The Three Testings.

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The Lord Jesus Christ was tested in three areas: in the area of bread, in the area of worldly pleasure, and in the area of personal ambition. Every son of God is tested in these three aspects of personality and behaviour. Until we have overcome Satan in each of these three areas, we neither can be in the image of God nor can we be at rest in the centre of His Person and will.

(4/1/2007) The first area of testing is the "bread" question. It has to do with our security and survival while living in the physical world. What shall we eat? With what shall we be clothed? How shall we be sheltered from the elements?

The Lord Jesus told us that God will provide our physical necessities and we are not to worry about them. We know God expects us to work and provide for our families and ourselves. But our most important responsibility is to find God's will and do it.

Man shall not live by bread alone but by every Word that proceeds from God. God always is speaking to every individual. Our problem in America is we are so consumed with material necessities and comforts we are too busy to hear what God is saying to us.

We must learn to listen to Jesus at all times. I personally make a practice of asking the Lord about everything I do during the day. By so doing I am able to maintain the Presence of Christ throughout the day.

Jesus is interested in all that we do, our work, our eating and drinking, our buying and selling, our ministry—all that we do down to the smallest detail.

God always is speaking to you. If you will keep looking to Jesus in every decision you make, and keep obeying Him, you will be living by every Word that comes from God's mouth. This truly is the manner in which all of us are to live, and it is a way of love, joy, and peace.

The second testing we all experience is that of the kingdoms of the world. This is the realm of worldliness, including eating and drinking to excess, every kind of sensual pleasure, self-gratification, lying, usurping the place of another, stealing, seeking pre-eminence, treachery, lack of integrity and faithfulness. This sort of behaviour is what we are witnessing in several instances in our own government.

The American people love pleasure and are accustomed to pleasure. This is why they are seeking to make the Gospel of the Kingdom a message of self-indulgence. My estimation is that if the pastors of America were turn from preaching how Jesus wants us to be happy in the present life, and held before their congregations the prospect of self-denial and the patient carrying of our cross after Jesus. there would be a large-scale exodus from the churches.

Christ does not present us with self-fulfilment but with the cross of self-denial. It is after we have accepted His will in every area of our life, and we have been stripped of many of our pleasures, that everything of true value is restored to us. To endure the period of stripping requires unwavering faith in the Character of God, His faithfulness; His desire to bring us finally to love, joy, and peace.

It may be true that it is the third area of testing that we are approaching today. I have said many times that the Charismatic people will be divided over this issue, because they desire to have the power of God but are not embracing patiently the cross of self-denial. The Glory of God without the cross.

Satan wants to be "like God," but he has no intention of doing God's will, which is that we worship and obey the Lord Jesus Christ.

Maybe this is why Christians pray for power. Why do they want power if it is not to act independently of God? Perhaps a better prayer is that God will give us a spirit of obedience to God.

I have come to the conclusion that pleasing God is a simple matter. All God requires of us is that we fear Him and keep His commandments. His commandments are not grievous. Whenever He gives us a personal direction He accompanies it with all the grace, wisdom, and strength we need to fulfil His will perfectly.

The most important aspect of the Kingdom of God is the doing of God's will perfectly. Whoever is not willing to do God's will perfectly is a rebel against God, whether or not he or she is a Christian by profession.

Christ was "imprisoned," shall we say, on the roof of the Temple of Herod. What a useless place to be for someone who has a desire to minister God's Life to people.

Why didn't the Son of God jump off? Because Christ does not act apart from the will of the Father. He does not put God to the test, as the people did at Massa, to see if God keeps His Word.

After we have been forgiven through the blood of the cross, and have been filled with the Holy Spirit, we are faced with the work of redemption. The work of redemption is the reconciling of our fallen nature with God's utterly holy, righteous Nature.

The program of reconciliation is rigorous. Each day the Spirit of God challenges us concerning some part of our fallen nature. Each day we choose whether to follow our own desires or else let Christ have His way in our life. There may come a point in our life when we face a severe crisis, like God asking Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. But most of the time it is the daily dying and the daily living.

Over a period of time we are tested in the three areas of our personal desires. We must ask Christ to help us, for it is impossible to be formed in the image of God or rest in the centre of His Person and will unless we look to Him for all security and survival; all pleasure; and all fruitfulness and dominion.

Personal ambition, even though expressed in Christian ministry, or wherever else, is of the spirit of Antichrist. It has no place in the Kingdom of God.

You can hear the morning sermon at morning. http://www.wor.org/audio/audio.htm

You can hear the evening sermon at evening. http://www.wor.org/audio/audio.htm

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