THE BELIEVER AND TEMPTATION TO SIN

If we assume that being born again removes any propensity to sin, then any temptation that is experienced will naturally create suspicions about the truth of our condition before God. Temptation to sin is not sin. Eve was tempted by Satan before she had any nature to sin. She was tempted to ignore God and follow the counsel of another. She chose to ignore God, and therein she sinned, the evidence being her act of disobedience. 

Jesus was tempted, and yet His temptation was without sin (Heb. 4:15). Like the first Adam, Jesus was challenged to ignore His Father and to choose that which would have been surrender to another counselor. His relationship with His Father was unique from the first Adam, and yet the temptation was similar enough for Jesus to be called the second Adam. Jesus withstood the temptation which the first Adam failed. Jesus remained submissive to His Father and continued to enjoy oneness with Him that He had enjoyed in eternity. He was without sin in every way that expression can be considered. Tempted, and yet no desire to transgress the will of His Father and thus no action that betrayed such sinful desire.

James teaches us the progression of sin begins with desire and lust controlling, conceiving and then bringing forth (1:14,15). If you feel tempted to make a decision, speak a word or respond with an attitude that you know does not match the revealed will of God, you have not sinned. That you could sin is a real possibility. At the point of desire you must consider God’s glory and not allow lust to control, take root, and bring forth. You must refuse the temptation to follow the counsel of a competing Master. All counsel against God’s Word is counsel of the ungodly.

What should you conclude if lust in you conceives and brings forth sin? You should conclude that you need to confess that sin to the One who said He is faithful and just to forgive your sin and cleanse you from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). You should not be drug down by the possibility that you are not truly saved if your belief that you have an advocate before the Father, Jesus Christ, leads you to confess and forsake the sin.

If you have no desire to resist temptation and are indifferent to following the will of God, then you should fear the consequences of your sinful condition. Your assurance of salvation should be shaken. You should not presume you have an advocate pleading your case before God. 

Avoid two extremes: presumption that you are born of God if you can continue in your sin with no spirit of repentance over your sin; and distrust of God’s promise to forgive you when you turn from your sin and trust the blood and righteousness of His only Son Who pleads for you.

TRUSTING GOD IN ALL OF LIFE

A fundamental doctrinal truth for every believer in the true and living God is that He is absolutely sovereign. We believe that God is God.

·         Nebuchadnezzar came to understand this: Daniel 4:34,35.

·         Isaiah clearly taught this perspective of truth concerning God: Isaiah 46:9-11.

·         The Psalmist answered his critics very clearly in Ps 115:4, But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.

·         James’ instruction to say if the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that was deduced from his understanding of God’s sovereign rule in His universe.

Not only is God sovereign, He is the only wise God (1 Tim. 1:17), righteous in all his ways (Ps. 145:17), and intends only that which is to His own glory and the good of His people (Rom. 8:28).

It is this basic understanding of who God is that makes the exhortations of God to His people to trust in Him the most reasonable response to all of life. Because of who He is, and because we believe that He is, we can unreservedly trust Him in every situation and do exactly as He has commanded us with the confidence that His will is best.

Anxiety is all too often the believer’s response to difficulties in life:

·         Anxiety is the sinful response to life and life’s responsibilities. In anxiety we turn to self instead of turning to God. Anxiety is fear without faith. It is vigilance run amok. We scan the horizon constantly, fearfully, but without ever taking action or responsibility and without clinging to God. Bob Kellemen (http://www.rpmministries.org/2015/11/anxiety-stuck-vigilance/)

·         Anxiety is response to life without a sense of confidence in God.

§  The intensity of a situation, the overwhelming difficulty of a relationship, and the crippling fearfulness of the awareness of inadequacy all lead self-focused ones to anxiety.

§  Anxiety then leads to sinful choices: some kind of isolation, avoidance, withdrawal, inactivity; OR anger, manipulation, domination, incessant talk/evaluation, etc..  God is ignored – no soul-quietness.

Clarify:

·         Trusting God does not mean indifference or care-less spirit to life or life’s responsibilities.

·         Trusting God does not mean shirking responsibility and simply letting come what may.

·         Feelings of concern associated with personal pain, financial struggles, or relational strains are not necessarily sinful. Godly vigilance demands that we guard, care, give, love, respond, etc..

