“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.” — 1 John 2:15-17
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 the temptation to act otherwise with the power of the Word of God, just
like Jesus did.
“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.” – 1
Peter 2:9-12
By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For
His Glory Alone
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