Appearances Can Be Deceiving

[Christsfreeservant]

“And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, ‘See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.’” (Matthew 20:17-19 ESV)​

On a surface level, and on a worldly level, this appears to be a story of defeat, not a story of victory. It appears that Jesus lost this battle and that Satan won. And we, as well, may have circumstances in our lives which give the outward appearance of defeat, and not of victory, when, in fact, our Lord is working victory in and through us and our circumstances for his purposes and for his glory. So we must not be too quick to judge our circumstances as defeat when they may, in fact, be a clear sign of Satan’s defeat, instead.

Also, when we go through difficulties and trials and tribulations which test our faith, and when by all appearances we have lost this battle, we need to look at what we are going through with spiritual lenses instead of with the lenses of the world and of the flesh which look at what is seen and not at what is unseen. For we can’t “judge a book by its cover,” but we must open up the book and look inside, and we may see an entirely different story than the one we perceive by looking on a surface level only.

So, even though Jesus’ enemies condemned him to death, and they delivered him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, he did not remain dead, but he was raised back to life on the third day, as he said he would be. And then he ascended back to heaven where he then sent his Holy Spirit to the earth, as promised, to indwell his followers and to be Jesus to all of us who believe in him with childlike and God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ. So now Christ lives within all of us who follow him in truth.

Now, because Jesus died on that cross, taking upon himself the sins of the entire world, whereby he put our sins to death with him, by faith in him we can now be forgiven our sins and delivered out of our bondage to sin, and we can now live free from the control of sin over our lives and empowered of God’s Spirit to live holy and godly lives, pleasing to Christ, in walks of obedience to his New Covenant commands in moral purity, honesty, uprightness, and faithfulness to our Lord and to his will for our lives.

So, by all appearances, Jesus was defeated, but appearances can be deceiving. So we need to look beyond our circumstances to what our Lord wants to accomplish in and through our lives because of the trials and tribulations that we are presently experiencing. So, instead of giving up and “throwing in the towel” and claiming defeat when life “throws lemons at us,” we must pray and ask the Lord to teach us what he wants us to learn through what we are going through. For these can be teachable moments.

Okay, now I am not speaking here of those who are walking in deliberate and habitual sin absent of genuine repentance. If that is where you are, that is defeat if you continue on that path and if you do not turn from your sins to follow Jesus in obedience. But no one is too far gone that he cannot, by the grace of God, and because of what Jesus did for us on that cross, be delivered out of his addiction to sin and now live a holy and godly life for the glory of God for the rest of his days on this earth.

But Satan is convincing many people that they are too far gone and that they will never be able to have victory over sin and self and the flesh. In themselves, that is true. Not one of us can be saved from our sins by our own human effort. Only by the grace of God can we be crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin, but as slaves to God and to his righteousness. But you just have to want Jesus more than you want your sins.

So, if you are a true follower of Christ who is going through trials and tribulations to test your faith, and you are feeling defeated, please do not give up the fight just because what you can see looks like defeat and not victory. And if you are a professer of faith in Jesus Christ who is still walking in deliberate and habitual sin, convinced that you will never have victory over your sinful practices, believe God and not Satan and not the flesh, and surrender your life to the Lord and let him change you.

But don’t be looking for God to just zap you and now you will no longer be tempted to sin. For as long as we live in these flesh bodies we will still be tempted to sin, although as we grow closer in fellowship with our Lord that should become less and less that sin tempts us. For our path to victory over sin and over discouragement and over the feeling of defeat is faith in Jesus Christ, trusting him with our lives and with our circumstances, and leaning on his strength and wisdom to get us through every battle.

And then we must cooperate with God and with whatever he tells us that we must do. We cannot go it our own way and then ask God why we are not having victory. For faith in Jesus Christ is obedience to our Lord and it is surrender of our lives to him to do his will, for it is not of our flesh, and it is not of our own doing, but it is God-persuaded and God-gifted faith which conforms to the ways of the Lord and not to the ways of the flesh. So, trust the Lord fully with your life and obey what he says, and victory is yours.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

VOICE OF TRUTH

By Mark Hall & Steven Curtis Chapman
II Corinthians 12:7-10/I Corinthians 1:20-24

Oh what I would do to have
The kind of faith it takes to climb out of this boat I’m in
Onto the crashing waves

To step out of my comfort zone
Into the realm of the unknown where Jesus is
And He’s holding out His hand

But the waves are calling out my name and they laugh at me
Reminding me of all the times I’ve tried before and failed
The waves they keep on telling me
Time and time again, “Boy, you’ll never win!”
“You’ll never win!”

But the voice of truth tells me a different story
The voice of truth says, “Do not be afraid!”
And the voice of truth says, “This is for My glory”
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth

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