Title: Angelic Conflict part 243: The fight of the believer – 1Pe 3:8-17; Mat 4:1-11; Joh 4:32-34; 5:30; 6:38; Luk 10:18.Title: Angelic Conflict part 242: The fight of the believer – 1Pe 3:8-17; Mat 4:1-11; Joh 4:32-34; 5:30; 6:38; Luk 10:18.
Job 2:9 Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!"
The two things Job would not give up were his faith in God and his integrity, and that's what his wife wanted him to do.
Even if others think you should quit or agree that it is ok, or understandable to quit, we must press on, for the results have eternal impact for God's glory. The standards of the mature believer are not the same as most everyone else. Therefore there is no need to look for agreement or assent from others.
Job 2:10 But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
He didn't call her foolish.
Foolish person: one who thinks God should be cursed in adversity rather than praised.
Pro 17:10 A rebuke goes deeper into one who has understanding Than a hundred blows into a fool.
Pro 27:22 Though you pound a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, Yet his folly will not depart from him.
A prosperous life full of God's happiness is one that refrains his tongue from evil and deception.
1Pe 3:8 To sum up, let all be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit;
1Pe 3:9 not returning evil for evil, or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing.
1Pe 3:10 For, [Psa 34:12-16; David being pursued by Saul] "Let him who means to love life and see good days Refrain his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking guile [a bait, snare, or deceit].
1Pe 3:11 "And let him turn away from evil and do good; Let him seek peace and pursue it.
1Sa 24:5-6 And it came about afterward that David's conscience bothered him because he had cut off the edge of Saul's robe. So he said to his men, "Far be it from me because of the Lord that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord's anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, since he is the Lord's anointed."
1Pe 3:12 "For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, And His ears attend to their prayer, But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."
1Pe 3:13 And who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good?
1Pe 3:14 But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled,
1Pe 3:15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness [not bullying or argumentative] and reverence [to God for the hope that you have];
1Pe 3:16 and keep a good conscience [right priorities; handle sins and failures properly through grace] so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.
1Pe 3:17 For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong.
"if God should will it so" - we are not going to suffer unjustly at all times, but only when God allows it in His perfect timing.
The temptation of Jesus:
The world is definitely engulfed in a war if the Son of God can be tempted by satan, whom He created.
Mat 4:1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
The Lord did not even enter Himself into this testing. The Father allowed it and the Spirit led Him to the arena.
The Father presented Job and here presents Himself in the flesh. He had to become like us in all things, yet without sin. He submitted Himself to the Father's will in submission as we must. He trusted as we must. He grew in wisdom and learned obedience by the things He suffered as we must.
Heb 2:17 Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
Heb 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.
Heb 5:8 Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.
Job's test was in relationship to life. Our Lord's test was in relation to the plan of God for His life.
Mat 4:2 And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry.
Mat 4:3 And the tempter came and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."
Mat 4:4 But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'"
This involved the love of God and the will of God. "Since You are God's beloved Son, why doesn't Your Father feed You? Why does He put You into this terrible wilderness?" This temptation sounded like Satan's words to Eve in Gen 3!
This attack is a subtle suggestion that our Father does not love us and so has not provided enough for us.
If this is true then we would have to outside of the plan of God in order to obtain the sustenance that we need.
Yet the Lord has something at His disposal that no one else does and that is divine omnipotence: "Use Your divine powers to meet Your own needs."
When we put our physical needs ahead of our spiritual needs, we sin. When we allow circumstances to dictate our actions, instead of following God's will, we sin.
There is nothing wrong with physical needs but when they are top priority or put ahead of our spiritual needs then we sin and will continue in sin until that priority is reversed. No one can have two masters and if anyone tries then he will end up hating them as they will compete with one another and conflict with one another for the only seat as top priority.
1Ti 4:7-8 discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.
Jesus could have turned the stones into bread, but He would have been exercising His powers independently of the Father, and He came to obey the Father, Joh 5:30; 6:38.
The Father's will was that He should lay aside the independent use of His deity. This is the kenosis doctrine of Phi 2. He was to rely on the Father's plan alone, the Father's provisions, and the Father's will for His humanity during the first advent.
Isa 42:1-3 "Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations. "He will not cry out or raise His voice, Nor make His voice heard in the street. "A bruised reed He will not break, And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice.
Joh 5:30 "I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
Joh 6:38 "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
The will of the Father is for Christ to operate in His humanity and not to use His deity.
We do not possess deity and so if He used deity to solve his problems and defeat His foes, who would we look to for the way of victory in life?
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