No longer a Sinner - Our Great High Priest

The devil, the flesh and the world are in the constant business of tempting us to sin. These three sources of temptation play on our human needs and desires, which are given to us by God.

They seek to pervert our needs and to tempt us into gross immorality. However, Christ in us enables us to withstand any temptation by giving us a way to escape it (1 Corinthians 10:13).

Thankfully, we have Jesus, our great High Priest, who can empathize with our humanity. He lived on this earth and was tempted, suffered and died with circumstances similar to, but much worse than ours (Hebrews 4:15).

The initial sinful thought, which enters our mind, is not sin. It is merely a temptation to sin. Satan whispers the destructive idea in our mind, and we have a choice to entertain or to dismiss that thought.

Temptation influences us when pride and rebellion lurk in our heart and cause us to rely on our self, and draw us away from having faith in God's faithfulness to provide for us.

The sins, which easily lure us away from holiness, are strongholds in our life. These expose us to demonic attachments, which hold us in bondage. Also the abuse we receive in life will encourage us to believe Satan's lies.

We are freed from spiritual strongholds by confessing them as sin, surrendering our life to Christ and obeying His Word in our every thought, word and deed, trusting in His Spirit's direction for our life.

Christ promises to fulfill all of our needs according to His glorious riches. We do not have to trust anyone or anything else to provide for us (Philippians 4:19).

Prayer:

Father God, Jesus was tempted to meet His own needs, but He used Your Word to put Satan in his place (Matthew 4:1-11). Help us to hide Your Word in our heart, so that we do not sin against You (Psalm 119:11).

Remind us that we are crucified with Christ; and now we live in Him and by His faith (Galatians 2:20). Thank You for accepting us into Your family (Ephesians 2:19) and filling us with all of Your fullness (Ephesians 3:16-19).

Thought for the Day:

Our great High Priest increases in us as we decrease in our dependence on our self and others and trust only in Him.

- John 3:30

Why We Need Jesus

As we view the Ten Commandments, we realize that we break the heart of God in sin whenever we worship anyone or thing other than Him, use His name as a curse word, disregard Sunday as a day to worship the Lord, disobey our parents, murder, have physical relations with someone to which we are not married, steal, lie or covet what belongs to someone else (Matthew 5-7).

Jesus taught us the nuances of some of these commandments when He stated that anger is as vile as murder, and lusting as sinful as adultery. He even said that when we belittle one another we are in danger of going to hell (Matthew 5:22-28).

Paul goes into even more detail when in Galatians 5:19:21 he list as sins: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft, rebellion (1 Samuel 15:23); hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.

He also stated that whatever we think, say or do that is not coming from faith is a sin (Romans 14:22-23). John tells us that all wrong doing is sin (1 John 5:17). James says that when we know the right thing to do and we omit doing it, we are sinning (James 4:17).

Under the law, Saints had to keep every word of the law or be cursed to an eternity in hell (Galatians 3:10). Reading these lists may cause us to feel condemnation from Satan; but thankfully, if we stop doing them, we are free from condemnation (Roman 8:1).

That is why we need Jesus as our Savior. He is the blameless Lamb of God who takes away our sins (John 1:29). With his dual nature as God and man, He could do what we could never do. He lived in sinless perfection.

Now, Christ lives in us with this same divine power and nature (2 Peter 1:4). Through His sacrifice on Calvary's cross, He exchanged our sin for His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21).

By faith in God's saving grace, we receive His Spirit to cleanse our spirit from Adam's sin and our own (Galatians 3:13-14). God's Spirit also gives us both the desire and the power to live in holy communion with God at all times (Colossians 1:27; Philippians 2:12-13).

Prayer:

Father God, while we were still lost in our sin, You loved us (Romans 5:8; 1 John 3:1). Even though we do not deserve it, You faithfully forgive us for every sin from which we repent and turn away (1 John 1:9). You condemn no one, but we condemn our self by refusing to believe in Jesus (John 3:16-18).

Remind us that You know that the rewards of sin are actually wages that we have to pay for partaking in this destructive behavior. Teach us that we reap what we sow, and You want to spare us from the degradation and suffering caused by sin.

Thank You for desiring instead that no one will ever perish in hell, but that everyone who truly repents and surrenders their life to You will enjoy eternity with you in Heaven (2 Peter 3:9).

Thought for the Day:

The sins listed for us in the Bible are there to help us to realize that without Christ we can do nothing. - Philippians 3:14; Galatians 3:24

The End-Time Church

Many in the last days Church are hardworking and never grow weary of serving the Lord in every way we can (Revelation 2:2-3). We have a passion for working for Christ, but we often forsake our quiet times with God, in order to fill our time with religious activities. We work in ministry for our own fulfillment, rather than for the love of God in obedience to His direction (Ephesians 2:10).

Like the Church of Ephesus, the modern church has forsaken our first love (Revelation 2:4). Like the Church of Laodicea, the Spirit left and we function in our human energy and effort. We do not even recognize that we are spiritually poor, lame, wretched, naked and pitiful (Revelation 3:17). We look at numbers to gauge our success rather than changed lives.

Others of us are hearers of the Word, but not doers. We do not serve in any ministry. We attend conventions, buy books and sermons, and follow the most popular preachers, but we fail to obey the Lord (James 1:22; John 14:15, 23). We are ever learning, but never walking in the Truth (2 Timothy 3:7). We have a personal relationship with Christ, but not a heart full of love for Him (John 14:21, 23; 1 Corinthians 16:22).

God warns us of judgment for our disobedience and immorality, and He calls us to repentance (Revelation 2:5). Jesus promises that if we heed His Word, we will overcome the deception and lusts of this life. He is preparing a place for authentic Believers to eat from the tree of life and to dwell for eternity in the paradise of God (Revelation 2:7, Revelation 21-22).

Prayer:

Father God, the blessed assurance that we enjoy as Believers is that Christ lives within us (Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:3-4). Remind us not to fall under Satan’s deception to crave the world or to minister through our own abilities. Make us defenders of Your Word, so that we do not compromise our love of Your truth. Help us to persevere in persecution and not to grow weary of following Your Spirit’s guidance every moment of every day (Revelation 2:2-3).

Thought for the Day:

The light of our modern church went out, and we do not know it. – John 8:12; Matthew 5:14