Thank you all for being here. I know this is a new night, and a new time, and I am grateful for all those who have found it possible to make it out.

Tonight's study is called "The Chastisement of Our Peace," and it is about dealing with and overcoming temptation. You won't go far these days without finding a Christian who is struggling with some sin in their lives; some habitual, recurring habit or tendency that causes great guilt, and (at least in the mind of the individual) seems to strain his or her relationship with God.

You will often hear them say, "I keep trying, but I just can't seem to find the strength to put it away." Well, the truth is, we can keep trying forever, and we'll never get there. How long do you think it would take a person, starting now, to get good enough to earn heaven? A hundred years of trying to perfect himself? Three hundred? How long till we can make ourselves perfect?

We'll never get there. Yet Christ told His followers: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Mat 5:48)

Was He asking us to do something impossible? That doesn't seem right. Of course we know that sanctification is a work that lasts a lifetime, and we continue to grow every day we're on earth... but we are equipped to do so. Christ Himself gave us the way by which we could refine ourselves in fire. We should ever be going forward, not stuck in the same sins over and over again. Paul wrote: "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before." (Phil 3:13)

This was Paul's Christian experience - he reached forward to new things, higher levels of glory, deeper levels of understanding. Notice also that he forgot those things "which are behind," moving from "faith to faith," as he writes in another place. This CAN be the experience of every follower of the Messiah.

Now, Paul DID write: "For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I." (Rom 7:15)

People have done terrible things with this verse! Many have used it as an excuse to keep sinning, but let none of us be guilty of that. To abuse God's grace that way is called "licentuousness" and it's a really, really bad pit to fall into. We need only continue reading Paul's writings, though, and we will get an overall picture of what he is saying.

"For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not." (Rom 7:18) Just after that, the apostle makes clear his meaning. What he said above, he did because sin dwells in his flesh, and as long as he looks to the flesh to answers for sin, he won't find it. Reading into the next chapter...

"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit; That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." (Rom 8:1,4-5,9)

Paul says: yes, sin lives in the flesh of even the converted, but we need not walk after (follow the leadings of) the flesh, we now have the Spirit of God in us. Reading the chapters as they were intended, with no divisions between them, we find that Paul is not giving us an excuse to sin in any way. I'm NOT saying people won't (people do, after all)... I'm merely establishing here that there is no EXCUSE for sin, that we don't have to... and that people shouldn't :)

"For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." (Rom 8:6) Now we are back to peace... and it is well that this is so. Here is the gift that mankind once had, that allowed them to overcome temptation, the gift that Christ died to return to us: "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John 14:26-27)

Christ left, and sent to us the Holy Spirit, and look at what one of the main characteristics of one who has this Spirit is: peace.

Paul speaks in agreement: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." (Gal 5:22-23)

Apart from Love (the most important fruit of all), and joy - it's natural result, the next one on the list is peace. If we have peace, complete and total peace - what sin will we commit? What sin will we WANT to commit? The desire will not be there.

Let's go back a minute and look at the commandments. Let's look at just the last one, that will be enough. The 10th commandment states: "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's." (Exo 20:17)

Covetousness, lack of peace. That's at the heart of every sin listed in those other 9. If you are at peace with your heavenly Father, you keep the first 4. If you love your neighbor as yourself, you keep the last six. "For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." (Rom 13:9 (Love your neighbor fulfils law)

Every sin, every temptation can be overcome at the "mind" level, before it even becomes physical, manifest sin. And it is overcome by the Holy Spirit working in us to produce peace. "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." (Eph 6:12) Our greatest enemy won't be sins in the flesh, but bringing "every thought to the obedience of Christ," as the apostle again wrote in 2 Corinthians 10:5.

So how did we lose this peace, anyway? Well, the truth is, as in all things, the story can be found right back at Creation :) Right after the disobedience in Eden, we find these verses: "And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, 'Where art thou?' And he said, 'I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.'" (Gen 3:9-10)

That's unusual. Adam knew he was naked... he saw he lacked something he felt he was supposed to have. Adam had lost his peace. Even the fall itself - it wasn't just about eating a piece of fruit. It was about the mind.

