MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
June 5, 2024
THE LAW OF GOD AND THE CROSS OF CHRIST Series
Part 14
THE ‘WHAT WOULD JESUS DO? ‘WAY OF ESCAPE’
While this is not the last or most important “way of escape” from temptation (1 Cor. 10:14), it, I believe, sums it all up for all who love Jesus enough to obey His commandments (John 14:15) and are thus sorely tempted and severely tried (John 15:17-25; 16: 1-4; 2 Tim. 3:12, etc.) by Satan through his demon and human agencies. (John 15:16-25; 16: 1-4; 2 Tim. 3:12; 1 Pet. 4:12-19, etc.).
Yes, indeed! “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the GODLY out of temptations, and to reserve the UNJUST unto the day of judgment to be punished.” (2 Pet. 2:9).
God’s special deliverance through His “ways of escape from temptations” are promised to the godly, humble, sin-hating sinners, not to the stubborn, proud, presumptuous, hypocritical, ungodly sinners. The only “way of escape” available for the ungodly is godliness, Godlikeness, even as “the only hope for the sinner is to stop sinning” by godly repentance and a resolute turning away from his sins by God’s enabling grace.
The authentic, not artificial, professed Christian, is truly armed with a deeper and experienced knowledge of Jesus which is only obtained and owned by “eating His flesh,” the heavenly manna, “and drinking His blood” (John 6: 48-53, 25-69), which is the acquired habit of a disciplined study of the His Word. Like Christ his Savior and Example, he daily, one day at a time, “grows in stature, waxes strong in spirit, increasingly filled with wisdom by the grace of God” (Luke 2: 40; cf. 1:80; Eph. 4:13, etc.) and therefore, intellectually and spiritually, and individually, not merely theoretical/doctrinal, or vicarious/corporate/institutional. He is locked-into the New Covenant/Testament relationship with the yet-invisible Jesus, by and in faithfully following His self-denying, self-sacrificing suffering-perfected EXAMPLE daily, one day at a time. (Heb. 5: 8, 9; 1 Pet. 2: 21-25).
He thus “walk in the Spirit, not in the flesh” (Rom. 8:1-18) by “letting the mind of Christ be in” him.( Phil. 2:5). This was the WAY Enoch WALKED with God for three centuries and became the first mortal to be translated “for his life testimony pleased God.” (Heb. 11: 5; Gen. 5:21-24).
It was in and through his MIND that Enoch walked and talked with God! He and Elijah are the prototypes of the 144,000 of Revelation 7:1-8; 14:1-5 who are found of God as guileless, not guilty! These fellow mortals experienced the “victory in Christ Jesus” by “faith that works by love” and purifies the life! (1 Cor. 15:57; Gal. 5:6).
So that whenever and wherever tempted by whomsoever with whatsoever, you can, with a mind intellectually and spiritually settled in “the truth as it is in Jesus,” ask this self-arming question, ‘WHAT WOULD JESUS DO’? and know with much greater but not absolute, certainty (as “without faith it is impossible to please Him”) as to what and how His answer will be.
Moreover, when one enters into a higher sphere of relationship with God in this manner, he will not knowingly, thus presumptuously pray and ask God for anything he knows is “at enmity with God’s law;”such would be an insult and one of the ways of denying Christ.
This also applies when wanting “to know what God’s will is” whenever faced with difficult decisions and things are not quite as dried-and-cut or is totally unfamiliar or unprecedented in one’s experience. This is rendered more efficacious when tended with “the patience of the saints” and the effectual, fervent prayers of the righteous” (Rev 14:12; James 5:16).
And where the relationship of creature with Creator, man with God, sinner with Savior, suppliant with Advocate/Intercessor/Mediator is concerned, the greatest evidence of, and highest form of WORSHIP, adoration, and obeisance is loving obedience to all of His Ten Commandments when “written in the heart and mind under the new covenant” (Heb. 8:9, 10; 10:16; Eze. 11: 19,20; 36: 25-27).
The profound yet simple gospel truth undergirding and assuring the victory of the plan of salvation versus the great controversy with Satan and sin, the Savior of mankind himself declared in an all-encompassing yet easy to remember “Jesus said” statement: “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” John 14:15, KJV. It is this “love that conquers all.” This is the LOVE or “charity that abides with faith and hope, these three; but the greatest of them all is charity” (1 1 Cor. 13: 13. 1-12) for it is the power to obey God’s law, not faith nor hope, as essential as these graces are as part of the “fruits of the Spirit.”
This is how Jesus, whose predetermined name in the council of heaven means “He shall SAVE HIS PEOPLE FROM (not in) THEIR SINS” (Matt. 1:21), provides the living Example of how He “SUCORS all that are tempted;” why “He is able to save to uttermost” all who flee to Him in faith, at any time and every kind of need as a personal Savior, Refuge, Solid Rock, Almighty Defender and through the Holy Spirit, the Comforter.
All need to know and remember that the Godhead and the angelic ministry that excel in strength are on the side of the severely tried yet humble and penitent sinner who is constantly buffeted by the merciless attack of the enemy of souls with his numberless agencies, employing unnumbered schemes.
Remember these:
“Wherefore He is able also to save them to the UTTERMOST [who?] that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth [the risen Christ our Mediator is no longer subject to temptation and death!] to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25).
“Now unto Him that is ABLE TO KEEP YOU from falling [into temptation, and to present you FAULTLESS before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.” Jude 24.
“Now unto Him that is able TO DO EXCEEDING ABUNDANTLY ABOVE all that we ask or think, according to the POWER that worketh in us.” Eph. 3:20.
“Nay, IN ALL THESE THINGS we are MORE THAN CONQUERORS through Him that loved us [and love in return].” Rom. 8: 37. Last but not least: (When resistance is success). “SUBMIT yourselves unto God, RESIST THE DEVIL, AND HE WILL FLEE FROM YOU.” James 4:7 (6-10).
This concludes this series. To be continued next MWM, God willing. Bless all, NMF.