We do not have a High Priest
who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we
are, yet without sin. —Hebrews 4:15
{CHAMBERS} “Until we are born again, the only kind of temptation we
understand is the kind mentioned in James 1:14, “Each one is tempted when he is
drawn away by his own desires and enticed.” […] Satan does not tempt us just to
make us do wrong things— he tempts us to make us lose what God has put into us
through regeneration, namely, the possibility of being of value to God. […]
After Jesus’ baptism, having accepted His mission of being the One “who takes
away the sin of the world” (John 1:29) He “was led up by the Spirit into the
wilderness” (Matthew 4:1) and into the testing devices of the devil. Yet He did
not become weary or exhausted. He went through the temptation “without sin,”
and He retained all the possessions of His spiritual nature completely intact.”
{ELGIN} (1 John 2:15-17) “Do
not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the
flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the
Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts;
but the one who does the will of God lives forever.” Jesus was tempted as we are tempted. Temptation has the same root source … the old
nature. Temptation is the considering of
an opportunity to do your own thing and disregard God. For you to decide what is best for you, what
is right. When Jesus was tempted in the desert
(Matthew 4:1-14) the first temptation
(lust of the flesh) was to satisfy His flesh, “turn stones into bread”. He had not eaten for 40 days! Seems reasonable, but then most sin seems
reasonable. It was well with his power to
do it. He had turned water into wine.
But that was really not the point of the temptation. It was to choose something other than God. “Man does not live by bread alone but by
every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Often what seems innocent can be deadly to
our spiritual relationship with the Father.
The second temptation was to throw himself off of a pinnacle and the
angels would catch him. (Pride of life) “You shall not put the Lord, your God
to the test”. You want God to prove you
have value to Him. He already has. The
third temptation, (lust of the eyes), “[Satan] showed Him [Jesus] all the
kingdoms of the world and their glory; and he said to Him, “All these
things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.” Jesus replied “You
shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.”
The things of this world are merely
enticements for you to place your trust elsewhere. For many, many people, they don’t own
possessions, the possessions own them. I
know many Christians who say no to God because they are shackled by the things
of this world. Satan is called the god
of this world. (2 Corinthians 4:4) He could
offer everything Jesus saw to Jesus because it was his dominion. We say God owns the cattle on a thousand
hills (Psalm 50:10) as if to justify
our lust for possessing “the cattle”. We,
in fact, are God’s possession. Bought
with a price. We belong to God and
should face temptation to act otherwise with the power of the Word of God, just
like Jesus did.
(1 Peter 2:9) “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, a people for God’s own
possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called
you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people,
but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have
received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as
aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the
soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing
in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as
they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.”
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