God Knows How to Deliver

When it comes to temptation to sin, we can feel very alone.  In the moment we can feel powerless to find the way of escape God has provided for us.  But this pitiful self-focus is a chief source of our chronic problems, that we imagine ourselves to be the central figure in the struggle and forget about the power of God.  We think it falls to us to do the impossible rather than seeking the LORD.  Failure can lead to our resignation to sin instead of fleeing as we ought.

Last night I was struck by what Peter wrote in 2 Peter 2:7-9.  Those who sinned without repentance God destroyed "...and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked ⁸ (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)-- ⁹ then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment..."  If we will be delivered out of sin and temptation, it is Jesus Christ who must help us by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus Christ is a deliverer of all who cry out to Him in faith.

Lot lived among people who did not fear God and brasenly sinned against Him, and how their conduct vexed Lot!  Yet even when he was divinely warned Sodom and the surrounding cities would shortly be utterly overthrown and destroyed, Lot tarried.  He was unable to make the decisive first move to leave his home, stuff, and extended family.  When the pressure was on Lot suffered analysis paralysis.  Left to his procrastinating ways he would have been destroyed in the fierce judgment that was coming, but the angel graciously took him by the hand and led him out.  Lot walked out on his own two legs yet he needed the help of a divine messenger to lead him to depart the dangerous place where he lingered.

Has temptation to sin ever caused you to linger?  Our minds work tirelessly to weigh options:  is it right or wrong?  Why is it wrong?  What does it matter?  Who would know?  And because sin in us is stirred up by the desires of the flesh, our minds linger over the decision.  As children of God we must acknowledge God knows how to deliver His people out of temptations.  Since we are incapable of delivering ourselves this is most comforting and encouraging.  Before Jesus left the earth He promised to send the Holy Spirit, the Comforter and Helper.  In temptation and tribulation He helps us because He leads us to follow Jesus.  We are powerless, but the LORD knows how to deliver.

The Divine Escape Plan

Temptation is more than enticement but actually puts us to the test:  it is an examination to see if we will choose God's way or not.  The Bible explains God cannot be blamed for temptation to sin, as it is written in James 1:13-14:  "Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. ¹⁴ But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed."  The fact temptation to sin appeals to us at all is because we are the crooked and corruptible ones.  God is righteous and always leads us to do righteously.  It is we who err.

The grace of God is revealed in providing a way for those who trust in Christ to avoid sin and do what is right.  See what 1 Corinthians 10:13 has to say on the subject:  "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it."  In our flesh no good thing dwells, but when we are born again and filled with the Spirit there is life in us to resist the devil and walk in obedience to Christ.  With every temptation allowed by God He also makes "the way of escape."  Commercial buildings are required to have illuminated "Exit" signs to make the way out clear in case of emergency.  If we find ourselves in the middle of a temptation which presses upon us, our call is to look to the Light of the World who shines in the darkness.  God makes exit from temptation possible.

The reality is we live in a body of flesh which is still very prone to sin and desires it over pleasing God.  That is why Paul exhorted believers in Romans 13:13-14, "Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. ¹⁴ But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfil its lusts."  In every case when there is sin to put off, there is Jesus Christ to put on through faith in obedience.  The flesh says concerning forsaking sin, "But what about me?"  but Jesus says "Deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow Me."  Sin is not to be given any space to operate freely in our lives, just like all the gaps in a house must be stopped to keep out rats and mice.  As believers sin only has power over us when we willingly submit to it, and when we are in active submission to God we will not choose sin. 

Return to Jesus!

