May 28, 2015

Saying "No!" to sin!

Matthew 4:1-11

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."

But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'"

Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written:

'He shall give His angels charge over you,'

and,

'In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.'"

Jesus said to him, "It is written again, 'You shall not tempt the Lord your God.'"

Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me."

Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.'"

Encouraging Words

I don't think there is an event in the life of Christ that shows that He was fully man more than this passage does. Jesus voluntarily went out into the wilderness after His baptism by John. He chose to fast for forty days, and He was hungry. Then in that hunger He was tempted greatly by the devil. Here He shows us what we can do and how we too can defeat temptation. He chose to rely on the bread of heaven, the teachings of God to say, "No!" to sin. This was not the "fully God" nature of Him denying to sin. It was Him as "fully man" saying, "No!" By this act, and the continued refusal to sin, that He opened the way for us to also exercise our free will and to choose not to sin. Glory be to God!