Baptist Fellowship Church

The Messages of Christ Crucified (Part 5)

James 1:2-4

Adam’s fall began with Satan’s attack by way of temptation. Satan’s attack
is clothed in insinuations and lies. He insinuated that God did not love
Adam and Eve. If He did He would not have forbidden eating any fruit. He
lied that surely God will not let them die, “You will not surely die”
(Genesis 3:4).

Temptation by itself is not sin. It is wrong to think that a soul cleansed
cannot be tempted. It is a means needed for the saints’ development. Every
temptation is meant by God to be a means of grace and an opportunity to
prove to Him that we love Him supremely. It is something we overcome and
not to flee from.

If God is forgiving then why can’t He forgive our sins every time we commit them?

Since we cannot be sinless, why don’t we live our lives as we are and ask for forgiveness at the end of each day?

In this manner, we will be able to enjoy our lives! Such fallacious thinking is not biblical. It is Satan’s way of lying and tempting the Christian into carnality and believing that God will forgive the sins repeatedly.

To be tempted, man does not need to have a sinful nature. He is tempted
through his natural desires. There are three fundamental desires. There are
the natural desires to enjoy things, the desire to get things and the
desire to do things. There is a desire to accomplish things for self, for
the world or for God. It is wrong if it leads to pride.

One must remember that in our temptations, we have Christ to help us and to
depend upon for strength. For Christ was tempted by the devil and never
succumbed even when tempted to receive the utmost benefits, power and
glory. (Luke 4:1-13). We have Him to intercede for us as the High Priest.
Hebrews 4:15, “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with
our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

Temptation is the incitement of our natural desires to go beyond the bounds
set by God. The result of the Fall is alienation from God-ward - resulting
in physical and spiritual death. There was a self-ward manifestation with
condemnation and corruption. The inner nature was defiled. There was also a
Satan-ward manifestation in being enslaved by the crafty fold.

However, Calvary meets our basic needs. God forgives those who repent their
sins. (The key here is repentance, not mere declaration or admitting to
sins and expecting God to forgive, and then repeating the sin daily for God
to forgive.)

Through His blood, cleansing is possible. We are no longer defiled. 1John
1:7, “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship
with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from
all sin.”

Through the indwelling Spirit and consequent power for daily living, there
is deliverance from the devil.

There is a positive element in temptation. It is to make us strong and
allowing us to prove our love and devotion to Christ, even though we are
perfectly free to do the opposite.

James 1:14-16 warns of what happens when temptations get the better of us.
“But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and
enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin,
when it is full-grown, brings forth death.Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.”

How do we deal with temptations?

When we are conscious of sin, flee and go to Christ. Confess right away, seek His Word and walk in the light.

Mr and Mrs ET Chua

This entry was posted on Friday, February 15th, 2008 at 10:00 pm and is filed under Sermons. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.