Life's Inanities and Ironies

  Scripture does not leave the believer guessing about how to respond when temptation rises. Two clear, complementary commands run throughout the New Testament: flee and resist. They are not optional suggestions; they are the God-appointed strategy for victory. First, flee. “Flee fornication” (1 Corinthians 6:18). “Flee also youthful lusts” (2 Timothy 2:22). “Flee from idolatry” (1 Corinthians 10:14). In the realm of sexual impurity, covetousness, and anything that functions as an idol, the Holy Spirit’s instruction is immediate withdrawal. Joseph did not stay in Potiphar’s house to “prove his strength”; he fled (Genesis 39:12). The man who lingers near the edge of sexual temptation, who keeps the phone nearby “just in case,” who continues to feed the eyes with images he knows are wrong, is disobeying a direct command. There is a time to stand and fight; there is also a time to run. For the lusts of the flesh, the time is always now. Second, resist. “Submit yourselves therefore to ...

  Beloved, the moment a person is born again the battle does not end; it intensifies. The old nature remains, the world still presses its claims, and the devil still walks about as a roaring lion. Yet many sincere saints are needlessly discouraged because they have confused the presence of temptation with the commission of sin. Scripture draws a sharp line between the two, and that line is one of the great comforts of the Christian life. Jesus Christ “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). He felt the full weight of hunger, the attractiveness of power, and the pressure of the devil’s suggestions, and yet He never once yielded. If the Son of God could be tempted and remain sinless, then temptation itself is not sin. The apostle Paul likewise spoke with painful honesty about the ongoing conflict inside the believer: “For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do” (Romans 7:19). He did not pretend the struggle disappe...

It’s an incredible thing to be able to write this with absolute certainty: I KNOW, without a shadow of a doubt, that if I were to take my last breath at this very moment, I would be standing face-to-face with my Lord and Savior. If you are a believer—someone who has truly trusted in Jesus Christ—this might sound like a “gimme.” Of course you’d go to Heaven, right? But I am here to tell you that for many years of my life, I did not have that assurance. Instead of the peace that passes understanding, I lived in a constant state of fear and confusion, caught in the web of false doctrines. My story starts very young, between the ages of 4 and 6, when my mother regularly hosted the “Watchtower ladies” from the Jehovah’s Witnesses Kingdom Hall. Even at that tender age, I was starving for truth. I desperately wanted to hear about Jesus and Heaven. Instead, what I learned from them was devastating. They taught that if I died and wasn't part of the specific 144,000 elite, that was it. I had...

Beloved saints, in these last days when so many voices cry that there are many paths to God, the Holy Spirit has preserved for us in John 14 one of the clearest, most comforting, and most exclusive declarations ever spoken by our Lord Jesus Christ. This chapter is part of the Upper Room Discourse (John 13–17), spoken on the night before the crucifixion, after Judas had gone out into the night (John 13:30). The disciples were troubled. Their Master had washed their feet, announced a betrayal, predicted Peter’s denial, and spoken of His departure. Into that atmosphere of confusion and sorrow, Jesus speaks words of profound comfort, doctrinal clarity, and practical instruction that every fundamental believer must hold fast. ** The Setting and the Comfort (John 14:1–4) ** “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place fo...