The old “good” man simply will not give up his “goodness”, he desires to be more pious than God even using God’s own Law against Him in making it “more pious” as if one could. Thus, showing the true naked Satanic nature of such piety.

If God so much as blows a leaf from a tree it is the most holy work and beyond measure. But if a man at the expense of his own life saves millions and even evangelized millions the work is unholy. Now that grates the old man. Why? Because good works rely upon the source from which they came to be truly good, good works do not make the one doing them “good”. Thus, if God only blows the leaf it is purely holy and if man does all that it’s sin. That’s not natural at all to our thinking. Our thinking of good works and by them one is defined increasingly as good is much like a body builder. If the muscle is exercised then the athlete grows. IF we made this a theological analogy we would say the exercising of the muscle is irrelevant. The athlete is an athlete if he is nothing more than declared one by Him who is in authority to do so. Reason will NEVER grasp that for it is against reason. Only faith will and only faith can when it is declared by someone to do be received. We have to be told again and again this is so, the Gospel, for it is against every part of reason within us. It is simply alien to us. It is infinitely easier for reason to believe in UFO’s than free grace. The Grace of the Cross is the SINGLE item that differentiates true Christianity from every religion, paradigm, philosophy (religious or political), work ethic, you name it in the entire world. It is no wonder it had to come down to us.

The longer I grow in the Christian faith the more I find the reality that faith is purely a gift, it cannot be generated in any sense from within, not the faith that receives the Cross. If you are like me you will find your mind warring against it constantly, “it can’t be that good”, I hear that stuff echo in the back of my mind constantly, “are you sure, that sounds rather incredible”. Even, “You just want off easy.” But you know what occurred to me about that last one one time? It’s simply the old man trying to be good again by chiding one into works, like challenging a bull with a red cape. Because if I say to myself, “no I don’t want off easy”, I’m begging for law. I don’t mean literal voices by the way, thoughts. Those thoughts, right there, are daily tormenting. I never had that when I was an unbeliever, I was quite at peace with myself back then.

When tempted, the way out is always the same whether caving into sin or not; it’s not some “strength” to stop a sin, it’s the Cross for the sin or the weakness in the temptation. When we pray at the end of the Lord’s prayer, “lead us not unto temptation, but deliver us from the evil one”, we are confessing the Cross. We are saying “don’t let us be sifted so easily like wheat as Peter or Job were, I have not the strength to resist it, give me the Cross of Christ.”

Larry H. KY

IT’S YOUR FAULT!

I find I am becoming habitual to this PROPER DISTINCTION business.

Your quote: [[There is a wrong way and a right way to understand every theological passage in the Bible. The wrong way is from the point of view of living under the Law in which you are responsible for being saved with God giving some help. The right way is from the point of view of living under the Gospel in which God gets all the credit. ]]

I exclaim, I LOVE THE LAW!

I foolishly exclaimed before and find myself even still exclaiming: I LOVED THE HELP!

The help never stopped me from sinning and it never will! GOD CAN HELP ME UNTIL THE DAY I DIE and I will find myself in HELL.

Why should anyone of us LAWBREAKERS, love that that dooms us to our end?

But because of guys like you, [yes Tom, I have to let you know, there are others!!!!], I sleep so much better at night.

If it is a matter of RIGHT AND WRONG, it is only by His Grace and Mercy to CAUSE THE LAW TO COME ALIVE IN ME and then I DIED that am I able to be WRONG continually, even when I am RIGHT!

That does not make one bit of sense to a Theologian of GLORY seeking sucker like me! “Come on, give me a break and praise me for something GOOD IN MY LIFE!!!!”

I am finding more and more as I LOOK THROUGH THE EYES OF OTHERS, who make the correct proper distinctions, that my problem is not my sinful nature as it is MY GOODNESS.

Didn’t Jesus say, only the sick need a physician? Well, Good, Godlike people don’t need God, especially if they can get themselves Well, Good and Godly!

We need the LAW!

Isn’t it interesting that God has been preaching this LAW/Gospel distinction of the Kingdom since the days of Adam.

Are we nearing the end?

michael

On the other hand, if the believer leaves the means of grace; that is, Word and Sacrament, then any temptation could overcome one’s faith. The key to the verse is to permit God to be faithful to you in strenghtening through Word and Sacrament. Depart from that means of grace and you are all on your own.

The verse does not give any indication that God will keep us from sinning due to the temptation. It does mean that God will keep us from falling from faith due to that temptation. Then, what is the “way of escape”. Because we humans by nature are fearful that God will leave us when we fall into temptation, the way of escape is the way of the cross to which we can fell for the gracious gift of the forgiveness of sins. In that way, we are kept in the one true faith by God Who will not forsake His people.

Pastor Baker, I’ve always had a hard time understanding this verse. Could you expond on this more? You said

” through the power of the Holy Spirit the believer is aided in times of comfort. Through faith in the promises of Jesus, we are given the strength to endure through temptations by the One Who has had personal experience with suffering and temptation as we have”

I was alway taught that this verse ment, I had no excuse as a Christian to sin because I was have been given the Holy Spirit. This verse always made me feel guilty because I couldn’t seem to stop sinning like I thought I should be able to do.