"And the serpent said unto the woman, 'Ye shall not surely die. For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.'" (Gen 3:4-5) It was Eve's believing that lie, doubting God's sure word, that led to all that happened afterwards. And it was Adam, who had heard the commandment directly from God, who inherited the greater guilt for his part in it (debatable, I know). The fall took place in the mind, and in fact... it CHANGED the mind of Adam and Eve. They looked around, and they were dissatisfied... they felt lack, the felt they were missing something.

Satan stole man's peace. Christ died to give it back. Here's a nice old-testament passage about the Messiah: "Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed." (Isa 53:4-5) Christ is the one that bears our weaknesses, that carries the burden that we rightly inherited. Notice the phrase "chastisement of our peace," though. That's the very heart of this study.

The word "chastisement" there means correction, instruction, disciplining. The Redeemer bears on Him the "fixing" of our peace. His sacrifice returns our peace to us.

Christ said this: "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword." (Mat 10:34) People have misused this verse all over the place, but look carefully at what He said... I have not come to bring peace "on earth." That's important, for we know that the Bible teaches this: "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." (James 4:4)

Christ brings a sword, an unrest, a war of division between the world and His followers... but at the same time, for His disciples specifically He says this: "Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you." (John 20:21)

As well as the verse I quoted before... "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John 14:27) See, the distinction is made clear again... Peace of Christ and the Holy Spirit is NOT as the world gives it. There is no peace in the world... there is only peace in Christ. He is the chastisement, the correction, the restoration... of our peace.

Now let's apply this back to what we started out discussing... overcoming temptation.

If we do not covet, if we are content with what we have, if we have true, spiritual peace... Will we steal? Will we commit adultery? Most motives for murder and hatred vanish. No need to lie either. And of course, as we give thanks to God for His great gift of this peace, we'll honor Him, respect His name and so on and so on... love, and it's perfect peace - these are the very fulfillment of all our Father's purpose for us.

Peace is the antidote to temptation. And if we avoid temptation, we've just solved the "sin" problem :) Christ was tempted in all points, and yet was without sin. We don't have to look for temptations, they will find US. Christ said: "And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth." (John 17:19)

In another place it was written... "The same day there came certain of the Pharisees, saying unto him, Get thee out, and depart hence: for Herod will kill thee. And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected." (Luke 13:31-32)

Even Christ considered Himself to be in the process of "perfection," and this was done because of the persecutions leveled against Him, and the temptations He endured. Of course, He was sinless from the beginning, but just as He was baptized without any real personal need to, He did it to mark out our path. By His enduring temptation, He didn't really "improve," but it was a display. To the onlooking humans, angels and demons, we were shown the clearest revelation of God's love - in the Person of His Son.

For this reason: "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations." (James 1:2) Even in trials, even in temptation... rejoice. Have peace. Remember that you are following the footsteps of your Master. But just as He did not submit to the temptations that were brought against Him, neither should we.

Here is the thing: we fight it in the mind, while the temptation is still a thought. We repent (turn away) before it becomes an action, and then the sin is not brought out. "Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." (James 1:15) See that? It begins with the desire, the WANTING to do evil. If we can do that, we will stop the path there, before it leads to sin, and before it leads to death.

God does things in a direct way. He gets to the root, the heart of the problem. "And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire." (Luke 3:9)

Christ didn't come to suppress sin. He didn't come to make it better, or to give us better tools to "deal" with it. The Axe was laid to the Root. He destroyed the power of Sin at its very core, it's very heart. And so we can learn to do the same. We struggle with temptation at the thought level: before it becomes an action, tendency or habit. If we're already there, where sin is a habit, we can rely on His already-shed blood to break those chains, and we can climb back unto the path right where we fell off. And this He will do for you; all you have to do is sincerely ask.

So how do we overcome temptation at the thought level? I'll use an example... and it may seem a little extreme to some, so hold onto something :)

Imagine a man, a Christian, walking by a playground. He looks into the yard and sees infants playing. Some are wearing little clothes, some are still in diapers, crawling in the sand. The man watches them for a while, with a distant smile on his face... and then he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a jagged, rusty knife.