Trusting God must be the believer’s default response to life:

Trusting God is the heart/inner posture of one who takes God at His word and constantly sees in the cross of Jesus Christ God’s commitment to his salvation and care.  He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? (Romans 8:32).

·         One trusting God is able to believe the promise of God even though the promise seems impossible or out of reach: Heb. 11:13.

·        One trusting God is able to keep believing and responding in obedience, even when there is darkness and confusion: Isaiah 50:10 (don’t need to understand everything to be submissive.)

·         One trusting is able to release from his spirit the burden of control (trying to make something happen) and simply focus upon fulfilling his responsibility in life by the aid of the Holy Spirit.

·         One trusting is able to entrust to God, with confidence and thanksgiving, every outcome of life and ministry as he seeks to do His will revealed to him through His Word.

We say to others by our attitudes, words and actions that God is either trustworthy, or He is not!

God is glorified as our lives manifest that we trust Him. What is your life saying to those who know you?

SHOULD I BE CONCERNED ABOUT BEING A PHARISEE?

By Pharisee I am not referring so much to that society of Jewish men who made up part of the leadership in Israel in Paul’s day. He called himself a Pharisee and the son of a Pharisee even after his conversion (Acts 23:6). I am speaking of the attitude that was so apparent in the Pharisees. 

Prior to his conversion Paul highly regarded the letter of the law and sought to honor God by his own intense efforts. He was very confident in his own fleshly efforts to attain sufficient righteousness to find acceptance with God. Self-confidence and self-justification were attitudes that he surrendered when he came to recognize himself as condemned under the judgment of the holy law of God. He said in Philippians 3:7, But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Paul characterized all his former religious and moral efforts as confidence in the flesh (vs. 3). When he was born of the Spirit of Christ that confidence vanished and he gave up all trust in himself to gain favor with God. Jesus Christ became the ONLY confidence of his soul before a holy God. Without the righteousness of God through the faith of Christ, no sinner has the righteousness needed to reach heaven.

Confidence in the flesh is something that every true believer is concerned to avoid. Pharisaical tendencies are part of the flesh. This is why Paul warns true believers against those who glory in the flesh (Philippians 3:2; Galatians 6:11-14). The born again one knows there is nothing in himself about which to glory.

Concern about flesh includes more than moral impurity. The Pharisee is more likely to have moral confidence and an arrogant spirit of superiority. He will likely establish lists of “sins” that he feels confident he can avoid, activities he does religiously, and relationships with others based upon their faithfulness to his standard. His attitude and interaction varies depending upon how the behavior of his “brother” or “sister” measures up. 

This confidence in the flesh affects his attitude and relationship to God. Living with the sense that God accepts him based upon his own performance, his peace and joy is linked almost entirely to his fleshly achievements. This no doubt has great bearing upon his expectations of others, triggering those fluctuating attitudes and actions toward them. (Note: there is, of course, biblical warrant and direction for warning, rebuking, and discipline within the church.)

The pressing point found within the Philippian letter is that all our confidence before God must be in and because of Jesus Christ. If we ever attain the blessing of the resurrection of the dead, it will have nothing to do with our fleshly efforts. The prize unto which we are pressing as Christians is obtained only in Jesus Christ (Phil. 3:14). 

A Pharisee is focused on the flesh. The Spirit brings our focus upon Christ. In all my efforts to be right and do right, I don’t want to miss Him. To miss Him is to miss the glory of God and heaven. 

Yes, I should be concerned about being a Pharisee. May the Spirit of Christ bring light to bear upon this matter in each of our lives lest we be guilty of confidence in the flesh.

How Does Your Testimony Compare?

EXAMINING YOUR FAITH

Have you ever listened to someone else give their testimony of conversion  to Christ and wondered, in light of all they experienced, whether your conversion is real? It is no light matter. If you have never truly been born again you cannot see and will not enter the kingdom of heaven. And so you examine yourself, comparing your own experience with the impressive testimony of whoever, and it seems you come up short. Or, perhaps you are on the other side of the evaluation and feel pretty good about yourself because your experience exceeds the one you have just heard. In fact, you find yourself questioning the genuineness of, whoever.

