Temptation ALL OR NOTHING
Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain yield both salt water and fresh. James 3:11, 12.
There are only two choices in the Christian life when it comes to abiding. We can be abiding in Christ, or we can be not abiding in Christ. We can be depending upon Christ, or we can be depending upon ourselves. There are no other options. We cannot depend partly upon Christ, and partly upon self. It's all or nothing.
If when we first came to Christ we had locked in on God's power, and stayed there ever since, we would never have disobeyed or sinned again. "Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not" (1 John 3:6). But most of us are willing to admit that we have not had continual, unbroken victory in our Christian life, from the day we first came to Jesus to this very moment. Instead we admit to falling, and failing, and having to come to God for His forgiveness again and again. In the Christian life we experience a swing between abiding dependence upon Christ and depending upon our own power. This is why we have the interrupted victory we have known. If sin gets through to me at any moment, it is because I was not united to Christ by faith at that point.
We are told repeatedly that Jesus hated sin. Every sin was torture to His spirit (see The Desire of Ages, p. 111). He hated sin with a perfect hatred (see SelectedMessages, book 1, p. 322). Contact with evil was unspeakably painful to Him. He could not witness a wrong act without pain that was impossible to be disguised (seeThe Desire of Ages, p. 88).
When we are united to Him be faith, sin will be hateful to us, as it was to Jesus. We will have no relish for sin (see Messages to Young People, p. 338). We will look upon sin with abhorrence (see The Great Controversy, pp. 649, 650). The renewed heart will have hatred for sin (see The Great Controversy, p. 508). "The prevalence of a sinful desire shows the delusion of the soul."--Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p. 92.
When we find sin to be appealing, we may know that we have somehow turned from the abiding dependence upon God and are depending upon ourselves. It is when we have done this that temptation has power over us. But victory comes spontaneously when we depend upon Him.
Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain yield both salt water and fresh. James 3:11, 12.
There are only two choices in the Christian life when it comes to abiding. We can be abiding in Christ, or we can be not abiding in Christ. We can be depending upon Christ, or we can be depending upon ourselves. There are no other options. We cannot depend partly upon Christ, and partly upon self. It's all or nothing.
If when we first came to Christ we had locked in on God's power, and stayed there ever since, we would never have disobeyed or sinned again. "Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not" (1 John 3:6). But most of us are willing to admit that we have not had continual, unbroken victory in our Christian life, from the day we first came to Jesus to this very moment. Instead we admit to falling, and failing, and having to come to God for His forgiveness again and again. In the Christian life we experience a swing between abiding dependence upon Christ and depending upon our own power. This is why we have the interrupted victory we have known. If sin gets through to me at any moment, it is because I was not united to Christ by faith at that point.
We are told repeatedly that Jesus hated sin. Every sin was torture to His spirit (see The Desire of Ages, p. 111). He hated sin with a perfect hatred (see SelectedMessages, book 1, p. 322). Contact with evil was unspeakably painful to Him. He could not witness a wrong act without pain that was impossible to be disguised (seeThe Desire of Ages, p. 88).
When we are united to Him be faith, sin will be hateful to us, as it was to Jesus. We will have no relish for sin (see Messages to Young People, p. 338). We will look upon sin with abhorrence (see The Great Controversy, pp. 649, 650). The renewed heart will have hatred for sin (see The Great Controversy, p. 508). "The prevalence of a sinful desire shows the delusion of the soul."--Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p. 92.
When we find sin to be appealing, we may know that we have somehow turned from the abiding dependence upon God and are depending upon ourselves. It is when we have done this that temptation has power over us. But victory comes spontaneously when we depend upon Him.
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