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| | Post New Topic | | Temptation | Views: 20 | | Nov 03, 2009 8:45 am | | Temptation | # | 
Peter Boaz Jones | | Temptation October 2, 2009
I’m Joseph Tkach, speaking of LIFE.
http://www.wcg.org/av/_lib/PlayVideoSpOL.asp?program=SpOL161
Have you seen the bumper sticker that says, "I can resist anything but temptation”?
Like many humorous things, it’s funny because it’s all too true. Even as Christian believers, we find ourselves losing the battle with temptation far more often than we’d like. And if we believe that Jesus came as a great teacher and role model to show us the right way to live, we can even fall into fear and despair about our salvation, realizing that we will never measure up to his perfection.
But the truth is, if Jesus were merely a great teacher and role model, we would have no hope at all for salvation. That’s because none of us perfectly follow Jesus’ example.
Jesus never sinned. He was perfect, but try as we might, we never have been and never will be. Even though the Holy Spirit dwells in us and leads us, we simply are not in tune with the Spirit the way Jesus was.
That’s why the gospel is such good news. The gospel is not that Jesus was the world’s greatest teacher and role model, though he was.
The gospel is that Jesus fulfilled for us in our place every righteous requirement of the law. He overcame every temptation in our place, as one of us, both representing us and substituting for us before God. Then he died and rose from the dead for us, and sits at the Father’s right hand, both as the perfect glorified human and the Son of God. In Jesus, God has healed and restored humanity. He has drawn humanity into Jesus’ own intimate relationship with the Father as his beloved son.
In Jesus, God destroyed the work of the devil and defeated sin—our sin—once and for all. That’s the good news. That’s the gospel.
How can you lose out on such a great salvation? Only by not trusting the giver of the gift. By not trusting God to be who he says he is for you – your Redeemer and Savior. By not trusting God to love you, to forgive you, to transform you, as he says he has already done for you in Christ.
The apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:4-6:
“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus…”
The gospel really is good news! Trouble is, for many of us, it seems too good to be true. We want to have at least a short list of “do’s and don’ts” to separate the wheat from the chaff. But God gave us no list. He gave us himself. In Christ, we have everything we need for salvation.
Copyright 2009 by Grace Communion International
Pete :-) Moderator of: Exploring Belief Systems, God, & Spirituality
http://beliefsystemsgodspirituality-network.ryze.com
Author of The Gospel of the Four
http://www.new-millennium.co.uk
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