Category: Self-denial / Obedience

Loins Girt About with Truth – Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

…sermon on the six pieces of “the armor of God.” First are the “loins girt with truth,” then the breastplate of righteousness, feet shod with the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit. This is not an exhaustive list, but a highlighting of vital elements for spiritual warfare. Soldiers braced their clothing together with a girdle in order to move without encumbrance. …The spiritual meaning here is for the mind. Some think “truth” means sincerity or candor, but the foundation of the Christian’s armor cannot be their own sincerity and truthfulness. The girdle, as well as the sword, is the word of God. Christians must be wholly governed by truth, which is revealed in Christ Jesus. …It is a settled conviction, knowing whom and what to believe. The devil tries to create confusion and uncertainty and to repel him, Christians must be “girt about” with truth.

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Man’s Greatest Problem – Self – Martyn Lloyd-Jones

…Dr. Lloyd-Jones points out that the devil primarily uses pride to refocus people off the things of the Lord. One of his main methods in this is to take a person’s gift— whether it is singing, speech, knowledge, intellect or even conversion experience — and use it to make its possessor feel self-reliant and that they are above the spiritual state of other believers. …We should see ourselves as members of the body of Christ where every part is important. …We should care about what God thinks of us, not what people think. …Self in all its manifestations dishonors God, his grace and the gospel.

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Worry and Anxiety – Martyn Lloyd-Jones

The MLJ sermon of this post is another in his series on the wiles of the Devil. In the process of his teaching herein, he said quite a lot that applies to the word-of-faith, prosperity gospels and the Charismatic church. His words clarified their great claims via biblical passages. The thrust of his message was to show believers yet another way in which the Devil undermines a believer’s walk with the Lord, rendering them ineffective, discouraged…. [A song is attached to the post because in that song, one can hear the kind of process that MLJ discussed, in terms of laying down one’s self-striving and surrendering to Christ; quitting on self-guidance and receiving His.]

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Reconciled to God (Remastered) – Martyn Lloyd-Jones

A sermon by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones on Being Reconciled to God. “There is no human being that has sinned beyond the bounds of redemption and salvation in Christ Jesus. None.” …Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones preaches through the account of the paralyzed man whose greatest need was fixed by Jesus. This man had heard that Jesus could heal him and had faith that Jesus could do it. His faith brought him to have his friends lower him through a roof to get to Jesus; he was a desperate man. Yet Jesus offers something so much more than just the physical healing of the man—Jesus forgives his sins. …To receive forgiveness and healing, we must have faith in Jesus, repent of sins, and obey his commands. We must accept his diagnosis of our need and his method of salvation. Dr. Lloyd-Jones reminds listeners that unless sins have been forgiven, no one is able to live a truly happy life regardless of how “good” their situation may be.

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What is the enemy within? – Got Questions Ministries

The apostle Paul recognized the fact there is an internal battle within each one of us; every believer has an “enemy within” that we must fight. This lifelong battle between the flesh and the Spirit will rage until our death. Romans 7:21–23 addresses the enemy within: “So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.” Paul understood that his fleshly nature would never conform to God’s will. No matter how much he might want to obey God in every way, he was fighting the “evil . . . right there with me,” the enemy within.

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Following the Light of the World  –  Things Unseen with Sinclair B. Ferguson

Until we come to saving faith in Christ, we remain lost in the darkness of sin and condemnation. Today, Sinclair Ferguson reflects on the verses of Scripture that were instrumental in opening his eyes to the light of the world. [Ferguson talks about personal realizations that every born-again Christian experiences during his / her pilgrimage; these are worked in us by the Spirit via the word.]

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7 New Age Deceptions infiltrating the Church and deceiving some Christians – Doreen Virtue

Doreen had a lot to say about the following 7 New Age deceptions that are infiltrating the church. In particular, her assessment of The Chosen: she showed a very brief clip that conveyed how wrongly this show presents Jesus, it began 2 minutes and 30 seconds in. HER 7 POINTS ARE AS FOLLOWS: Mark and avoid Jesus Calling books; Mark and avoid The Chosen; Mark and avoid all forms of Yoga; Mark and avoid the Enneagram; Mark and avoid contemplative practices; Mark and Avoid Deliverance Ministries and Self-Deliverance; and finally, Mark and Avoid False Prophets.

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God’s Refining Process – Part 1 of 2

This post contains the lyrics of John Newton’s hymn, I Asked the Lord That I Might Grow, to emphasize two things: 1- that his perspective is on the level of human experience; and, 2- he wrongly views God’s work in seeing it as something to be escaped (this hymn is so relevant because that is how humans typically view affliction, testing from God’s hand). Afterwards, scripture verses are used to convey God’s purposes in the work of refining. Then two versions of the song are provided, the first is a Country / pop version; the second, traditional hymnal version.

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