7 Critical Christian Mistakes made by sincere Christians

One of the reasons I wanted to do something a little bit different, to be honest with you, is during this last week I kind of lost my voice. I taught on Wednesday and then the very next day my voice just was like gone. It was like in the basement. And I've been working to get it back ever since. And usually when I teach and my voice is kind of like, you can still hear it, it's kind of a little bit raspy and stuff like that. My teachings tend to kind of stick around on the web for like 10 to 12 years. And so I decided I'm going to give myself another week for the voice to get better and I'm going to do something else, share something else with you today. So this is what we're going to do. I decided we're going to talk about seven critical mistakes that are made by sincere Christians. And I put that word sincere in there very purposefully because if you're insincere you're going to make a lot more mistakes than that, let me tell you. I can't even begin to talk about all the issues that are going to befall an insincere believer. But for those who genuinely want to walk with the Lord and genuinely understand the basic concepts of Christianity and yet struggle, that's what we're going to talk about. I've shared with you guys many times that I spend probably a couple hours a day just answering Bible questions from people. I don't know if you've looked lately, but our YouTube channel is up to 132,000 subscribers. And I say that to let you know that there's a personal revival going on in the world and people want to hear the Word of God. They're anxious to hear the Word of God. And so in light of that, I've had a unique opportunity to stay in touch with people in ways as a pastor that I frankly never have before. It's really interesting. You know, when people don't live in your town, I think they're a little bit freer to be a little more honest and tell you what's really going on in their heart. You know what I mean? I mean people who you see face to face on a week to week basis tend to kind of keep things, believe it or not, a little bit more at a distance rather than kind of just airing out what's really going on in their lives. But people who live in like Nigeria or, you know, something like that will write to me and they'll just like tell me everything, you know. But it's been good. It's been good for me as a pastor because it helps me, I think, to stay in touch with where people really, really live in terms of, you know, their walk with the Lord. So we're going to outline today seven, I think, fairly common mistakes that sincere and genuine believers make. So for those of you who like to take notes, and I'm one of those kinds of people, it helps me to keep things organized in my mind. We're going to put our headline up on the screen here and we'll put all of the elements in there and we'll also throw in some passages along the way. But the first mistake that I believe that Christians make is underestimating the power of prayer. And this is probably nothing that's terribly surprising to you, but I have to confess something to you today. And I probably should do this anytime I talk about or teach on the subject of prayer. And that is that I really don't understand how prayer works. I mean, I've been doing it for a long time, been teaching about it for a long time, but I get a lot of questions saying, Pastor Paul, exactly how does this work? And they'll ask about certain dynamics related to praying and how they pray and when they pray and where they pray and what kind of words they say when they pray and all these other things that go along with it. And I don't really know. There are a great many mysteries related to the issue of prayer. But we don't pray, people, because we understand it all. We pray because we are told in the Word of God to do it. The Lord calls us to that place of prayer. But it's still a mystery. Honestly, I think if you could pick the brain of most Christians, you would discover that people in general, Christians in general, tend to believe in prayer. They just think it is best done by someone else. You know, they read that passage, you know, the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective, and they go, yeah, but that ain't me. You know, that might be somebody else who has a powerful and effective prayer ministry, but I just don't seem to have that. But there is one thing that I do understand about prayer, and that is that Satan doesn't want you doing it. And the reason is because he knows that it weakens his power. It weakens his hold on things. You know, I think like many of you, I was heartened this last week to find out that the U.S. Supreme Court, I thought, made a good decision in saying that