet spirit that manifests when we have faith in God and allow Him to transform our character. Our world focuses on the outward appearances, but God focuses on the heart. While we should be good stewards to our bodies and try to live a healthy lifestyle, if our focus is on gaining our sense of acceptance and significance on how we look or how we compare to the rest of the world, we have fallen into this lie that tells us that as long as we look good on the outside, we will be accepted. True and lasting acceptance and significance only come through God, the Creator and Sustainer of all things. It doesn't matter how good you look or how you put up appearances if you have the— if you— let's see what I'm trying to say here. It doesn't matter how good you look or how you put up appearances If, if you have the peace that comes from being assured of your place in God's kingdom and knowing that he loves and accepts you because of your faith and not because of how you look or because of your performance. Yeah, the thing that really matters is that having the peace that comes from being assured of your place in God's kingdom and knowing that he loves and accepts you. Because of your faith and not because of who— how you look or because of your performance. Yikes. So while you should take care of your body and live a good life that could be the envy of others, let's be sure to never let our focus be on appearances and instead focus on the state of our hearts and our relationship with the Lord, the only one who can give us a beautiful life of acceptance and significance that will endure forever. Today's Bible verses come to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on adultery, and today it highlights Matthew 5:27-30 in the New King James Version. And the word of God says, you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you, for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you, for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell. Today's verses, uh, fall under the 13th point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on adultery, number 13: Looking on a woman lustfully is adultery. Spiritual surgery is necessary. Today's verses point out that sin sta— starts in the heart. If our desires are evil, it doesn't matter if we act on them or not. God sees our hearts and he knows where we live. If our minds and hearts are consumed with lust and the fantasy of committing sexual sin, even if we don't act on them, we are living in the flesh and are guilty of sin. To be clear, temptation is one thing, and entertaining and persisting in tempt— in tempting thoughts in our imaginations is another. Christ was tempted in all ways and did not sin. So Jesus knew the reality of the temptations of the flesh and sexual immorality, but he didn't allow those temptations to develop into lust. It's one thing to see something or to have a thought that tempts us, but it is another to lust after it in our imaginations. So, so serious is our sin that Christ commands us to cut off and eliminate any part of us that would cause us to sin. While he makes the extreme example of cutting off physical parts of the body that would cause us to sin, the surgery that we need to have is spiritual. We have to be willing to allow the Lord to work on our hearts and minds to cut out our evil desires, um, mm, uh, and change our dispositions to become the people who wouldn't even think about committing sexual sins or even dwell on sinful desires in our minds. When we are convicted that a temptation is wrong, we are to declare it as sin and to stop thinking about it, lest we be led into temptation and sin. So realize that it's not okay to look but don't touch, and that our Lord doesn't want us to be consumed with lust. He doesn't want his beloved children to even think about giving in to evil desires, because God loves us and he knows the damage that sexual sin can do to our bodies, hearts, and minds. 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. Uh, today we continue sharing from A.W. Pink's The Holy Spirit, as we are sharing from chapter 13, The Spirit Convicting, and today's section is on the characteristics of the Spirit's true conviction. And if you want to see what AWP Pink has to say about that, go to mt4christ.org and you'll find that resource at the end of today's blog post. As for my comments on the Spirit's true conviction, I would say, you know, there's a difference between condemnation and conviction. Condemnation is beating ourselves up, saying we're no good sinner, and you you know, we're a terrible person, whereas conviction would lead us to stop and change and not to dwell on sin. You know, from our example with the lust, condemnation would say, I'm a really evil person, you know, because I have these lustful thoughts about people, whereas conviction is that those thoughts and temptations are wrong and I need to not, you know, to think about something else. Think about something good. Philippians directs us to think on things that are pure, good, and holy, and righteous. Those are the things we're supposed to think about, not on, you know, wow, it would be nice to commit sexual sin with someone. You know, sin starts in the mind. So that's why Christ tells us to stop, stop the train before it starts. Before it leaves the station, because every sin that we quote-unquote fall into is usually something we've contemplated in our imaginations many times, or at least once, before we do it. So we have to be diligent in terms of what we put before our eyes and how it can affect our thoughts. And so we are to cut that out of our lives. And so we don't have to cut off our hands or our eyes, but we might want to cut out secular entertainment or anything that might have pornographic images or, you know, tempting images to avoid the temptation. And if we're in the streets and running around and we see someone who's attractive, we shift our attention and focus away from them and our— and, you know, visually and our minds mentally to focus on something else. If there's If we're a single person, yeah, we can— we might be looking for love and a spouse, but if our imaginations turn to, you know, doing what quote-unquote comes natural, we have to be careful. And if we're married, we have no business looking at anyone else. Our eyes and our hearts are supposed to be set on our spouses., and it's not good to entertain tempting thoughts towards anyone else. As Christ points out, it's adultery, and that's for the single person as well. Sexual immorality is any sexual contact outside of marriage. So, you know, basically, if you're single, you should be committed to being single, and/or looking for a spouse to be with for the rest of your life. If you're married, you're supposed to put your heart's desires on your spouse and them only. So that's, that's, that's very different from the worldview of sex, but it's the view that protects us and keeps us safe. And the Lord— and that's why the Lord puts it throughout scripture to avoid adultery and and, uh, sexual immorality. So there's that. Um, last night we were, uh, blessed to have a couple new people show up at Celebrate Freedom last night. So we are very encouraged that the word is getting out that you can come to our group and get support and help. And, um, it was a wonderful meeting, and, uh, I feel, feel that the Lord is doing some mighty work, as, as some people testified about how things have changed in their life since they've started coming to our meetings. And we know that's because, because they're focusing on the truth of what God says about them and, and not beating themselves up about mistakes in the past, but are committed to, you know, to follow the Lord and to, uh, and to believe what he says about us. So that's the emphasis this, you know, during this series is on the truth And even though we want to look good, and we shouldn't be too focused on, on that, the outward appearances only, um, you know, because we're more than our bodies. We're bodies, spirit, and souls. And, um, the Lord cares about us, um, and doesn't want us just to focus on the flesh, um, because our bodies will pass away and our spirits will last forever. And that's the, the development we have to, uh, do is become the people God wanted us to be in our hearts and our character, because that will be with us of all time. Um, so anyway, uh, it's Thursday and I have to work, uh, again, and that's a blessing, uh, and, um, I won't say it's a curse, um, because it's, it's it, it allows me to provide for me and my family. So it's a good thing and it's a good day, and I feel awfully blessed because of the, the, the other people that have, have been touched by the Lord that want to follow him in spirit and truth. And so, um, let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. We thank you so much for all that you've done in our lives to lead us into the truth of who Jesus is and who you made us to be and how we can be at peace with you when we put our faith in Christ and how you guide us into experiencing the new life of freedom and victory when we, when we decide to follow you. We thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we also praise— we also thank you for the people that you brought into our lives through this, this latest group, all the past ministries we've done, and all the people we've met along the path of Christian discipleship. And we just ask for you, ask for you to come alongside anyone who's listening or reading this message, that you would bless them and their prayer requests and guide them in the way they should go. And as always, we pray for you to go before us today, to, to open our eyes to the things you want us to see and to lead us into the things we want— you would have us do, because all we want to do is represent you and your kingdom on the earth and to walk in harmony with you and to show other people everything that you can do in their lives and how they can live forever in peace when they begin to follow you. So, Lord, we do love you, we do praise you, and we thank you. And we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.