Click to play  GMFC AUDIO Bible Study – Question on Temptation & Miscellaneous Points

Reconciling James 1:13 & Matthew 4:1

Matthew 4:1 “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.”

James 1:13 “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man”

God tempted (It was God testing but He is testing to bring out good). He does allow satan to tempt people. As long as one is submitting to God and trusting Him in holiness by their free will, they will endure the temptation faithfully.  God never tempts anyone in the sense of enticing to do evil- that is what James 1:13 is referring to.

Gen 22:1  And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. (testing to bring out good)
Gen 22:2  And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

FELLOWSHIP RULES

Many people go to Facebook & YouTube for biblical teaching and fellowship and this is very dangerous! A godly man would be very, very cautious, at best about doing this. An elder, a “bishop of souls” aka Pastor or overseer needs to be local… There are VERY FEW exceptions to this rule…

1Pe 5:1  The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:
1Pe 5:2  Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
1Pe 5:3  Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.
1Pe 5:4  And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.

Heb 13:7  Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.
Heb 13:8  Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
Heb 13:9  Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.
Heb 13:10  We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.
Heb 13:11  For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp.
Heb 13:12  Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.
Heb 13:13  Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.
Heb 13:14  For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
Heb 13:15  By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.
Heb 13:16  But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
Heb 13:17  Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.

Below is a good lesson which could have been a good witness. Sadly, Jacobs son’s turned on him (them) afterwards. They should have pointed out the idols and how they were opposed to their God as they talked about who the true God is and how He should be properly worshipped so as to deal with their hearts- and FROM THERE talked about circumcision as a “seal” as to worship God in the spirit and not walk after the flesh (Philippians 3:3), etc. This could have been a proper conversation had they not been deceptive in their purpose for it

Gen 34:8  And Hamor communed with them, saying, The soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter: I pray you give her him to wife.
Gen 34:9  And make ye marriages with us, and give your daughters unto us, and take our daughters unto you.
Gen 34:10  And ye shall dwell with us: and the land shall be before you; dwell and trade ye therein, and get you possessions therein.
Gen 34:11  And Shechem said unto her father and unto her brethren, Let me find grace in your eyes, and what ye shall say unto me I will give.
Gen 34:12  Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me: but give me the damsel to wife.
Gen 34:13  And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, and said, because he had defiled Dinah their sister:
Gen 34:14  And they said unto them, We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised; for that were a reproach unto us:
Gen 34:15  But in this will we consent unto you: If ye will be as we be, that every male of you be circumcised;
Gen 34:16  Then will we give our daughters unto you, and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people.
Gen 34:17  But if ye will not hearken unto us, to be circumcised; then will we take our daughter, and we will be gone.
Gen 34:18  And their words pleased Hamor, and Shechem Hamor’s son.

We must talk about every topic like the authority of Scripture, true repentance, the necessity of obedience/discipleship, what it means to receive the Holy Spirit, music, dress, standards for church membership, church discipline, preaching, any doctrine the Word of God is clear on, etc and any related issues that seem necessary to address before we even consider yoking with someone; and also examine who they are yoking with, make known our concerns, and insist darkness be separated from completely (2 Cor. 6:14-18). How can one be walking in the LIGHT if they are yoking with a railer, or a Calvinists(OSAS’er), or a pentecostal that screams and babbles in false “tongues”, etc.?One can’t and they are also in sin if they yoke with an heretic. Don’t let them sweet-talk you, you need to rebuke them or you are in sin too! You must be blameless. One walking in the light  will not be offended if you correct them biblically on things like headcovering, whom they yoke with, etc. A person truly seeking the Lord will gravitate towards the truth.  The right way is narrow. Many people who are false prophets are apostates that used to be in the faith but have fallen away for money, power, popularity, etc. They know how a man walking with God acts and can manipulate that for their benefit and they know how to act “humble” when they get rebuked but they are ultimate liars and hate faithful shepherds. They can be master deceivers and they will fool many, even ones you think are strong in the faith if they are not careful.  Make sure you rebuke the wolf, drive him,  get away from him, drive him away as need be, and warn others about him.

Pro 17:15 “He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD. ”

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

The proper “Hebrew Roots” are the foundation of the Gospel. So many however pervert this! We need to embrace the mindset of the OT, we need to have the mind of a TRUE ISRAELITE! with the entire word of God. Even the Passover has lessons, we need not keep the Feast of Passover in terms of the ceremony but we must understand what it stood for and how we are to partake in Christ. The OT is a testimony of Jesus.  “

Rom 2:28  For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Rom 2:29  But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

Exo 12:1  And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,
Exo 12:2  This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.
Exo 12:3  Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:
Exo 12:4  And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.
Exo 12:5  Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:
Exo 12:6  And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.
Exo 12:7  And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.
Exo 12:8  And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
Exo 12:9  Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.
Exo 12:10  And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.
Exo 12:11  And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD’S passover.
Exo 12:12  For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.
Exo 12:13  And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.
Exo 12:14  And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.
Exo 12:15  Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
Exo 12:16  And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you.
Exo 12:17  And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever.
Exo 12:18  In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even.
Exo 12:19  Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land.
Exo 12:20  Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread.

