1 Corinthians 10:13,
13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it.
Read that last verse again – God will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that we may be able to endure it.
Because God expects this of us, He trains us in the way we should go in our new life in the Spirit by discipling us in our struggle against sin. He teaches us to walk away from sin and take the way of escape He provides for every temptation. When we fail, we repent, and He forgives us because He knows we are but dust and He has compassion on us. He then puts us right back on the path of learning obedience from the things we suffer. If we continue to submit to Him, we learn obedience; if we don’t submit to Him we become illegitimate children, Hebrews 12:7-8.
Hebrews 12:4-13,
A Father’s Discipline
4You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin;
5 and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons,
“MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD,
NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM;
6 FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES,
AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.”
7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?
10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness.
11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
12 Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble,
13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.
There is no excuse for a mature Christian to continue in sin. No temptation beyond what is common to man can touch us, just temptations that are common to man, and God provides a way of escape for every one of them.
So who is it that takes the way of escape? those who submit to the discipline of the Lord and learn the hard way to be obedient. It is not easy but it is the gospel of Christ. And since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted. So when we are tempted we can either give in to the temptation and sin, or we can turn to Jesus in faith and allow Him to help us.
To accomplish what God expects of us we must deny ourselves daily, take up our cross, and follow Jesus. In so doing, we surrender our will and walk in the will of God, as Peter encourages us:
1 Peter 4:1-2,
1 “Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,
2 so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.”
Matthew 7:13-14,
13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide, and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it.
14 “For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it.
Jon David Banks, God’s most unworthy servant
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org
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