False Christian teachings, trends….
“Faith does not only mean a belief, it doesn’t only mean an intellectual assent. It does mean that, but it means more than that. There are these three essential elements in faith: believing, being persuaded, and acting. In other words, the mind is involved, the heart is involved, and the will is involved.” ―Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Spurgeon’s Morning commentary is on the following verse: “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.” — Heb_5:8. His Evening thoughts are about this verse: Song of Solomon 5:6 I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer. [The morning thoughts are in line with the MLJ sermon which will be posted later today.]
The preacher begins by addressing the context of the epistle to the Hebrews, written to Jewish Christians who were becoming discouraged in their faith. He emphasizes the importance of prayer in the Christian life and highlights the difficulties that can arise when attempting to pray. Dr. Lloyd-Jones outlines three main obstacles to prayer: entering into God’s holy presence, dealing with an evil conscience, and overcoming a sense of unworthiness due to sin’s pollution. He argues that these difficulties make prayer one of the most challenging aspects of the Christian life….
In the Christian life, one must fight a daily battle against the accusations of the devil. How then do they fight against these accusations and respond by living in the truth of the Bible? When Satan tries to distract and condemn them with their imperfections, failures, and unworthiness, how do they respond in a way that keeps their focus on God and not themselves? In this sermon on Ephesians 6.14 titled “Putting on the Breastplate,” Dr. Lloyd-Jones explains how the breastplate of righteousness protects the Christian from these accusations by reminding them of who they are in Christ Jesus. [This is MLJ’s last sermon on verse 14 in this 67-part series. It is different from others on this verse. I pasted in all the scriptures mentioned in the points by MLJTrust]
This post contains Spurgeons Morning and Evening devotional thoughts for March 13.
This post contains a 10-minute video on autosuggestion, its message is something like the word-faith gospel. I typed out a transcript of the video and critiqued it a paragraph or few at a time. The critiques are biblical. I do not think the video is within the Christian biblical worldview and do not recommend just hearing that and leaving, without reading the critique.
MLJ explained what it means to put on the truth of scripture. In the process, he clarified in a variety of ways what that truth is and how many in the church have erred via Liberalism and other ideas of men. A video reading of 1 Corinthians 15 and the complete text was added to this post because those ideas were an important part of his sermon.
In the sermon of this post, MLJ went more deeply into concepts about God’s truth. He briefly discussed death and war in the process of emphasizing our need to surrender fully to scripture and the Holy Spirit. His points were very relevant in terms of current events of our day surrounding the EU’s support of Ukraine after Trump refused to embolden Zelensky, who was not ready for peace…. Also, I added a point from MLJ’s words that was not covered by MLJTrust, but that is very relevant to the false NAR movement of our day.
The MORNING entry emphasizes that believers should solely rely on God for their needs, both earthly and spiritual, expecting His constant grace and future heavenly rewards. This includes anticipating angelic escorts at death and eternal glory in His presence. The EVENING entry uses the story of Elijah and the widow to illustrate God’s faithfulness in meeting daily needs. Just as her flour and oil never ran out, believers can trust that God’s grace will perpetually supply their necessities. This unwavering divine support surpasses any earthly resource, offering continuous comfort and encouragement through Christ.
MLJ herein carefully explains how it is that those Christians who focus on feelings, experiences, fresh revelation… cannot put on the belt of truth because the truth that the apostle Paul referred to is something all together different. It is based upon objective truth statements. He explained such that all readers might understand. I was fascinated by how he explained the error of relying on experiences, the mystical type of experience one might feel via an encounter with God, for example; that such people will inevitably come to a place wherein they say such things as, “well that is your truth, but mine differs….” Such erroneous statements are commonly made in our 21st century culture. This is a pretty deep sermon; part of his process of teaching Christians about the belt of truth as described in the scriptures.