Equipping Eve: Sad Church Signs

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Is the church today doing everything it can to provide women a firm foundation of truth in Christ Jesus?

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Well, it's true, there's no shortage of candy -coated Bible studies, potluck fellowships available to ladies.

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But beyond Sunday morning, are Christian women being properly equipped to stand against the same deceptions that even enticed

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Eve in the garden? In an attempt to address the need for trustworthy, biblical resources for women,

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No Compromise Radio is happy to introduce Equipping Eve, a ladies -only radio show that seeks to equip women with fruits of truth in an age that's ripe with deception.

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My name is Mike Abendroth and I'm pleased to introduce your host, Erin Benzinger, a friend of No Compromise Radio and a woman who wants to see other women equipped with a love for and a knowledge of the truth of God's Word.

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Well, hello ladies and welcome to Equipping Eve, the show that seeks to equip you with fruits of truth from God's Word so that you can be so well -versed and so grounded in the truth that is found in God's Word alone that you will know error when you see it.

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Whether that's in the church, whether that's in your child coming home from school with some crazy, wacky, secular, humanist idea, you will be able to go back to God's Word and say, no, no, here's what

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God says and God's Word is the only thing that is authoritative of our life.

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Why? Because it comes from God. God's Word reflects who

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He is and He is holy. He is just.

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He is righteous. He is true. Jesus Christ said,

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I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

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Jesus Christ is God. God's Word is true. It is unchanging. It will never change.

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It is immutable like its author, God Himself. The Bible says in Isaiah 48, the grass withers, the flower fades, but the

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Word of our God stands forever. 1 Peter 1, 24 -25, quoting

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Isaiah 40, for all flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers and the flower falls off, but the

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Word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the Word which was preached to you.

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God's Word does not change because, as I said, its author does not change. God Himself is immutable.

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Malachi 3 .6, I the Lord do not change. And those are, of course, just a very tiny handful of verses speaking to the immutability of God and His Word in His Word, our authority over all matters of life, faith, and practice.

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So ladies, that's what we do here at Equipping Eve. You know, we could sit here and talk about all the false teachers and, oh, you know, what's

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Joyce Meyger doing now and what's Andy Stanley doing? Listen, Andy Stanley is denying the authority of God's Word is what he's doing as I tape this.

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And you know what? That shouldn't surprise us. He's been doing this for years. He was a little more subtle, in some people's opinion.

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I hate to say it. I told you so, but I saw it coming. Yeah, point out the error.

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Point out those false teachers, but ladies, ladies, always go back to God's Word and ensure that Christ is exalted above all, above all things.

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Instead of going around and throwing ad hominem attacks at the false teachers you don't like, exalt

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Christ. How did He go about criticizing the false teachers?

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By using God's Word to demonstrate their error. So let us reflect

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Christ even in our discernment, shall we? So ladies,

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Equipping Eve, let's see, I don't have an exact date, but as I tape this I happen to think that we're probably coming up on the two -year anniversary of the start of Equipping Eve.

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You know, cue the applause soundtrack, I don't have one of those. So that's exciting.

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Of course we are bi -weekly, is that the right term? Usually, anyway, we try to air a show every two weeks.

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That doesn't always happen, and my apologies for that. Once the shows are recorded,

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I edit them and send them off, and so sometimes they make it up on time, sometimes they don't.

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So just keep tuning in, and hopefully new episodes will keep popping up.

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If you're enjoying the show, if you think that the show should cease, let me know. Send me an email.

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But I hope that you are finding it to be edifying, I hope that you find that we glorify and exalt

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Christ here at Equipping Eve. So thank you for listening, and I know I usually say that at the end of the show, but we're not done yet.

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We're just getting started. So let's have our moment of awesomeness, shall we? We like to just be awesome here at Equipping Eve, and that is kind of a mocking of Holly Girth, who wrote the book

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You're Already Amazing, and she also wrote a book called You're Loved No Matter What, Freeing Your Heart from the

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Need to Be Perfect. And so in this book here, she says, My friend and fellow writer,

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Ann Voskamp, whoa, hey, there's a red flag, right? It took a dare to write down 1 ,000 gifts in her life.

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That list pulled her out of a season of depression and awakened her in new ways to God's presence. Huh, interesting, because God's word wasn't enough.

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She says, All gratitude is ultimately gratitude for Christ. All remembering is remembrance of Him, for in Him all things were created or sustained hath their being.

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Gratitude is like kryptonite to perfectionism. So then Holly Girth gives us some tools that you can use to count your blessings, and one of them is to download

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Ann Voskamp's 1 ,000 Gifts app. I didn't know that existed. That makes me sad.

