Take God's Way of Escape

1 Corinthians 10:12-13 ESV

“Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

In context, Paul was writing to the Corinthian church giving them instructions in holy living and warning them against walking in sin. And so he reminded them of what happened to the Israelites of the Old Covenant when they were wandering in the wilderness for forty years. The vast majority of them ended up dying in the wilderness at the hand of God due to their disobedience and rebellion against the Lord and their deliberate and habitual and premeditated sin against the Lord, despite all his warnings to them.

And he told them that what happened to the Israelites of the Old Covenant in the wilderness serves as an example to us so that we don’t end up setting our hearts on evil as they did and end up dying in our sin and not inheriting eternal life with God, i.e. not entering into his rest. For they were living in idolatry and revelry and rebellion against the Lord and in sexual immorality. And they were grumblers who put Christ to the test by their actions. And in their pride they were testing God, believing he would do nothing. Wrong!

Therefore, when this says here, “Let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall,” this was in direct reference to the Israelites of old who did not take God and his word seriously and so they thought they were standing because they were God’s chosen people. But their status as God’s chosen people did not keep them falling into sin, and it did not keep them from continuing in that sin in rebellion against the Lord, and then testing the Lord, assuming he would do nothing. So, their pride became their downfall.

And this is where many professing Christians are today here in America, convinced that a profession of faith in Jesus Christ is a status they now wear and that regardless of how much they sin against the Lord that it can’t be taken away from them. So, if they are feeling guilty about sinning against the Lord, then they are being taught to just “claim who you are in Christ,” as a status. But who we are is what we do, not what we profess with our lips. I can claim I am a doctor but I am not one unless I practice medicine.

So it is with the Christian life. If we say that we are in fellowship with God/Christ because of a confession we made once of having faith in Jesus Christ to save us from our sins, but while we walk (in conduct, in practice) in sin, then we are liars. And if we claim to know God but we do not obey his commandments (New Covenant), in practice, we are liars. And if we claim Jesus as our Savior and heaven as our eternal home but while we make sin our practice, and while righteousness is not our practice, the truth is that we are not born of God, but we are of the devil, and heaven is not our home.

[1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Galatians 5:16-21]

And then we have an encouragement here to let us know that it is absolutely possible, by the Spirit, for us to resist the devil and to flee temptation and to draw near to God in obedience to him and in holy living. God is not going to allow a temptation beyond what he is able to help us to overcome. And the “us” here is those of us of genuine God-given faith in Jesus Christ. There is not any temptation to sin that we will face that God will not give us all that we need to say “No!” to the temptation and “Yes!” to doing the will of God.

For he already made the way possible for us to be delivered out of our slavery to sin by faith in Jesus Christ, via dying with Christ to sin and being raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. And his grace trains us to say “No” to ungodliness and fleshly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for our Lord’s return. So we have the power within us to resist and to desist. We just have to use it.

But so many professing Christians are getting fed this idea that they can be saved from their sins, be on their way to heaven, that nothing can take that away from them, but while they continue living in sin. And that is not what the Scriptures teach! For they teach that if sin is what we practice, and if righteousness and godliness and obedience to our Lord are not what we practice, we will not inherit eternal life with God. Heaven will not be our eternal destiny, regardless of what our lips profess. 

So, no excuses! And believe me, I have heard many of them. They do not “hold water,” i.e. they are not valid excuses. But those who want to hold on to their sins are full of excuses for why they are still walking in sin and for why they have not yet had victory over their slavery (addiction) to sin. But this Scripture makes it clear that there is no temptation to sin that cannot be conquered, and the battle won, if we will just take God’s way of escape, and if we will not try to handle it ourselves, in the flesh. 

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; 1 Pet 1:17-21; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

For Our Nation  

An Original Work / September 11, 2012

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Trust Him with your life today.

Make Him your Lord and your Savior.

Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.

He will forgive you of your sin;

Cleanse your heart, made new within.

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.

On our knees to God we’re praying,

Seeking God to give us answers

That are only found in Him.

God is sovereign over all things.

Nothing from His mind escaping.

He has all things under His command,

And will work all for good.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Men deceiving: We’re believing

In our Lord, and interceding

For our nation and its people

To obey their God today.

He is our hope for our future.

For our wounds He offers suture.

He is all we need for this life.

Trust Him with your life today.

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