Christian Tract Outreach

“Let no one say when he is tempted that he is tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one, but each one is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires, and desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is full-grown brings forth death.”

 Continuing on from the previous thought of many people seeming to be unable to differentiate between temptation and actual sin, it is vital for us to remember the words of the Spirit of God, through the apostle James, as quoted above.

We so often attribute all temptation to Satan, but as I have often said of myself, "I need no help from Satan to do everything wrong. I am more than capable of this myself."However, in saying that I must also remind myself of the scripture which tells me that "I can do all thing through Christ who strengthens us."

So, while on the one hand I am capable of all sin because of the desires, lusts and passions of my old nature, which is still very much alive in the members of my physical body (Rom 7:21-25), IF I ALLOW IT TO BE. Nevertheless, with the mighty power of the Spirit of Christ in me, I can say "NO" to ALL temptation, and walk away from it in liberty and victory. This is what Jesus is telling us in John 8:31-38, saying in verses 31 to 32, "If you continue in my word you are truly my disciple, you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." And in verse 36 he tells us that when "The Son sets you free you shall be free indeed."

However, it is easy to overlook what he is saying to us in verse 34, “Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin”. Clearly the freedom he is talking about is the freedom to say an emphatic “NO” to the temptations which assail us through the desires, lusts and passions of the flesh, and to walk away, knowing complete victory over them. Otherwise, how are we completely free?

So, what the word of God is telling us is that we are free to choose whether we walk in the new nature of Eph 4:24, or in the old nature of Eph 4:22-23, entertaining and accepting the temptation as our own. THE FREE CHOICE IS OURS!!