Temptation 3 (Isaiah 41 v 10)

Now we have been considering something that we all experience, when we are faced with temptation,the question is,will we yield to it or resist it?  The words of a hymn come to mind ,'Yield not to temptation for yielding is sin'.When we give into it,we sin,and that that effects our relationship with God,and it is vital that we repent of that sin,and confess to God ,and if we do God will forgive us ,no matter how awful that  sin was,he will forgive and restore us to fellowship.( Isaiah 1 v18/ 1  John 1 v 9). Again we consider the words a hymn,  'Ask the Saviour to help you......He is willing to aid you,He will carry you through'. Remember God is only a prayer away,His ear is open unto your cry and He will help you, also the effects on you and others if you yield to temptation, you will be remembered by people not for the good you have done,but for the wrong you have done. Also if we sin ,having yielded to temptation,we have to live with a guilty conscience,and live in fear of being found out,it can be very painful. It is not inevitable that we will yield to sin,God can withhold us from sinning  (Genesis 20 v6 ).

                                                'Yield not to temptation, for yielding is sin,

                                                 Each victory will help you some other to win;

                                                 Fight manfully onward ,dark passions subdue,

                                                 Look ever to Jesus,He'll carry you through.'

                                                                 Horatio R. Palmer.

Temptation.2 ( Genesis 3 v1-7 )

 Now let us consider the source of temptation,I will let Jame answer first of all.' Let no one say when he is tempted, ''I am being tempted by God'',  for God cannot be tempted by evil,and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. ( James 1 v 13 - 14) The word tempt literally means to prove or to test, one writer puts it like this ,' Let no one who is tempted (to sin) say that he  is tempted by God,'' God does not tempt anyone to sin.'James points out that our fallen nature which we all have ( Jeremiah 17 v9 ) is one of the root causes of us yielding to temptation..James puts it like this we get,'carried away and enticed by our own lusts.'  'Even as Christians we can give house-room to our evil desires, in the Lords prayer we have the following words,' Lead us not into temptation'( Matthew 6 v 13),but alas so often we run blindly into temptation,did not Judas do this?,the answer is yes.Now the other source were temptation comes is from Satan ( Matthew 4 v3 / 1 Thessalonians  3 v 5) He is a heartless being who is described as being like a roaring lion who wants to devour us.( 1 Peter 5 v8 ) The devil is not  seen by the world as a real being,but to us Christians we are in no doubt that he exists. We will continue this next time.

Temptation 1( Matthew 26 v 41)

Every day many people pray,'Lead us not into temptation',whither we pray those words or not,the fact is we will all face being tempted,that means everyone,of every age,of every colour, of every nationality. Temptation does not go away,it will be with us till the day we die,it is only then will we get rest from it.There is no place were you won't be tempted,Adam and Eve were tempted in  paradise,one can tempted when one is praying,or sitting in church. There are no,no go areas,as regards temptation,going into religious order is no guarantee,that you wont be tempted.If you were a castaway on a desert  island you would will still be tempted.Ministers of God ,religious activity will not shield them from temptation,that may make them more vulnerable.I want to stress this very important point,being tempted is not a sin, no matter how wicked and evil it is,it only becomes a sin ,when one yields to the temptation. We will continue to consider  this subject next time 

Galway (Ephesians 2 v 1- 22 ) 1

On the west coast of Ireland there is a city called Galway, it is an old city,the meaning of the name Galway means ,    'Town of  foreigners,', I suppose it goes back to when it was a town.I suppose the fact that I come from Northern Ireland and now live in England I could be classed as a foreigner,although I have never felt that I am foreigner,Writing to the Christians at Ephesus Paul reminds them of their former condition as Gentiles, that like all the unsaved , they were spiritually  dead in their sins,and all that meant. It didn't stop there there for he goes on to say as regards their position, 'that they were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the  covenants of the promise,without hope and without God in the world'. There was deep hostility between Jews and Gentiles ,especially on the Jewish side ,who considered them no better than dogs created by God to be fuel for the fires of hell.So they were alienated  from  God's people Israel. Unfortunately Israel forgot to their shame that they were meant to be a light to the nations,the kingdom of God was never meant to be an exclusive club, we will continue looking at this next time.

