In the first installment of "That You May Not Sin" we dealt with the purpose of God's desire for His people to live without sin. The question that logically follows is "How can we live without sin?" After all, sin is the at the very core of human nature, what the Bible calls "the flesh," as explained in Romans 8.
The answer begins in Genesis 17:1, when the Lord commands Abram to "walk before [Him] and be blameless." In order to be blameless, the Christian must walk before God, or in relationship with Him. This walk is what 1 Thessalonians 5:17 calls praying "without ceasing." What God wants for us is perpetual fellowship with Him, which serves as a safeguard against falling prey to temptation, among other things. The continual relationship, walking in acknowledgement of God as a safeguard against sin, is more than just a theory; it is prescribed by Jesus in Matthew 26:41, Mark 14:38, and Luke 22:40 and 46. When Peter, James, and John accompanied Jesus to the Garden of Gethsemane, knowing the temptation to deny Him that was about to befall them, He urged them to "Keep watching and praying, that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matthew 26:41). Jesus, knowing the temptation to deny Him that was about to test them (especially Peter) told them how to strengthen themselves, by praying, setting their hearts and minds on the Spirit, as Romans 4:4-8 teaches.
Deuteronomy 6:7 and 11:19 both teach us another aspect of our defense against temptation, when they direct us to teach the Word of the Lord to our children. The reason for hiding God's Word in our hearts and the hearts of our children is that we "might not sin" (Psalm 119:11). Jesus demonstrated Psalm 119:11 when He was tempted in the wilderness in Matthew 4:4-10 and Luke 4:4-12. Satan tempted Jesus to eat when He was hungry and to put Himself in harm's way so that God would save Him. Now without knowledge of God's Word, those might sound reasonable. What harm would it do to eat or to take God at His Word? But, Jesus knew that both of those acts would have been contrary to what His Father had for Him at that time. The third temptation must have been especially difficult to withstand. Satan offered to give all of the kingdoms of the world to Jesus if He would only worship Him. Now you might think that sounds silly since everything and all authority belongs to God already. I believe that what Satan offered was to relinquish the influence that God allowed him over the kingdoms of the earth, surrendering them to Jesus. If Jesus could free the world from the devil's destructive influence then He may have been able to avoid the cross letting the cup pass from Him. But Jesus knew the Word of His Father, and that there was no other way. And my Savior overcame every temptation by the Word of God, which He had hidden in His heart, setting us an example to do the same.
What may appear to be two components of our defense against temptation are in fact one and the same. Faith is the consummation of our firsthand knowledge of the Word of the Lord and living it constantly. Hebrews 11:6 teaches that "without faith it is impossible to please Him," and the life lived in faith is intimate with the Word of God and walks with Him without ceasing.