essentially the right to abortion is not a constitutional issue at all. And that's good. It took them almost 50 years to change their mind related to that. Don't think for a minute that that change was not prompted through saints praying and praying and praying. I believe that prayer had a huge role in that change. There is a statement, as a matter of fact, that Jesus made in the Gospel of Mark, but let me set this up for you a little bit. There was a man who came to the disciples of Jesus to ask that they would deliver his son from a demonic presence, and they tried and failed. You remember? And so eventually the boy was brought to Jesus, and of course he did what needed to be done. He cast the demon out of the boy, and the boy was set free. But then we read about this interesting conversation that took place after in private. Let me put this on the screen. It's from the Gospel of Mark chapter 9, and it says, And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him, and you can imagine they're kind of like a little bit of tail between the legs sort of a thing, and they're saying, you know, why couldn't we cast it out? But here's the interesting thing. It says, And you know what Jesus is saying in that simple statement? It's that prayer weakens the power of the enemy. It's interesting how we miss that sometimes. We read that verse, and we miss what he said. And he's not just talking about spending a lot of time in prayer. I don't think Jesus is saying, you know, in order to deal with these kinds of demonic situations, there has to be hours and hours and hours and hours in prayer. And not to say that time spent in prayer is a bad thing, but I think there's more to it than just simply punching a time clock, you know, as it relates to being in prayer for a specific amount of time. It's more about the one with whom you are spending that time. It's being in his presence. It's aligning our will, your will, to his. It's being influenced, you know, by him, by his presence and that sort of thing. Having your spiritual batteries recharged by just being with him, spending time with him, communion with the Father and the Son through the power of the Holy Spirit. I think that's what he's talking about when he's talking about prayer, that communion with God that unfortunately many Christians have never experienced. I ran into a quote online about prayer that I thought was really good. I thought I'd share it with you. Prayer is the divinely ordained mechanism that leads us into the power and victory of Christ. And I believe that wholeheartedly. And I believe that prayer is often, often something that believers just don't take into consideration as far as its power and its ability. And you can hear it in the things they say when they say things, well, we've done everything we can, now all we can do is pray. No, it should be the opposite, right? The next mistake, mistake number two we'll put up on the screen here for you, is believing that I'm saved by grace, but I'm kept by obeying God. I didn't realize just how prominent this sort of an idea is. But there are some Christians who are actually taught this from the pulpit. They are told in no uncertain terms, you are saved through the death of Jesus on the cross, but now that you're saved, you must walk in obedience to his word, or you will be lost. Wow. Now, what's interesting about that, I have found, is that there are some people who have never heard that teaching, and yet they come to that same conclusion through their own misunderstanding and misinterpretation of God's word. But you know, and it comes right down to it. If I'm saved by grace and kept by my obedience, that's just another way of saying salvation by works, right? If works are involved anywhere in the process... Even if it's just keeping me saved, then it's still salvation by works. It's still self-effort that keeps me saved. And that's how I'm saved, right? So you really can't say we're saved by grace, kept by works. It doesn't work. It all comes down essentially to the same thing. But it's really interesting how many believers, you know, come to that conclusion. And that's one of the reasons I get a very common question from people. This is basically it. I know that I'm saved. But what if I sin and I fail to confess that sin to God? Or how about if I don't properly repent of my sin? Will I still be saved then? And this is very common. I didn't realize. And I have to constantly go back and remind people what the Bible says about how we are saved. And the words that are used related to that. Because the Bible is very clear. And everybody who writes to me or talks to me about this question, I always take them to Ephesians 2, 8, and 9. Because that's the answer. That's the solution.