There is good reason to examine yourself to see if you are truly in the faith (2 Cor. 13:5). You know it is possible to be deceived. You know it is possible to imagine yourself to be something you are not. A true believer is sensitive to this possibility. A lost person really has no interest in examination. So, if you are interested in examining your profession of faith, you have reason to be hopeful.

But in your examination you must not compare yourself with others. This is dangerous. Wouldn’t it be disastrous to get to the end, stand before the judgment of Christ and be shocked that someone you thought you far exceeded in genuine Christianity was welcomed, and you were rejected? It could also happen that one whose verbal testimony you thought far exceeded yours, and stirred up doubt about yourself, is turned away and  you are welcomed.

You must judge yourself by God’s standard. Do you honestly recognize that God owes you nothing but death and condemnation (Rom. 6:23)? Have you submitted yourself to God’s righteousness in the Lord Jesus (Rom. 10:3,4)? Have you surrendered your own efforts to attain God’s favor while at the same time turning away from all that would separate you from Him (Rom. 5:20-6:2)? Are you coming to God through the only One who is able to present you faultless (Jude 24; Heb. 7:25)?

If you can honestly answer “yes” to all the above, then you ought to also be seeing other indicators in your life that the Spirit of Christ is in you (Rom. 8:9). How about: a hunger for His Word (Acts 2:41; 1 Peter 2:1-3), a longing to do His will (1 John 2:15-17; Gal. 2:20), an increasing distaste for sinful pleasures (Rom. 12:1,2), a love for other believers (1 John 4:7,11), fruits of the Spirit increasing (Gal. 5:22,23), and increasing dependence upon Christ (John 15:5; Philip. 4:13)?

Is the faith of the Son of God at work in you?

Why Do Christians Commit Public Sins?

(As opposed to heart sins)

We would all acknowledge that a true disciple of Christ has the potential while in this flesh to do anything that this flesh is capable of doing. But why would we?

·         Why would any Christian, much less a respected preacher of the gospel of grace, be unfaithful to his spouse?

·         Why would any Christian choose to live in the fantasy world of lust and pornography?

·         Why would a Christian binge eat, or turn to alcohol or drugs to escape emotional pain or loneliness?

·         Why would a Christian isolate himself in pity and spiral into a pit of depression?

·         Why would a Christian slander another, accuse falsely, or gossip?

Why do we do it?

·         Is it because we are living under such an understanding of grace that we know that we will be forgiven and therefore we don’t fight the strong urges or pull of sinful tendencies?

·         Is it because we have a view of the cross of Jesus Christ that liberates us in our spirit from the need or desire to fight the temptation of the world, flesh and devil?

·         Is it because we have immersed our minds in the teaching that essentially says God loves everything and hates nothing? He is angry with no one? Go ahead…God doesn’t care?

·         Is it because we justify our choices? (It is amazing the way the mind can work to give green light!)

Example: God knows I am but flesh. I am sure He understands. Surely He doesn’t expect me to lose out on fun, excitement, relief, etc.…I just can’t handle all the pressure – I’m only human!

Example: she did such and such which caused me to do such and such (Adam/Eve syndrome).

Why do we do it?

·         Peter says (1Pe 1:5) we are kept by the power of God through faith. Faith connects to the power of God.

·         A basic reason why Christians make sinful choices…especially sinful choices that are public in nature: we forget about our relationship to God!  This is a manifestation of unbelief.

• When we choose to sin, especially openly, are not living by faith! Faith is the victory that overcomes the world (1Jn 5:4); faith is the conduit that unites us with God in a daily practical way!
• When our heart/devotion is divided, regardless of past accomplishments in our Christian walk or present status in the church, we are headed for a fall.

Consider one who didn’t do it: Joseph – Genesis 39:7-10.

·         Joseph’s circumstances were rotten. Mistreated. Disrespected. And now, in a position of respect in his master’s house, he is desired by his master’s wife! Why didn’t he give in? Why didn’t he do it?

• Respect for his master. Relationship to the sovereign God he trusted (45:5;50:20). Recognition of sin.
• Joseph had a heart that was devoted to God! That’s where resistance to temptation begins.