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Shelsa says you should make gratitude part of your decor. Make or find a simple give thanks sign and put it in a spot where you'll see it each day.

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Bathroom mirror, refrigerator, door in your garage, wall where you pull in the car. That's weird. Get a gratitude bunny, okay.

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So, alrighty, I gotta go get my glitter pen out and make my give thanks sign.

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You know, there's this idea, you're loved no matter what, you're enough, you know, stop trying to be perfect.

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Hey, you're not going to be perfect. Nevertheless, as Christians, we strive for holiness because we are to reflect

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Christ, are we not? And the process of sanctification is not just sitting back on the couch saying, let go, let

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God, and okay, God, make me holy, no, no, no, no, it's a process that you are actively involved in.

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We are grieved, hopefully, if you're not, you might want to be praying about that.

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And so, you're loved no matter what because of Christ and who you are in Christ.

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This whole idea of you're enough, just the way you are, don't change, that is very borderline dangerous, if not straight up dangerous, in saying, you know what, just, it's okay that you sin constantly, that you're in that besetting sin and not actively seeking to mortify it, not grieved by it, that's cool, it's fine,

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Jesus died, it's okay, Jesus died, it's alright. Jesus died because of your sin,

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Jesus died to pay the penalty for your sin, why then would you seek to continue to engage in that sin for which

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Jesus died? How does that honor him? How does that glorify him? It doesn't, it doesn't, it can't, it can't, so if you start seeing this mindset that is kind of prevalent in women's ministries, that you're enough, start running,

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I would suggest start running, but that is not actually what we're talking about today in spite of the time we've spent on it.

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Ladies, I thought today that we would take a trip down your local road, past your local church, and take a look at some church signs, actually just one that I recently saw in my neck of the woods, and it's,

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I didn't write it down exactly, but it said something to the effect of, certainty is the absence of faith, hmm, certainty is the absence of faith, so it's saying that certainty and faith are not the same thing.

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Well what do we do when we have these little word conundrums? Well first, let's go to the dictionary, shall we?

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Let's go to our standard English dictionary. I type faith into my computer here, and it tells me it is complete trust or confidence in someone or something, complete trust or confidence, well then you'd be certain of that something or someone, wouldn't you?

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Weird, I wonder what certainty means.

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Certainty is the firm conviction that something is the case, huh, conviction, conviction, conviction, where have

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I heard that word before? Oh yes, ladies turn in your

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Bibles with me to Hebrews 11, the hall of faith as it is fondly referred to,

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I love Hebrews, I love, love, love, love the book of Hebrews. Have you read the book of Hebrews lately?

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You should, you should go back and read it, I love the book of Hebrews. Hebrews 11 .1,

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are you there? Okay, now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

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Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. That sounds like faith might have something to do with certainty, and not in the same way that this church sign was talking about.

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Okay, so let's go back to the dictionary. If we go to Merriam -Webster, and we look up assurance.

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Hebrews 11 .1 says, faith is the assurance of things hoped for. Assurance, says Merriam -Webster, is the state of being sure or certain about something.

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Weird, so if I'm certain of something, Hebrews 11 is saying, if I have assurance, faith is the assurance.

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So faith is the state of being certain about something. So then certainty couldn't be the absence of faith, weird.

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Okay, what about conviction? Because Hebrews 11 .1 says that faith is the conviction of things not seen.

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Well, Merriam -Webster says conviction is a strong belief or opinion, the feeling of being sure that what you believe or say is true.

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That would mean you're certain about something, wouldn't it? Well, that's strange.

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I mean, how dare you be certain of something, right? I mean, certainty is the absence of faith, is it?

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John MacArthur, in his sermon on this text, which is called

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What is Faith, ironically, says that the word faith is a simple word in the

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Greek, and it means belief, trust, confidence. Faith. Okay, so that sounds to me like you're certain.

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If you have faith in something, you're certain. Well, why would you have faith in something that you're not certain about? You know,

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I'm sitting in a chair right now, and I have faith that this chair will uphold me and not send me crashing to the floor.

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And in fact, I'm certain that the chair will hold me. Now, something like that, I suppose, could be proven wrong, and I'm sitting here hoping that the chair doesn't come crashing down.

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However, we exercise faith on a daily basis in things that are so transient and so temporary, and yet, are we to not exercise faith in the

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God of the universe? We have faith in our brakes and our car that they'll stop when we use them.

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And let me tell you, from personal experience, that doesn't always happen.

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And yet, we get in the car certain that our brakes will work. And so, if we can have faith in something like that, why wouldn't we?

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And be certain of it when it really could fail us.

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Why would we not be certain about our God, who has promised in his word, his unchanging word, that he will care for his children, that he has promised for his children an eternal home?