Without seeming to even hesitate, he throws the dangerous object into the middle of the yard and sneaks away before anyone can see him. Well, I imagine no good will come of that, but I think we'll all agree there is something wrong with that picture. That man, knowing fully well what results his actions were likely to have, did something absolutely atrocious. And believe me, that is hardly the most graphic example I could give. Every day worse and more violent acts are committed.

But here is the part of the story I want you to focus on - the thing that's really "wrong." I said this man was a Christian. Hardly seems right, does it? To tell the truth, I'd have a hard time believing that this fellow's conversion was genuine, if he ever did something like this.

Everyone knows this verse: "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) Yes, quite true. And another will say, "But we all make mistakes." Yes, granted... we may all make mistakes... but there are some things a Christian just will NOT do, or even the angels would be forced to ask if this individual really "got it." To knowingly, wilfully do something this wrong, to endanger the lives of the innocent - will that man be held blameless on the last day?

Now let's bring it back to thoughts. There is something one must understand: God hates ALL sin. There is no "somewhat" offensive sin in His holy eyes. There is no, "It's not so bad," for Him. We're either covered by the blood of His Son, or we're not.

It may not be as bad as throwing a rusty knife into the crawling range of a baby, but every sin leads to death. Every lie can deceive someone, every sexual union outside of marriage, every time we take a dangerous drug... It may not always _obviously_ lead to death, maybe not even physical death... but every sin will have its consequence: someone you could have led to Christ, but didn't... because you were too busy indulging the "lusts of this world."

Every sin will result in death. When we're all up there looking back at what we did, maybe only then will we see the true horror of what sin was, and how much irreplaceable damage it did to the souls of humans and angels alike.

Maybe if we started looking at sin through God's eyes, we'd be less inclined to desire those things. This was said of Him whom we serve: "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?" (Hab 1:13)

This is our Father. This is the One we say we serve, will we not be the same way, in order to reflect Him properly?

"I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me." (Psa 101:3) Now this sounds like a plan. The less we look upon evil, and contemplate it, and indulge in it in our minds, the less likely we are to desire it, and even less to DO it. We must lay the axe to the root of our sinful tendencies, and overcome them before they come forth.

Here is an alternative to looking at things that are "wicked:" "When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?" (Psa 8:3-4) Look how humble we can become, when we look at God's works, His mercy on us, the majesty He displays in Heaven and earth.

Christ is our answer. It is He who left us with Peace, dying to give us back what was stolen from us by the enemy of souls shortly after the Creation. By contemplating Him (our Father's greatest demonstration of love), we will eventually begin to be like Him, to hate sin in even it's least forms. The more we understand the holy, the more we will understand (and loathe) the sinful, and we will be able to discern the path: lusts of the world lead to sin, which will lead to death for ourselves, and for others who will be discouraged by the example we set.

We need not try to be better. We need not strive to overcome sin. Christ has done it FOR us. We pray, and accept His healing, and it has been my experience, my testimony, that the very DESIRE to do the sin fades away. It takes true faith to do this, but when it leads to the good works of righteousness, we are assured that we do know Him. Give it a try and see :) The only efforts we should put, the only "labor" of our own we should be doing is this:

"Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." (Heb 4:11) Our whole work is to learn to accept His promises as little children - completely, innocently, without even considering that we will not overcome. We labor to enter into that "rest" He has called us to enjoy. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Mat 11:28)

Don't let the "I cannot do it," language of Babylon even gain an entrance into your mind. In perfect innocence, our language says: "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." (Phil 4:13) The chastisement of our peace is upon Christ. He does the work, and we are encouraged to learn from it. "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." (Phil 2:5) This is how we overcome false, sinful thoughts. And it is done this way: "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." (Phil 4:8)

Fill your mind with the good, holy things of this world. See sin for what it is, and call it what it is in your prayers. When you do this the darkness that comes at you from every side will fall away, finding no place in your sanctified, heaven-bound, PEACEFUL mind.

David.