·         If we will live with Joseph’s awareness of God’s sovereign rule and care, we will not choose sin as the remedy or solution for any of life’s needs or desires, no matter how difficult the circumstances!

·         If we do choose to sin, especially sins of public nature, do not offer justifying excuses! Take responsibility. It’s no one’s fault but our own!

• If we speak, talk like David, Against thee, thee only have I sinned (Ps. 51)…When confronted, he didn’t blame Bathsheba for bathing on top of her house! His was the sin – against God first!
• If we speak, talk about grief for being a stumbling-block to the world who is evaluating God and Christians in light of our sin.
• There is forgiveness, even of the most egregious sins. But temporal consequences are often deep.

What will keep YOU from doing it? (whatever sin IT might be in your life)

1. Live life (all of it; everyday) in relationship with God through Jesus Christ who gave His life for you.

2. Remember that your sinful choices (some more than others) can bring great shame upon the truth and the God of truth: 2 Peter 2:2; 1 Peter 2:12.

PRAYER SHOULD BE JOY

PRAYER SHOULD BE JOY, NOT DRUDGERY

My Thoughts Provoked by Mike Reeves

(http://www.theologynetwork.org/christian-beliefs/the-holy-spirit-and-christian-living/getting-stuck-in/how-to-enjoy-your-prayer-life.htm)

What is prayer to you? Is it merely something you do, along with many other “Christian” things? Is it part of the Christian check list, something you do to get it done? Or, is it truly an expression of your relationship to God…do you pray as dependent ones who are actually relating to God?

Prayer requires and assumes a relationship: Luke 11:2, Our Father… We know there is no access to God without a qualified High Priest: Hebrews 4:14-16. Approaching God apart from Jesus (in Jesus’ name) is to approach Him only as Almighty Judge. Approaching God through Jesus is to know and approach Him as our Father.*

Our access to God is not merely to give a list of petitions. We are approaching our Father. We are part of His family: adopted by His grace, He chose to include us.

God has manifested Himself to be relational through the dependence the Son expressed upon His Father while He was on earth. John especially emphasizes this point throughout his gospel account: Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: (John 5:19; see also 8:19,29). The relationship that we observe between Jesus and His Father while He was on earth is the nature of our relationship to God through the Son: John 17:20-23. Prayer is engaging in this most intimate relationship. Prayer is enjoying what the Son has always enjoyed: communion with the Father! (Note: this is not to say we cannot speak to the Son and the Spirit who are equally God, but that our primary attention in prayer is to the Father.)

Prayer requires faith (John Calvin said it is the “chief exercise of faith.”): not simply believing that what we ask will be given, but that as we speak we believe we are heard by God as our Father. We have nothing to prove to Him. The Son has satisfied all that is needed to engage in this relationship. We have the right to be called the sons of God because of Jesus Christ. When we pray there is no need to convince God that He should hear us. We’ve been adopted. We are going to our Father.

Jesus wants us to think this way as we pray. Listen Jesus’ words recorded by Luke (11:5-13): And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.  I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.  For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

The Father will not refuse good things/needs to his children who cry out to Him: ask, seek, and knock. In the context of teaching the disciples how to pray, Jesus speaks about an earthly father’s kindness to his child. Our Father in heaven is incomparably kind! What greater gift can He give than Himself? Luke 11:13, tells us that He will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask. If He gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask, what lesser good gift will He withhold? You can go to Him at any time, for every need, and for any reason, as a child would go to a father. Jesus wants us to think of prayer this way! Our Father…

Apply the command to pray without ceasing to this relationship aspect of prayer. Why would we not frequently go to our Father in prayer if we really believe He has brought us into such a familial relationship? Why would it be a drudgery to pray? Could it be that we think our relationship to God, and His response to us, depends upon us? Or, perhaps we think that praying is a futile attempt to get God’s attention? But, if we think of prayer as we should (Our Father), we can go into His presence in prayer with thanksgiving and joy! We can and should view prayer as a joyful privilege, not a dutiful drudgery.

________

*The distinction between God as our Father and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ must always be understood. Our relationship to Him as Father depends upon the eternal relationship of the Son to the Father. So, if we say “my Father” in the personal and intimate communion with God we have in common with all saints, we must not forget the unique relationship that is eternal between the Father and the Son, Who is only begotten.