And I have to keep bringing people back to that. I kind of keep coming back. It's not your own doing. It's not your own doing. It's not your own doing. You know? You've got to really hammer that sometimes with people. And he goes on to say, it's a gift. There he comes out and says it. He uses that idea with the word grace earlier. But now he just comes out and blatantly says, it's a gift. How many gifts have you had to work for? The answer is none. Because once you work for a gift, it ceases to be a gift. It is now an obligation. It is the gift of God. And, you know, how many more ways can he say it? Not the result of works. There's no boasting as it relates to our salvation. You can't say, this is what I did. This is what I did. And now I'm saved. There's no boasting. He took it away. He literally eliminated the possibility of boasting. So, you see, this is what we have to keep coming back over. And we have to bathe our hearts in the reality of our salvation as a gracious gift from God. Otherwise, these things can begin to seep into our hearts in a very subtle but yet very damaging sort of a way. And I'm willing to bet that there are some of you who are right here today who have started to allow some of that to seep into your heart. I've got to do better. I've got to do better or, you know, God's going to reject me. It's sad, you know, frankly, when it happens. And we have to fight against it. The third mistake is really kind of the flip side of the same coin but on the list here. Mistake number three is questioning a person, your salvation, when you fall into sin. And I see Christians doing this all the time. I've addressed it before. I think it bears repeating. Personally, I believe this is one of the most dangerous mistakes that you can make. Absolutely one of the most dangerous things you can do is question your salvation just because you messed up. As if getting saved means you'll never mess up again. I'm not sure where that concept came from, but it gets into people's hearts and they just can't get rid of it. Now, don't misunderstand me. I'm not playing fast and loose with sin or trying to be soft on sin or anything like that. God wants us to overcome sin. But you need to understand something. That victory over sin and sinless perfection are two very different things. Let me say that again. Victory over sin and sinless perfection are two very different things. God wants you to have victory over sin. And now that you're saved, that door is open for you to have victory over sin. But you're never going to be perfect. You're never going to achieve perfection on this side of heaven. Sorry, but it isn't going to happen. Now, here's the point. When Christians begin to lose sight of this, and they see, they recognize sin in their lives, and they begin to question, well, maybe I'm not really saved. Oh, let me tell you, the enemy is just waiting for that. And he will pounce on that like you know what. And he is the accuser of the brethren, the Bible tells us. And he will accuse you to yourself and say, look at you. Look at your life. Look what you've produced. Look what you just did. Does a saved person do that? And he gets you to literally doubt your salvation. And boy, I tell you, once he's got you in that place, that is a very dangerous place to be. So don't go there. Continue to place your confidence in the finished work of Jesus, even in the light of your own personal failures. People, let me say that again. Continue to have confidence in what Jesus did, even in the light of your own personal failures. Let me show you what the writer of the letter of Hebrews says about confidence. Hebrews 3, two verses out of that chapter, he says,

We're not boasting in ourselves. We're boasting in our hope. And that's Jesus.

Isn't that interesting that in one single chapter of that epistle, the writer twice uses the word confidence to talk about how critical it is that you hold on to it, and that you hold fast and immovable concerning that confidence in what? In what Jesus did. Not in what you can do, didn't do, have done, or whatever. No, it's in what he did. That is where our confidence is, you see. The fact that I know that I know that I know that I am a born-again Christian today is not predicated on me or anything I've done or haven't done. It's predicated upon him. What he has done on the cross. And what he did on the cross is finished. Right? Isn't that what he said? Didn't he say that on the cross? It is finished. There's nothing more that needs to be done. Right? So our confidence must be grounded in what he did and immovable. Even when I mess up. Even when you mess up. We're still confident in him. What confidence do we have in ourselves? Let me show you what Paul said from Philippians. I love this passage.

