Temptation ... That word said in isolation brings a complete sense of eeriness.
– and rightly so , it’s the main , and most powerful tool that the devil uses
to try and lure the ‘very elect’ into the kingdom of darkness [*MATT24’24].
We all face it , YOU all know what it’s like to flick the
rubber band on our wrist to try and snap out of something that seems to be
controlling our lives. It’s a terrible thing, and the enemy is cunning. The
subtlety in which he brings things our way is an established skill that he has
been using from the very beginning:
‘Did God really say you must not eat any of the fruit in
the garden’ [GEN3’1]
I am perplexed at the audacity for satan to try and use these
same cunning methods on our LORD JESUS.
In Luke 4, we see Jesus being tempted with bread after He
had fasted for 40 days and nights … in a desert. – This is not the easiest
circumstance in any case.
I have never been to Israel before , but I have watched
enough Bible movies to know what a desert in the Middle-East is like. All
that time without nourishment . And the enemy sees an opportunity to step in in
a moment where Jesus felt physically weak. What the enemy did not know, however
was that Jesus was Spiritually stronger than ever.
What I love is that in verse 1, it sets abit of
background knowledge :
- Jesus was full of the Holy Ghost
- The Holy Ghost led Him into the desert
--- My first instinct here is : WHY ?!?!?!?
Why, Spirit of God did You lead Jesus into the place
where You knew He would be tempted ?? Why into the desert without any form of
physical nourishment ? Why.Why.WHYYY ?
But then I step back and see, if we Christians did not
have this example of Jesus in the Wilderness being tempted, then we, for
centuries would have never known how to deal with temptation.
And more importantly we would have never seen the
strength that the Holy Spirit gave Jesus to resist the devil and ultimately The Holy Spirits' ability
to refine Jesus’ character into a God-Man ready to take on the Ministry of
saving the world. [*LUKE4'14].
It is absolutely no coincidence that the beginning of Jesus' ministry only took place after the temptation, His time in the desert was that final event that made Him ready to Change Mankind Forever.
From verse 1, we see the importance of character
refinement, Jesus was -and is- perfect, but there were elements of His
Character that needed to be brought out to use in the purpose of ministry.
Again , there is nothing imperfect about Jesus, but we
must see here how He dealt with these temptations :
‘This High Priest of ours understands our weakness, for
He faced all of the same temptations we do , yet He did not sin.’ [HEB4’15]
It is not a sin to be tempted … I repeated , those who
are tempted do not sin in that temptation … The sin , however comes once you
accept the temptation , and partake in the action you are tempted to do .
Eg : When Eve saw the snake, she did not sin. When Eve
had a conversation with the snake (though it wasn’t very wise,) she did not
sin. When Eve looked at the fruit, she
did not sin … HOWEVER , When Eve ATE the
fruit , that was when the sin stepped in.
A lot of people (especially women) say “ When I get to
Heaven , I’m going to have a couple of heated-words with Eve” , I guess it’s all in
good fun , but Eve didn’t do anything we haven’t done in our lifetime, it just
so happened that she was the first to do it . She disobeyed God, went against
her conscience and ate the fruit.
Let’s see what
Jesus did in the face of temptation :
' And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of
God, command this stone that it be made bread. And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written,
That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.' LUKE4'3-4
Jesus answered with Scripture , remember , The Bible was
not The Bible that we know today. At that time , the New Testament was just beginning
, and parts of the Old Testament were known as the TORAH.
I do not believe that it is a coincidence that Luke 4
specifically says in the first verse that Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit. It
shows here one of the many Way’s, that the Holy Spirit can help us in temptation:
‘He will bring all things to our remembrance’ [JOHN14’26]
The Holy Spirit will remind us of scriptures we have read
in the past, that are relevant for this sort of temptation.
What does this mean ... we MUST read the Word of God , how
will the Holy Spirit bring these scriptures to our remembrance if we haven’t read
them in the first place ?
What we may not realise, is that our self will , of just
saying “no” is not enough. Our fighting-selves cannot fight the temptations
that come our way, but the WORD OF GOD can.
‘For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than
any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints
and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.’ [HEB4’12]
So when we face temptation , it should be our hearts
desire to resist [*JAMES4’7] ; by claiming God’s word over that situation and trusting
in God’s ability to fulfill us in the True Valued ways that only He can.
God will not let us just suffer in temptation without out
the hope of an end of redemption.
‘No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to
man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability,
but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be
able to endure it.’
~1COR10’13