1 Corinthians 5:6-8 “⁶ Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? ⁷ Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: ⁸ Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” 

When the apostles preached the gospel they talked about true repentance, a real living faith, about the conditions of how to believe and become a disciple. Christ and Him crucified is the SIN OFFERING; now one must, by their own free will, come to the cross, come under Christ’s government and obey ’til the end for final salvation

1Pe 2:24  Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

However we study the bible, we should not neglect reading the bible from beginning to the end periodically. There are too many false believers that take the same verses, over and over again like copy & paste puppets and never understand the context. Many misuse Romans 7 to think Paul is speaking about his own Christian experience when he is clearly talking about a sinner condemned by the law before coming to Christ. All one has to do is read chapters 5 & 6 & 8 of Romans to see this clearly! Read the whole book of Romans over, and over again to understand, not get stuck on a couple verses or one chapter that you take out of context.

Romans chapters 6 through 8 are really an elaboration of the truth in Romans 5:20-21: “²⁰ Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: ²¹ That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.”

The carnal man in Romans 7 is Paul illustrating in the first person how sin abounds by the law- the law doesn’t make people worse sinners- but it makes people better aware of the magnitude of their sin and its despicable nature to help man see his great need to cry out to God for deliverance from his enslavement to sin and his state of condemnation before God.  The overall point in Romans chapters 5 through 8 is that there is redemption from all the effects of sin’s curse to those who were previously followers of Adam in his transgression (all of us!) through the grace of God in Jesus Christ.  The man in Romans 7:14-24 is an illustration of how a sinner in becoming aware of the law’s demands SHOULD respond as the law shines its light upon his heart and causes his offense to abound in terms of his own awareness of it.  This man is honest as he is confronted with the demands of the law and is driven to a true cry of repentance in Romans 7:24.  Romans 7:25 is a summary of verses 14-24- carnal men can have delight in the law of God but they have a higher commitment to the lusts of their flesh which disqualifies them from serving God acceptably (very much how many delight in good exercise- but so many of these don’t exercise as they know they ought to because they are committed to other things which interfere with that).  Romans 8 then elaborates on the deliverance that the man has entered into now that he has repented (7:24) and has turned to Jesus Christ in utter abhorrence of himself in hopes of deliverance from sin’s power and condemnation (which is why someone would genuinely come to Christ- Matthew 1:21) ) 

The moment we think we “have it all together” is the very moment one falls! David was about 50 years old when he committed GREAT SIN with Bathsheba! If we think we are sufficient, if we think we don’t need to pray earnestly, if we think we don’t need more study, if we neglect the attitude towards God that brought us to salvation in the first place, if we neglect our duties that were necessary to get us to where we are in the faith, etc, we will fall, and fall hard! We don’t ever want to think we are in a “higher class” or “that is too low for me to do, let a new believer do it”! Believers are ALL servants that abide in the same VINE!  John 15:1-6- A fruitful branch needs to abide in the vine as much as an immature, weak branch does in order to continue bearing fruit and to not wither!

1Co 10:12 “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”

We have to be very aware of the signs of backsliding for our own souls sake and for the souls of our brethren. We want to be sober, vigilant- remember this entire world is going to pass away so we must deny ourselves the pleasures of this life that involve sin, or even pleasures that would set us up for sin (by encouraging wrong priorities like love of man’s applause, attachment to ease, devotion to our own self-image or reputation, etc) to gain life eternal. The joy of sin for a short, short season is not worth a lifetime of eternal punishment in hell.

Pro 23:17-18 “Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long. ¹⁸ For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.”

God is faithful to all those who obey Him with a pure heart always striving to please Him. God is sovereign so that He can let things get so “out of hand” and still He is not shocked by it and can deliver one from the storm as long as we trust Him through it. We should expect the unexpected and be surprised many times. We need to hold on to our faith as the tests can get harder but there is always a way to stay faithful. Never give up, endure ’til the end and fight the good fight of faith.

Isa 40:26  Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.
Isa 40:27  Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel(TRUE BELIEVERS, NOW CHRISTIANS), My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?
Isa 40:28  Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
Isa 40:29  He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
Isa 40:30  Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
Isa 40:31  But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Rom 15:4  For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

Gen 39:1  And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmeelites, which had brought him down thither.
Gen 39:2  And the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.

Even if a believer is in prison…GOD IS WITH THEM!

Gen 39:20  And Joseph’s master took him, and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were bound: and he was there in the prison.
Gen 39:21  But the LORD was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison.
Gen 39:22  And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners that were in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it.
Gen 39:23  The keeper of the prison looked not to any thing that was under his hand; because the LORD was with him, and that which he did, the LORD made it to prosper.

Joseph understood that truth must be told no matter what.  And he understood that God has a way through the hardest situations to those who trust Him and listen to His counsel.  He knew that an answer of peace was not necessarily a guarantee of no hardship- but rather a solution for those who will give heed to be able to face and endure the necessary hardship well.

Gen 41:14  Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon: and he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh.
Gen 41:15  And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it: and I have heard say of thee, that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it.
Gen 41:16  And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.

We can count on God’s grace as we go to battle for Him under His authority. 

And we can expect His faithful deliverance at the end.