Jesus: Tempted in all points, Yet without Sin

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. 3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” 4 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.’ ” (Matt. 3:1-4)

Some sentences in the Bible, we become so accustomed to, that they stop amazing us. But, when you take a moment to look at this first sentence again, “Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil…” It is amazing. No wonder, in the following passages in Matthew 6, Jesus taught us to pray “lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from the evil one…”

If you find yourself alone, during these unusual quarantines of 2020, and being unusually tempted by sin – go to these passages to help you fight.

“Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For 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. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:14-16)

Jesus was tempted in all ways as we are. And being alone and in isolation—it is even more difficult to withstand sin, because of lack of accountability, no one sees you, and also, maybe you have much more idle time on your hands and you are trying to understand what to do with it. Also, maybe you are fighting depression, loneliness, fear, isolation. Here in this story of Jesus, he was tempted by Satan in the most vulnerable areas when He was hungry, tired, and alone.

And yet, He was without sin. He fought, and He used Scripture. If you find yourself being hit with certain temptations – find the Scriptures that contradict those temptations and memorize them, say them, and fight with them. Also, even when we are in quarantine, we are not at this time alone in a desert as Jesus was in this story – so pick up the phone, call a friend, call a pastor, call a Jesus-loving family member.

In Hebrews 12:4, the author corrected that readers by saying, “You have not yet resisted sin to the point of bloodshed…” And pointed to Jesus in verses 1-3, that He did resist sin to the point of bloodshed, by tgoing to the Cross. And this is a reference to His struggle to submit His will to God in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before He died, where He said, “Not my will, but Yours be done…” He actually prayed and sweat to the point of sweating blood, as He struggled to say yes, and did it. This is the example He gave to us.

So, if you are struggling, alone, and tempted – look to Jesus, the author and finisher of Your faith, who was tempted in all points as we are, and was still without sin.

And in Luke, it says that Jesus came up from this time of testing and temptation that, “Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region. And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all” (Luke 4:14-15). Jesus came through that time of testing and was then powerfully used by God. Many times, the devil tries to lie to us in the midst of our temptation and struggle and say that now God can no longer use us, but if we resist, fight and come out on the other side – we actually will be moving in power and authority, because of the temptation and testing that we have overcome.

Scripture: Prayerfully read the story of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness in Matthew 3, and Luke 4.

 

Interaction: Write down some temptations that you are been facing lately. Confess them to God, and ask Him to deliver you from temptation and deliver you from the evil one.

Write: Write a list of those temptations, and then go find Scriptures that speak against those sins or temptations. Find Scriptures that speak about your identity in Christ, walking in the Spirit, resisting temptations, abiding in the Spirit, etc.

Memorize: Pick 2-3 Scriptures to memorize as your go-to scriptures in the time of temptation or struggle. If it helps to memorize them by putting them to a song melody or drawing a picture or writing them out, then do those things to help you remember them.

Share: Ask 2 or 3 trusted friends or family members to help hold you accountable in these temptations and struggles. Share the Scriptures with them that you have picked, and ask them to check on you and ask you about these temptations that you are struggling with.

Ask: Ask Jesus to reveal Himself to you as the High Priest who was tempted in everyway as we are, and yet without sin. Go in boldness to His throne of grace in confidence that He will strengthen you to overcome. Ask Him to give you a picture of yourself free from that sin, so that you have a goal set before you.

For more tools on praying Scripture and exploring the knowledge of God, check out the “knowledge of God” blog series.