None. We have absolutely no confidence in ourselves as it relates to our salvation. None. Our total confidence is in him. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for dying for me on the cross. My confidence is in you and what you have done for me. All right. Next mistake. Mistake number four that sincere Christians often make is seeking advice from others rather than seeking God. Yeah, we talked about this last week as we were finishing up our study in 1 Peter chapter 5. And you heard me, those of you that followed on that study, you heard me talking about it last week. It happens, you know. Instead of seeking God, we seek the advice of other people. This is the reason why I really believe. Seeking God is hard work. And that's something the Bible doesn't tell us. It tells us to seek God. In fact, you read through the Psalms, it's like, you know, Seek the Lord. He said to me, seek my face. Oh, Lord, your face do I seek. And all this. What it don't tell us is it is really, really hard work to seek God. I mean, you put in time and effort and energy to seek the face. It's much easier for me to get on my phone and call somebody that I appreciate or respect and stuff and just go, Hey, you know, let me tell you about my situation. This is kind of what's going on. What's your advice? It's just way too simple. I don't have to go through all that seeking and, you know, just dial a number, you know, on my phone and get my answer. I've told you before that I probably get asked daily. Pastor, here's my situation. What's your advice on what I should do? And I'm getting bolder all the time. to worry a little bit more about hurting people's feelings, but, which Sue will tell you, that's a big thing for me because I usually don't worry about that, but I'm getting bolder now about telling people that's not my place, that's the Holy Spirit's place, you need to take that to God. And, you know, I really truly believe, and I've come to understand that godly counsel is not the same thing as telling somebody what to do. In fact, some of the most godly counsel I can give is go to God, you need to hear from God. You don't need to hear from me, you need to hear from Him. You need to hear from your Father in Heaven because I believe He wants to talk to you. The question is, are you willing to listen and are you willing to press in to hear Him? And that really is what it often comes down to, is our willingness to press in, you know? And so, let me show you, I love this passage from Isaiah. This kind of goes along with this. This is what the Lord says, "You're redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. 'I,' He says, 'I am the Lord, your God, 'who,' first of all, 'teaches you what is best for you 'and who directs you in the way you should go. 'I am the one who does that,' God says to His people. 'I'm the one, I am the Lord, your God. 'I will teach you, I will direct you. 'Look to Him.'" Now, that doesn't mean God hasn't given us teachers and God hasn't given us counselors. He has, but we are not here to tell people what to do, and we are definitely not here to circumvent people going to the Lord and seeking His face. Once again, I have to ask the question, are we willing to wait? And that's what brings us really to mistake number five up on the screen, and that is putting time limits on God's answer to our prayers. Some of you have heard me talk about this before. I've mentioned in the past that some, you know, people will say, and I'm sure they've said to you too, they'll say, Pastor Paul, I prayed, I prayed about it, I sought the Lord, and He didn't answer me. And my question to them is, well, how long did you pray? How long did you wait on the Lord? And some of them will say, and it's different. It's usually different every time. Some people say, a week, I spent a week. I prayed for a week. And somebody else will say, well, I prayed for a month. I prayed for a whole month. Didn't get an answer. And sometimes it's even longer than that. But my question is always the same when someone tells me how long they prayed. My question is this. What gave you the idea that that amount of time was as long as you should've had to wait for an answer? Who told you that? Who told you that a week was like, once you've prayed for a week, if you don't have an answer, then obviously God's not playing with you. Or who told you that a month was long enough? Who told you that, you know what, if you don't have an answer in a month, then it ain't happening? Well, nobody actually goes around telling anybody that. We come up with our own time limits. We do, we set time limits on when God should respond. And when he doesn't respond, according to our internal time clock of when we think it's appropriate, then we throw up our hands and we say, well, he's not answering me. He's not speaking to me. How come God doesn't listen to me? And we come up with all kinds of interesting conclusions along those lines. I would like to share with you an excerpt from a book that is written about the man George Mueller. You've heard me quote a lot about George Mueller in the past because he was such a man of incredible prayer. He lived in the 1800s. He started orphanages in England and was involved in many other missionary and teaching kind of endeavors. And he was a great man of prayer. With all of his orphanages, he had one rule. And that is, I'm never gonna ask anybody for a penny. In fact, I'm not even gonna tell him if we have a need. When people would come up to George and say, do you need anything for the orphanage? He wouldn't answer the question because he was determined that they were gonna depend on the Lord. They were gonna talk to God about things. They were gonna seek God's face. And he was a man of incredible prayer. Anyway, there was someone who wrote about him and his name was Basil, I think was his name. Anyway, I'm gonna read from his book. First, I'm gonna read you an excerpt from George Mueller's own journal about praying about a particular issue. And then I'm gonna read you, and we'll actually put up on the screen here in a moment, the comment that the author makes related to that. Here's an excerpt from the book. Listen to this. In November, 1844, I began to pray for the conversion of five individuals. I prayed every day without a single intermission, whether sick or in health, on the land or on the sea, and whatever the pressure of my personal engagements might be, 18 months elapsed before the first of the five was converted. 