Part 2: Living Like Jesus
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“A righteous man may fall seven times and rise again.”
–Proverbs 24:16

Surviving a Fall

   Here is a powerful message from the Reformer John Knox:

   Mark what has been the practice of the Devil from the beginning, most cruelly to rage against God’s children, when God begins to show them his mercy. And therefore marvel not, dearly beloved, though this should happen to you. If Satan fume and roar against you, whether it be against your bodies by persecution, or inwardly in your consciences by a spiritual battle, do not be discouraged, as though you were less acceptable in God’s presence, or that Satan might at any time prevail against you. No!… I have good hope, and my prayer will likewise be, that you may be so strengthened, that the world and Satan himself might understand and perceive, that God is fighting your battle. 

   One of the most important keys to overcoming temptation is the knowledge that if you are in Christ, you have great power to resist wrong (Jude 24). To abide in Him is to abide in His Spirit. And Galatians 5:16 says, “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”

   Noah, Enoch, and Abraham walked with God. We can do the same today by getting on our knees to petition for strength. Rather than let us fall when we are trustingly pleading for His help, God will send every angel in heaven to save us from sin. God has made us free moral agents, and the devil cannot make us sin. However, we must choose to follow Jesus rather than the lies of the devil. So by God’s grace, you and I can resist every temptation.

   However, remember that you need not give up if you do fall. A Chinese proverb says, “You do not drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there.” Many people, who fall down, stay down. They say, “Oh, well, I am lost now-I may as well surrender to every other temptation.” God can help you recover lost territory, and He will save you from future temptations.

   The devil may dishearten you with his wicked whisperings, “I know you! I tempted you, and you did it! You are no good. You call yourself a Christian, but you are just a hypocrite. In fact, you are not even saved!”

   I Believe the Christian life is progressive. The Bible promises, “My little children, these things write I to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1). If you sin-and we all do-don’t give up. If the devil tricks you, and you fall down, do not stay down. Do not let your past failures be an excuse for future compromise. God can help you overcome everything. You take it just one day and one step at a time.

   Of course, the most powerful motive for resisting any temptation is your love for God. You know that sin hurts God, so, when, you are tempted, you need to say out loud, “I cannot do that because I love God.”

   Erwin W. Lutzer said, “Our response to temptation is an accurate barometer of our love for God.” The more you love Jesus, the less the attraction of the devil will hold sway over you. Remember how much Jesus loves you by remembering the cross when you are tempted, and then return that love by resisting the evil before you.

   We are all tempted, but the Lord has promised that we can be over comers through the “exceeding great and precious promises” found in the Scriptures. Jesus will teach us how to overcome. The devil could not make Jesus sin, nor can he make us sin. Give thanks to God, “who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57). Ask Him for overcoming power, and joyfully dive into the pages of His Word.

“They… found the man from whom the demons had departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus.”

-Luke 8:35

Sitting at His Feet

   Sitting at someone’s feet is a posture of submission. This position also represents a willingness to learn. While the demoniac sat at Jesus’ feet, I am certain that Jesus was teaching him how to avoid the mistakes that had led to his deplorable state.

   Mary Magdalene, out of whom Jesus cast seven devils, also recognized her need to spend regular time sitting at Jesus’ feet to avoid the gauntlet of temptations that plague every human soul. It is a great story!

   He [Jesus} entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. However, Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” And Jesus answered and said unto her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:38-42). 

   I could hear Brother Harold’s oversized, three-wheel cycle squeak up behind me as I walked down the street. Brother Harold was a living legend among the people in Palm Springs. He was a seventy-year-old saint; a Jewish Christian, who knew how to “walk the walk” and “talk the talk.”

   Brother Harold’s day began at four o’clock in the morning with two hours of Bible study and prayer, followed by a few hours on the street handing out tracts. Next, he was off to the hospital. As a self-appointed chaplain, he would visit the rooms and share with the patients an encouraging scripture or two-all from memory. I will never forget his voice trembled with reverence when he quoted the Bible. One time at an early-morning prayer meeting, I thought I saw his old, bearded face shine as he prayed.

   I was a new Christian at the time, still struggling to separate my former hippie philosophy from the truths of the Bible. Frequently confused, I was feeling a bit like a failure as a Christian. Brother Harold always had a way of knowing who needed encouragement.

   “What a glorious day God has given us!” he called as he pulled up beside me. He was always so “up.”

   “Yeah, nice day,” I responded. I must not have been very convincing, because he studied me for a moment with a loving yet concerned expression.

   “How long can you hold your breath?” Brother Harold finally asked with a twinkle in his eye. His question surprised me, but I seldom missed an opportunity to brag. In school, I had played a little game of seeing how long I could hold my breath while waiting for the class bell to ring. So I boasted, “I can hold my breath for four minutes, if I hyperventilate first.”

   “Then you should no go any longer than that without praying,” he said. “God Word tells us, ‘Pray without ceasing,’”

   Next, he asked, “How often do you eat?”

   I was already beginning to sense where he was leading. “About two or three times a day,” I said hesitantly.