God requires. (Micah 6 v 8 ) 2

We looked at what God required from Israel,not sacrifices ,but a life manifesting godliness , Barns in his commentary says this,' Trouble not thyself as to any of these things, burnt offerings, rams,calves, without thee. for God seeketh not thine,but thee; not thy substance, but thy spirit; not ram or goat but thy heart'. Micah mentions three things God requires from us ,' To act justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God'.(Micah  6 v 8) . Consider the first,'To act justly',the bible has so much to say about justice,and how important it is,a number of years ago the Bible society published a Bible which highlighted those scriptures that stressed  justice. If we have not shown justice to others,the result will be that God will not show mercy to us,God is a just God,He will never act in an unjust way,and He expects the same from us.Likewise,mercy,God is merciful,he expects us to be merciful,in fact He says ,'Blessed are merciful for they shall receive mercy',(Matthew 5 v 7).Last but not least ,we are ,'To walk humbly with our God'. Pride is a sin,pride of race, pride of possessions,pride is a sin. To be followers of Christ, we must walk as He did, CP ,Philippians 2 v 5-11. Let us not forget that our lives must manifest the reality of our salvation,the evidence that we are truly Christ's.

The greatest treasure. ( Matthew 13 v 44 -46 )

  'You may take away from me my life, but you can never take Christ from my heart',these words were spoken by a Korean martyr before his execution by the communists'. These words  bring such a challenge ,it reminds us were our true treasure lies,Christ, when you have Christ you have the greatest treasure in the world.The vast majority of people are blind to that fact and value the things of the world,to the exclusion of  Christ,and are poorer,for all that.What have the billionaires got?,many envy them,but the poorest Christian is richer than them,Our beloved Saviour said,'what does it profit a person if they gain the whole world,and  loose their soul?, Judas was a disciple of Christ,Christ considered him a friend,but Judas loved money,and that destroyed him,in Christ he could have had it all,the eternal blessings of heaven,but when he betrayed Christ he lost all that.When you have Christ you need never fear death, for we are told when we come to go through that dark valley He will be with us,and like that dear Christian who was martyred,even death cannot rob us of Christ.A young man said to me,if you have food and a roof over your head ,then everything else is a bonus, that's true  but the biggest bonus is to know Christ,He is the greatest treasure anyone can possess.

The walking wounded 2 ( James 4 v 11 - 12 )

 There are many Christians who one could class as the walking wounded,yes they have had their sins forgiven , by trusting as their Saviour, so they are saved. But that does not ,mean that they don't carry hurts from the past, caused by many things,or even hurts since they became a Christian. First of all very it is very important, we do not judge them. Some Christians do judge people, the best example of that is ,Jobs friends, Job  was suffering tremendously ,he was bereft of all his children,he experienced the loss of all his wealth, and lastly he experienced physical suffering. His friends judged him saying  he must  have sinned,yes like of us he was a sinner,but his suffering was not for any particular sin he had committed,yet they judged him,instead of comforting him, they made him more uncomfortable, instead of  easing his pain,they increased it.Sad to say we Christians sometimes treat the Christian walking wounded, with little sympathy,understanding, and love.If we are like that, let us resign from that club,and let us do all we can to support them, they may find healing, they may not,like dear old Paul,so do  not judge them for lack of faith,consider in spite of their woundedness they are still going on with the Lord,and trusting Him in spite of their difficulties. The poet William Cowper who wrote many wonderful hymns, suffered from bouts of serious mental illness,wrote the following in one of his hymns from the book of Habakkuk.

                                  'Though vine nor fig tree neither, their wonted fruit should bear,

                                  Though all the fields should wither,nor flocks or herd be there,

                                   Yet,God the same abiding, His praise shall tune my voice;

                                   For, while in Him confiding,I cannot but rejoice',