18 months. I thanked God, and I continued to pray for the others. Five years elapsed, and then the second came to Christ. I thanked God for the second, and six years passed before the third person was converted to Christ. I thanked God for the three, and went on praying for the other two. These two remained unconverted, but I hope in God, I pray on, and look yet for the answer. And then he ended his journal entry this way. They are not yet converted, but they will be. Now, here's what the author goes on to say. This is interesting. He says, what an incredible man George Mueller was. He was no stranger to the place of prayer, and was willing to wait on the Lord for answers. Mueller slipped into eternity in March of 1898, and at that time, the last of the men for whom he had prayed, two sons of a friend of his youth, had not received Christ, even after 52 years of consistent daily petition. But the story didn't end there. God, being full of mercy, remembered the cries of his servant. Sometime after Mueller's death, the Lord graciously brought those two men into the fold that came to Christ. But you guys, you get the point. Mueller didn't put an expiration date on when God should have to answer, or I'm just gonna stop praying, and I'm just gonna throw up my hands in discouragement, and say, well, I guess he doesn't hear me. He's not listening. He understood that his role in this whole prayer thing was to just be faithful and let God do the rest. You just be faithful. You just keep praying, but I don't see anything. I don't care. Pray anyway. Keep praying. Keep pressing. Keep pressing in. Don't put time limits on when God has to answer something. He may answer after you're gone. I'm so glad that there were people who prayed about the issue of how this country sees abortion from its constitutional perspective. I'm glad people were willing to pray for the last several decades and not give up. Mistake number six, misunderstanding what hearing from God means. I said earlier, instead of giving people advice and telling them what to do, I often tell people you need to hear from God, but it came to my attention after a period of time that there are people who misunderstand what that phrase means, hearing from God, and it surprises me to learn sometimes from people that they conclude that I'm talking about hearing an audible voice. I am not. I'm talking about hearing with your heart. You know, there were times during his public ministry that Jesus would speak about, after getting done teaching, after getting done preaching, he would say, let him who has ears to hear, hear, right? Now, somebody who's thinking of that on a physical level would say, well, I think we all have ears here, and I think we all just heard you, but Jesus would come back and say, yes, but did you really hear? In other words, did you embrace with your heart what I said, did you really hear me? And when we hear the Lord, it's because we've embraced truly what he has said. It's kind of interesting, there was another time when he talked about hearing his voice. Let me show you this. It's from John chapter 10. It goes like this.

Now, this is one of those verses I have seen sincere Christians stumble over. In fact, I've had people say to me, Pastor Paul, I read John 10, 27, and 28, and I'm not sure now that I have eternal life, and I'll say, why? Well, because I've never heard his voice, and so I'll ask them a series of questions. Do you believe you're a sinner that needs salvation? And they'll say, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh for sure. Do you believe Jesus is the answer to your sin problem? Yes, I do. Do you believe he died for you on the cross? Yes, I do. You've heard his voice. You've heard his voice. That's the point. We think we came up with these conclusions on our own. If you understand that you are a sinner, do you understand that sinful man doesn't come to that conclusion on his own? The hardened, stubborn heart of man doesn't go around going, I'm a sinner. The hardened, sinful heart of man says, how dare you? Have you ever had somebody say that to you? How dare you say I'm a sinner, right? Yeah, we recognize that we're sinners as Christians and we think we thought it up. No, you heard his voice. He spoke to your heart. He revealed your true condition. And you went, yes, I agree. And he's also spoke to your heart and said, and I am the savior. And you heard his voice. And you said, yes, you are. And he spoke to your heart and said, you need to open your heart and accept the sacrifice that I made on the cross. And you heard his voice. And you said, yes, that's exactly what I need to do. Do you remember Jesus said, no one comes to me except the Father draws him. We don't come to the Lord even on our own. We hear his voice. We hear him calling. Sometimes I'll be hearing somebody telling me they're giving me their testimony. And I'll stop them halfway and I'll say, oh, I see what happened. He called your name, didn't he? And you heard his voice. Yeah, I guess I did. Yes, you did. So you see, this whole idea, don't get stumbled up on that. Hearing his voice, it's not a physical