   “Well, that is how often you should read or meditate on God’s Word.” Then he added, “what will happen to your body if you never exercise it?”

   “I suppose I will get weak and flabby,” I responded. “That’s right,” said Brother Harold, “and that is what will happen to your faith if you don’t use it and share it.”

   As he pedaled away, Brother Harold called over his shoulder, “The same laws that apply to your physical body also apply to your spiritual health.” That day thirty years ago in Palm Springs, Brother Harold directed me to the secret weapon for the Christian. That weapon is our personal devotions-Bible study, prayer, and witnessing. The practice of having personal devotions is not a secret weapon because anyone who tried to keep it hidden. Rather, it is unknown because so many people have neglected it. We need to spend time at Jesus’ feet.

   We have talked about preparing ourselves to avoid temptation when it comes, and we have learned that we will want to be prepared to meet the temptations that we have to face only when we truly love God. To love God, me must truly get to know Him. We will explore this a little more in the next few pages.

“He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew Him.” –Mark 1:34

Knowing the Lord

   In a 1983 Gallup poll, Americans were asked, “Who do you think Jesus is?” About 70 percent of those interviewed said Jesus was not just another man. Forty-two percent answered that he was God among men. Twenty-seven percent felt Jesus was only human, but divinely called. Another 9 percent believed Jesus was divine because He embodied the best of humanity. Yet, 81 percent of Americans considered themselves to be Christians.

   Many of the 81 percent in the poll might be like the people Jesus was talking about when He said, “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your mane, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Matthew 7:22, 23).  They are lost despite their beliefs.

   The Bible clearly indicates that we gain salvation not by doing good works but from something much different. The Lord warned that many would make the fatal mistake of thinking that good works guarantee salvation. It is hard to believe that it is even possible to do good works for Jesus without having a saving relationship with Him. In fact, what Paul wrote to Titus seems applicable to those people who have no relationship with the Lord: “They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work” (Titus 1:16).

   Although the Bible is clear that we are not saved by works, it also clearly says that we will be condemned or rewarded based on what we have done.

   “The dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books” (Revelation 20:12). “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with me, to give to every one according to his work” (Revelation 22:12).

   In the judgment, many will claim to know God, but their works will reveal a different story. The key then is that once we really know God, the genuine good works for which we will be rewarded will follow. However, how do we get to know Him? How do we sit at Jesus’ feet like the demoniac and Mary while He is in heaven?

   George Mueller said about God’s Book: “The vigor of our spiritual life will be in exact proportion to the place held by the Bible in our life and thoughts.” John 17:3 affirms,” This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent’” (John 17:3). This knowledge that saves is not a casual understanding of biblical doctrine. The devil understands, but that will not save him. James 2:19, KJV, says, “The devils also believe, and tremble.” *

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   *Still, it is amazing to consider that the demons always seemed to recognize Jesus. Those that possessed the demoniac certainly did. The demons that possessed him “cried out with a loud voice and said, ‘What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?’” (Mark 5:7). Unfortunately, as we have already seen, many of Jesus’ own people do not know Him that well.

   So, to know God in this way must mean to have a loving relationship with Him.” ‘I will betroth you to me in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord’” (Hosea 2:20). We cannot really obey the Lord unless we love Him first, which is why Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). *   

   It is the same with having faith-where do we get it? Paul tells us, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17).

   The formula that changes lives is very simple. To obey God, we must love Him. To love God, we must know Him. And to know Him, we must spend regular time with Him, at His feet, learning who He really is. It is true with any relationships-to know and trust people we must first take time to communicate with them. They talk to us, and we to them.

   God speaks to us through His Word, and we speak to Him through prayer. The better we know God, the more we will love Him. The more we love Him the better we will serve Him. Genuine service for God can spring only from a genuine knowledge of Him. “’By their fruits you will know them’” (Matthew 7:20).

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   *A little later, Jesus said,” ‘He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me’ (John 14:21). Jesus repetition of this thought about keeping the commandments suggests He considered it very important. (See also 1 John 2:4.)

   A prominent prince chose to be present at the execution of a noted criminal. He was deeply moved as he observed the distress that he saw in the face of the condemned man and was moved to ask: “Is there any request that you wish to make before you die?”

   The man answered, “Yes please. I would like to have a drink of water.”

   The water was provided, but the criminal was trembling so badly that he found it difficult to bring the cup to his lips. On seeing this, the prince said to him, “Do not fear; take your time. Your life will be spared until you drink that water.”

   At that, the prisoner paused, dashed the water to the ground, and then turned to the prince and said with great confidence, “I take you at your word.”

   The prince was not displeased, nor was he made angry at the man’s presumption. He commanded the prisoner to be released, pleased that even this unworthy and undeserving man should have so much confidence in the authority of his word.

   We cannot overstress the importance of simple belief in the promise of God that His Word saves us. It is our privilege to take advantage of His great mercy. Scripture tells us that God has “given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4).

“In the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He [Jesus] went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.” –Mark 1:35

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