I read a discourse to working men called "The Great Strike" by W.R. Bradlaugh who spoke of a young woman who had been a prodigal.  After making a decision to follow Jesus Christ as LORD she returned home at midnight and was surprised to find the door unlocked.  She found her mother praying for her.  After an embrace she expressed her surprise the door was unfastened.  "That has never been fastened since you went away," the mother said.  "I knew you would return, and it should never be said my child came home and could not get in."  Bradlaugh used this to preface the following heartfelt message for doubters, infidels, and those who have departed from Christ:

That is just how our Heavenly Father acts.  He neither slumbereth nor sleepeth.  He is ever ready to receive the wanderer.  Friend, sin has separated you from a father's love and a father's care.  But though you have wandered from God, Jesus, the Good Shepherd, has gone after you, and tonight He is here seeking to save and inviting you to come.  Pardon has been purchased.  Salvation is free.  The blood of Christ has been the price paid.  The ransom price has been accepted.  And now let me bid you in the Saviour's name return to the Father.  Is there a poor degraded drunkard here, a lost and fallen sister, a scoffer, a Sabbath-breaker?  If so, I say, arise, and go to your Father while the door is open.  Go at once.  Go direct from the fields of sin and the swine-troughs of Satan to your Father's home.  Go just as you are.  No father ever welcomed back a returning prodigal as God welcomes the returning sinner.  Desponding one, degraded one, God sends a special message to you; He invites, He entreats, He beseeches you to return.  Return, and experience His compassion now.  Return, and receive His forgiveness now.  Return, and prove the greatness of His love.  Return, and taste the sweetness of being reconciled to God.  Return, and heaven and earth shall rejoice over thee.  Soon the Bridegroom will come, and the door will then be shut, never again to be opened.  Saints will be shut in, sinners will be shut out.  Enter the door, for death approaches, and you may at any moment be cut down.  Enter the open door now, for if you perish you will only have yourself to blame.  Enter now, for tomorrow may be too late, and when the door is shut opportunity, mercy, and hope will have fled forever, and your doom will be sealed.  There are angels lingering here to carry back the news.  What is it to be?  Are they on swift wings to bear the glad news that a sinner has repented, which shall cause the angelic throng to strike their harps and make the heavens ring with songs of joy over the lost one's return?  Or are they on heavy wings to mount upward, stand before the most High, and, veiling their faces with their snowy pinions, declare that you, sinner, have been invited to the feast, and would not come?  --that you were told of the love of God, but you despised it?  --that you were pointed to the Saviour, but in your unbelief you trampled on His blood, saying in your heart you would stifle conviction, resist the Holy Spirit, and become your own destroyer?  Which is it to be?  (Moody, Dwight Lyman. Men of the Bible. Bible Institute Colportage Assn., 1898. pages 149-150)

The Manifestation of Christ's Life

"We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed-- ¹⁰ always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body."

2 Corinthians 4:8-10

This was a description of the Christian life by the apostle Paul, one who suffered according to the will of God.  But where suffering abounded, consolation from God was greater still.  It was God who enabled Paul to endure and He is faithful to help us as well.

Paul was pressed on every side, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down.  Blows were landed physically and spiritually upon him yet he was not crushed, did not despair, was not forsaken or destroyed.  It could be said he was upheld and sustained, encouraged by hope in God, experienced God's presence, and was delivered.  The victory obtained through Christ's death and resurrection were manifested in Paul and other Christians in the face of fierce opposition and uncertainty.

The crazy thing is Paul and the believers in the early church did not go into survival mode due to satanic assault and persecution but thrived due to the life of Jesus Christ in them.  The Holy Spirit provided help and comfort they needed to persevere and overcome insurmountable foes in the physical and spiritual realms.  The fruitfulness borne in the lives of God's people was the equivalent of grape vines being fruitful in the midst of a fire or olive trees bearing fruit in a torrential flood.  This power and wisdom for ministry in Jesus has been transferred to His faithful disciples to this day.

The life of Jesus is manifested in our bodies when we are hard pressed on every side but not crushed, perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not forsaken, and struck down but not destroyed.  We may hope following Jesus means we will not be hard pressed, confused, attacked, or depressed, yet this is hardly the case.  God allows all these things and more so we might know Him through the fellowship of His suffering and so His life might be manifested to us and through us.