thing. It's a spiritual thing. It's something we hear with the heart. And if you are in Christ today, whether you've ever heard an audible voice or not, don't get weirded out on that. You've heard his voice. And you followed. And then the last mistake that sincere Christians make, number seven, is asking God why he allowed something. I have attended the side of people many times throughout the years in times of tragedy, and they all say the same thing. They all ask the same thing. Pastor, why is this happening? Why did God allow this to happen? And I get it. I understand why they're asking the question. But the question of why carries a certain assumption with it, and the assumption is that if God actually gave you the answer that you were seeking, that you could understand the reasoning behind what he's doing. And people, that's a fairly arrogant assumption on our part, even though we don't realize it at the time. But we ask why because we think that peace will come from knowing. If God would just, if I could just figure out what's going on, if I could just figure out why God has allowed this in my life, or why God has allowed this in my family, if I could just know what was going on, I would be at peace. And the fact of the matter is, that's not true. That's not how the Bible tells us peace comes into our life. It doesn't come through knowing. It comes through trusting. Trusting. Let me show you what Paul wrote about it. You all know this. Philippians chapter four, he starts off by saying, first of all, don't be anxious about anything. But in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. That's another way of saying, entrust your needs to him. And then he gives this wonderful promise. And the peace of God, which surpasses understanding, it transcends understanding, will actually guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Have you ever been a recipient of that peace that Paul's talking about? It's crazy. You can't explain it, because there is no explanation. It defies explanation. It defies any kind of even verbal sort of a description. It's just peace. It passes understanding. But it is not predicated on knowledge or knowing. It's predicated on trusting. Because you'll notice that that passage in Philippians is a wonderful, wonderful promise, but it comes with conditions. Did you catch it? This is not an unconditional promise. Salvation is unconditional. This promise is conditional. What are the conditions? Well, first of all, don't allow your heart to be anxious. I know, easier said than done. And then bring all those needs and so forth to the throne of grace. Tell God, go to him. Trust him with them. Lay those things down. Be sure you also respond with a heart of thanksgiving during that time. Then it says, there's a promise that follows. Then it says, the peace of God which surpasses understanding will not only flood your heart, but guard it. It actually is like, think of it like a little sentry with a rifle. Looking for fear to come your way, you know, and getting ready to take care of it. If it does, it's gonna guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Word pictures are cool. It helps me to think of it that way. Peace does not come from knowing, remember that. It comes from trusting. Lord, I trust you. I may never understand exactly the fullness of your plan until I'm with you, but I choose to trust you anyway. I choose to rest in you. I choose to believe that you know best. And we're just gonna leave it there. And now I pray that you just fill my heart with your peace. Help me to rest in you. It's important. So, seven mistakes that sincere Christians make. Let's stand together. I've made all of those and more. If I kept telling you about all the mistakes I made, we'd have to be here for a long, long time. We'd have to serve lunch, and it would get very expensive. But isn't it great that even though we mess up and make mistakes and we do things wrong and we go the wrong way, that he still loves us? Isn't that wonderful? Don't you love the fact that, you know, he's never gonna take his love from you, no matter how many mistakes you make. He's not going to take his love away. He's never gonna remove it. And we can rejoice today because of his faithfulness. If you need prayer this morning, come on down front. We'd love to pray with you. Father, we love you. We hear and see in your word that there are many ways that we can stumble, but we're so thankful, Lord, that you still love us with an undying love and you will never take that love away. We are so thankful, Father. Lord, help us to not make these critical mistakes, never to doubt our salvation and lose our confidence in what you've done just because we've messed up. Lord, keep our eyes on the cross. And help us, Lord, not to put time limits on your answers, but just to be faithful and keep praying, to trust you, to trust you know. And Lord, forgive us for those times we've asked you to give us information and answers when we don't even understand the question. Forgive us, Lord, when we have put knowledge in such a place as to think that it could really give us peace when, in fact, Lord, peace comes from trusting you in quietness and rest. So, Lord, help us to do that. Help us to be quiet, to rest, and to walk in the peace of Christ. We love you and we need you every single day. So be with us, we pray. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and King and all God's people said together, amen.