I'll Be Honest

A believer's assurance of salvation is a particular place that Satan will often seek to attack. Our enemy wants to make us miserable, depressed, and defeated by believing lies that unsettle our confidence in Christ.

If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you've been enlisted in the war against the Devil. And you can't use the doctrine of eternal security to delude you into thinking that you don't need to fight in this battle. The promise of victory is meant to give us assurance in the war, not to exempt us from the war.

In this Ask Pastor Tim, Tim is dealing with how to study the prophets. We want to go beyond a surface-level reading of Scripture, but to dig deep in God's Word.This recording is from a Livestream that was done through Zoom.

In our spiritual warfare, our armor will be woefully insufficient if we are not equipped with our shield of faith. The devil has flaming darts, and even as Christians we still have plenty of flammable matter in our flesh. But we need to remember that there is not a single fiery dart from the devil that can't be effectually quenched by our shield of faith.

There is a delusion that many are tricked into believing. It is the delusion that Christianity is a do not religion: don't do this but do this. They believe that the Christian's life is solely one of morality. But this is not impressive to the living God, and it has no power to stop the indulgence of the flesh. Is this your religion? Or are you trusting in Christ and obeying the Lord out of love for Him from the heart?

A righteous life is a vital part of our armor in our spiritual battle with the Devil. Good theology and abstaining from immorality isn't enough; by God's grace, we need a righteous life full of fruit and good works if we would win this fierce battle. "A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hands of God." - Robert Murray McCheyne

The devil is a devil of extremes; he is constantly trying to get Christians to become too much of one thing to a degree that is biblically unbalanced.Outline:0:00 - Text: Ephesians 61:35 - The Bible and Repetition5:10 - What Does it Mean to Gird Your Loins?14:19 - Imbalanced to an Extreme19:48 - Satan Attacks Those With No Sense of Balance20:53 - Example of Satan's Extreme in Matthew 429:33 - To Not Fall You Must Know the Truth30:09 - Examples of People Being Imbalanced46:31 - How to Get the Power to Not Be Imbalanced53:09 - 2 Timothy - Others Don't Have the Truth, and We Must Approach Them1:01:06 - Conclusion: Wrong Doctrine Will Affect Your Life1:09:33 - Closing Prayer

What does the spiritual war look like for the believer? The enemy targets and attacks the mind of the believer. Satan wants us to doubt God and he attempts to do so by firing fiery darts at our minds. Scripture tells us to carry the shield of faith so we can extinguish the flaming darts the enemy throws at us. How does faith work in this scenario? In what way does faith protect us from Satan's harm?

People are astonished at Christ of one of two ways; they’re either horrified by Him, or they’re silenced and humbled by Him. How do you react to Jesus Christ?

We were once darkness but now we are light in the Lord. And we must remember that God wants us to shine as bright as we can in this dark world.

How do I deal with not thinking correctly? How do we deal with how we think and what is going on in our heads? How do we think better? In this excerpt, from a Bible Doctrine study, Jeff and those in the audience give some thoughts to someone's question.

In our combat with the Devil we don't just need stability, but we also need mobility. We need to have adaptability in order to move swiftly in the spiritual realm. And we must not forget that our mobility comes from the gospel of peace.

If we desire to be overcomers in our battle with the Devil, we must be wearing the breastplate of righteousness, but how does righteousness shield us from the Devil? One thing the Devil fears about the righteous life of the believer is the effective prayers that they are praying.

In this series, we are considering the Christian's call to battle, and in this message, we will start considering putting on the breastplate of righteousness. Imputed righteousness is an essential truth that the Christian must know and lay hold of when in the midst of spiritual warfare.

Our world is full of problems right now and so many people are convinced that they have the solutions for them. But none of these solutions work because they're all focused on flesh and blood. We have to remember that the root cause of our problems is spiritual, not physical.

One of the great tests of true Christianity is that God puts in His people a special love for other true Christians.In 1 John 3:14 it says "We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death." This verse leads us to ask, "What does John mean when he says love?" If it is the test of whether we are actually saved or not, we don't want to get the meaning wrong. He goes on in verse 16 to show us what true love looks like, "By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers." Then in the following verse he gives us something very practical to tell if we have this love or not: 1 John 3:17 - But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?

How should we as Christians recognize (or not recognize) the holidays that are observed by the world? How should we view other Christians who hold a different view or take a different approach than we do on these matters?

The Pharisees were the religious leaders in Jesus' day and they were looked up to as a standard of righteousness. But Jesus came along and declared that these Pharisees are hypocrites who are going to hell. And then He points at us and tells us that our righteousness must exceed the hypocritical righteousness of the Pharisees. Does your righteousness consist of an external list of do's and don'ts, or has God given you a heart-righteousness?0:00 - Matthew 5.20 is connected to the previous verses.2:23 - Scenario - What must be true of me to get to heaven?5:15 - Often, we are afraid to sound like Jesus sounds!12:08 - Lloyd-Jones quote on the Scribes and the Pharisees.14:32 - The ordinary person was in awe by these religious leaders.17:26 - Notice how often Jesus deals with the Scribes and the Pharisees.19:47 - A survey of the religion of the Scribes and the Pharisees.24:49 - Luke 12.1 the Lord really sums it up.34:22 - Can all of us be honest with ourselves?43:40 - They were killing the Messiah but did not want to become unclean at the same time...hypocrites!48:48 - We are not perfect; I recognize that.53:38 - The following verses in Matthew 5 might have a legal feel to it, but the heart of the matter is people who are longing to serve the Lord.57:57 - Closing prayer.

Jesus said that He didn’t come to abolish the law but rather to fulfill it. What does Jesus mean when He says that? Does His fulfillment of the law nullify any obligation on our part to obey the law? How does Jesus’ fulfillment of the law relate to our law-keeping?0:00 – Reading of text and introductory comment.2:43 – Don’t tune out and think this is too complicated to understand.8:29 – Today we want to consider and unpack our Lord’s first three words.12:43 – Hermeneutics 101 is to compare Scripture with Scripture.20:14 – What was Christ’s relationship to the Old Testament?25:11 – What is the golden rule?28:00 – “Do not think that I came to destroy the law and the prophets…”35:59 – Did you do the will of God? Christ did on your behalf.40:57 – A study of the doctrine of obedience.45:50 – Keep the righteous requirement of the law.50:54 – God changes us to where we naturally keep God’s standard.58:35 – Closing prayer.

Question: Can a believer still have assurance of salvation if he remembers a time in his life when he was more godly than he is now?0:00 - Mack reads the question.0:12 - Paul Washer's response.3:08 - Michael Durham's response.5:04 - Mack Tomlinson's closing comment.