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Why would we not be certain about those things? Friends of you can't be certain about it. Why do you believe it?

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Why do you have faith? The MacArthur Study Bible says about Hebrews 11, 1, the word assurance there, it says this is from the same

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Greek word translated exact imprint in Hebrews 1, 3, and confidence in 3, 14.

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The faith described here, says MacArthur, involves the most solid possible conviction, the

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God -given present assurance of a future reality. Wow. God -given present assurance of a future reality.

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We'll come back to that. And he says about the phrase conviction of things not seen, he says, true faith is not based on empirical evidence, but on divine assurance and is a gift of God.

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Amen and amen. MacArthur goes on in his sermon,

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What is Faith? He says, faith is an absolute, utter certainty.

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He says, faith is the ability to take what is in the future and give it present substance. And don't we do this?

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Don't we do this again with lesser veins? I'm going to take a vacation. Let's pretend

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I'm going to take a vacation. I don't actually take vacations. So let's pretend I'm going to take a vacation to the beach.

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And I'm going to go to the beach where it's lovely and warm and the waves are crashing and I can just picture myself walking along the beach and just how wonderful and relaxing it will be.

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Taking what is in the future, even though I'm not there yet, and giving it present substance. Well, if I can do that with something as silly as a vacation, why would

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I not do that about something that is laid out for me in black and white in the word of God that says,

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I go to prepare a place for you. In my house are many rooms. And if I were preparing a place for you,

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I will come back for you. The Aaron paraphrase. Jesus speaking to his disciples.

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And that promise extends to us today. Why would I not have faith and conviction and assurance and certainty that Christ will do what he has said?

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I must. I must be certain about that in which

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I have placed my faith. I must. I absolutely must. You must, friend.

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You absolutely must. Now, why can our faith be one of conviction?

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Why can our faith be so filled with assurance? MacArthur touched on it in his study notes.

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Ladies, turn in your Bible to a very familiar passage, Ephesians 2, 8 and 9.

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Paul writes, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourself. It is the gift of God.

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Faith is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

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Faith is the gift of God. As MacArthur said, The God -given, present assurance of a future reality.

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True faith is not based on empirical evidence, but on divine assurance, and is a gift of God.

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Second Peter 1 .1. Peter writes, Simon Peter, a bondservant, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours by the righteousness of our

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God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Did you catch it? To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours.

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Not those who have mustered up a faith like ours, not those who chose to have a faith like ours.

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No, no. Those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours.

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Philippians 1 .29. I'll give you a second to turn there. Philippians 1 .29.

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Paul writes, For to you it has been granted, for Christ's sake, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake.

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It has been granted to you to believe in him. Your faith has been granted to you. You received it.

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You didn't choose to have it. Acts 3 .16.

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And on the basis of faith in his name, it is the name of Jesus, which has strengthened this man whom you see and know, and the faith which comes through him, him being

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Jesus, has given him, the man, this perfect health in the presence of you all.

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Faith is a gift from God. Is faith a gift?

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There's an article I'm really pulling from MacArthur here today. There's an article on the

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Grace To You website called, Is Faith a Gift? And it's based on Ephesians 2 .8

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and 9, the most obvious, bold statement that faith is a gift of God.

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And this article says, Our response in salvation is faith, but even that is not of ourselves, but is the gift of God.

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Faith is nothing that we do in our own power or by our own resources. In the first place, we do not have adequate power or resources.

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More than that, God would not want us to rely on them, even if we had them. Otherwise, salvation would, in part, be by our own works, and we would have some ground to boast in ourselves.

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Paul intends to emphasize that even faith is not from us, apart from God's giving it. We don't want to boast in ourselves.

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This is so crazy about these people who think that you choose to follow Jesus. Well, then they need to walk around patting themselves on the back.

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Good job, Susie, on choosing Jesus. You must be smarter than Mary, who didn't choose

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Jesus. Congratulations on obtaining your own salvation. No, that's not how it works.

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Faith is a gift of God. Repentance and faith, two sides of the same salvation coin, are both gifts from God.

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This article goes on, and I actually think this article was taken from the MacArthur Commentary on Ephesians 2.

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MacArthur writes, The story is told of a man who came eagerly, but very late, to a revival meeting, and found the workman tearing down the tent in which the meetings had been held.

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Frantic at missing the evangelist, he decided to ask one of the workers what he could do to be saved. The workman, who was a

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Christian, replied, You can't do anything. It's too late. Horrified, the man said,

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What do you mean? How can it be too late? The work has already been accomplished, he was told.

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There is nothing you need to do but believe it. Every person lives by faith. When we open a can of food or drink a glass of water, we trust that it is not contaminated.

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When we go across a bridge, we trust it to support us. When we put our money in the bank, we trust it will be safe.

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Life is a constant series of acts of faith. No human being, no matter how skeptical and self -reliant, could live a day without exercising faith.

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And, I would interject, being certain about these things. If you weren't certain that the bridge would support you, you wouldn't drive across it.

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If you weren't certain that that can of cola wasn't contaminated, you wouldn't drink it. You are certain of that.

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You exercise your faith. There's an element of certainty. The article goes on.

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When we accept the finished work of Christ on our behalf, we act by the faith supplied by God's grace. That is the supreme act of human faith.

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The act which, though it is ours, is primarily God's, his gift to us out of his grace. When a person chokes or drowns and stops breathing, there is nothing he can do.

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If he ever breathes again, it will be because someone else starts him breathing. A person who is spiritually dead cannot even make a decision of faith unless God first breathes into him the breath of spiritual life.

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Can we get an amen? Faith is simply breathing the breath that God's grace supplies, yet the paradox is that we must exercise it and bear the responsibility if we do not.

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Obviously, if it is true that salvation is all by God's grace, it is therefore not as a result of works.

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Human effort has nothing to do with it. See Romans 3 .20, Galatians 2 .16, and thus, no one should boast as if he had any part.

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All boasting is eliminated in salvation. Nevertheless, good works have an important place, as Paul is quick to affirm.

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And that goes back to the, we don't just say, well, I'm enough just the way I am, I'm going to keep on sinning because I shouldn't have to change.

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No, you don't change to get yourself saved, but if you are saved, you desire to change and look more like Christ, right?

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Don't you long, ladies, to be rid of your sin? Don't you long for that day when there is no more sin?

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When Christ returns and takes us home and we are with him for eternity and there is no more sin?

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Aren't you certain about that promise of his? If you have been saved, aren't you certain that that is your future, that that is your glorious promised inheritance, your eternal inheritance?

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It's not like when your great aunt Martha dies and leaves you a couple thousand dollars and you end up spending it.

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No, no, it's an eternal inheritance. Wow, eternal. This promise to be with Christ for all of eternity.

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I can't even fathom it, and yet, I am certain that it will happen.

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I can't even fathom it, and yet, I am certain that Christ will return for his own. I am certain that he has prepared a place for his children.

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I am certain of these things because the Bible tells me so, and the

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Bible is God's word, and the Bible is true because God is true, and the

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Bible has authority over all things because God is supreme and sovereign king of all things.

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It doesn't matter if you don't think he is or you don't want him to be. He is. That is a reality, whether you choose to acknowledge it or not.

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So ladies, let me ask you, is your faith a thing of certainty? And I don't want you to be certain that your exercising of faith is what is saving you.

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I want you to be certain about the person in whom you have placed your faith. That is

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Jesus Christ. That is the one who was the perfect, holy, eternal son of God who humbled himself and came and lived among sinful men and lived perfectly because God does have a law and we break it hourly, and if we sin in just one point of the law, we are guilty of breaking the entire law, but Jesus Christ lived on this earth as a man, yet fully

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God, and never once broke the law. He kept it perfectly.

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And why did he do that? Because you and I cannot. And he knows that you and I cannot.

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And then he willingly went to a cross and bore the wrath of God the

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Father for the sins of all who would believe. He was sinless, and yet he endured the wrath of God for the sins of his people.

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And he died, and he was buried, and friends, he was dead. He didn't swoon.

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His disciples didn't hide the body. No, no, he was dead. And yet three days later, he was alive because when he died, he was offering himself as a sacrifice to the

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Father, the only acceptable sacrifice for the true, final forgiveness of sins, because he was unblemished, and he was perfect, and he was the

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Son of God. When he rose three days later, we can know that God the

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Father accepted his sacrifice. Do you have faith in that Jesus?

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Do you have faith in that work? Are you certain of that work?

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Are you certain of that person? Certainty is not the absence of faith, it is the presence of faith.

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Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, his person and his work. My friend, you better be certain about your faith, about in whom you have placed it.

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Your entire eternity depends on it. Okay, ladies, that is all for today.

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Thanks for joining us. Until the next time, get in your

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Bibles, learn about that God, that Jesus, the Holy Spirit that has given to us a salvation.

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Get in your Bibles, get on your knees, and pray to the Lord who saved you, and get equipped.

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Thanks for listening. You've been listening to Equipping Eve, a

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No Compromise radio production. If you'd like to get a hold of Erin, you can reach her at equippingeve at gmail .com,

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or you can check out one of our two websites, donotbesurprised .com or equippingeve .org.