Posted on 01/26/2022 3:07:40 PM PST by metmom
“But He answered and said, ‘It is written . . . it is written . . . it is written . . .’” (Matthew 4:4, 7, 10).
The Lord Jesus Christ is indeed our supreme example for how to resist temptation. Hebrews 4:15 reminds us, “We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin” (cf. 2:18). Our responsibility is to consider the many ways He was tempted, look to Him, and follow His example in turning away from sin.
Jesus met the worst temptations Satan could hurl at Him, and He emerged victorious. Now He is ready to share the joy of victory with all His saints: “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it” (1 Cor. 10:13).
The key to our triumph over temptation is to resist it the way Jesus did, by completely obeying God and His Word. Just as in every aspect of the Christian life, we will have success in resisting temptation by “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith” (Heb. 12:2). Like the hurdler who learns to keep his eyes on the finish line as he runs, thereby not tripping over any individual hurdle, so we must keep our eyes on the ultimate goal—being with our glorious Lord and Savior forever in heaven.
Ask Yourself
God’s Word is such that the more time we spend in it, the more it sinks into us—into our hearts, into our thoughts, into our impulses, reactions, and conversations. Are you mining daily from this treasure? Make sure Satan has to climb over a lot of Scripture to get to you.
From Daily Readings from the Life of Christ, Vol. 1, John MacArthur. Copyright © 2008. Used by permission of Moody Publishers, Chicago, IL 60610, www.moodypublishers.com.
Studying God’s Word Ping
Good one. Thank you, Metmom!
I used to listen to John Macarthur then found out about his past with how he treated women. Now I can’t get past that.
I try to follow bible teachings but fail every single time. I jump on people here on this forum, knowing I shouldn’t. Thoughts enter my mind I can’t seem to control. There have been times I wish we didn’t have free will.
Had a discussion on this very scripture and what temptations meant.
Did Jesus look at a woman and was tempted?
Jesus was the perfect sacrifice.. if he had one simple blemish, he could not have been the sacrifice for our sins.
The sheep were not acceptable to be our stand in .. it was Jesus who His Father had sent to us for the sacrifice.
Without that, we’d all still be headed to hell.
No, Jesus was not tempted.. His eyes were on His Father, doing the will of His Father.. and God said of Jesus.. ‘I am well pleased’.
I walked out of Jesus Christ Super Star.. could not stand to see them play Mary Magdalene tempting Jesus and leaving it as if He was any other man and was tempted.
Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit. He was on earth, coming from Heaven.. His Father had given Him what He was to do and was with Him all the time... except when He had to turn away and Jesus felt His Father leave...
To lessen the perfectness of Jesus by trying to make him as any other man.. He was man..He was God.. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit.. Jesus had to be perfect to be our substitute.. and if He had not.. we’d still be doomed!
Glory to the Lord.. Jesus came and carried out His mission and we now have a path to the Heavens... He was the PERFECT sacrifice.
We all fail, many times over.
Take heart.
Psalm 103:8-14 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever.
He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.
However, temptation is not sin.
Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, but Jesus did not yield.
I think the problem we have with temptation is that often we tend to linger on or entertain it just a little bit instead of just flat out rejecting it right from the start. That makes it all the harder to resist.
OTOH, since He is perfect love, I would expect Him to only see people from a viewpoint of complete benevolence toward then with their greatest good always in mind. It would be hard to look at someone to lust after them with that kind of attitude.
It’s a sticky explanation .
First and most important is the fact God demanded a PERFECT SACRIFICE for redemption of mankind.
If Jesus had allowed an earthly reaction to anything he saw or confronted, He would not have been perfect.
Jesus prayed often and in deep connection with His Father.. knowing and doing the will of His Father.
In all this, the sacrifice for our redemption had to be perfect. A tall order indeed.
As for the temptation, it never got into Jesus’s mind.
It never got to any part of His Spirit. If that would have happened, God could have used any man. But this Man was conceived by the Holy Spirit and a virgin woman. A pure birth .. if it can be said that way.
Jesus was not just a normal earth man.. He came from Heaven, endowed with the power of God.
We might call it temptation.. but none of it reached Jesus’s thought process..
That is where we have our Jesus moments.. accepting or denying our daily temptations
Jesus was so profoundly full of God and Holy Spirit, it was not temptation in Jesus’s world.
And to make it so, we try to make a Holy Man into an earthly man.
Yes He walked among men.. but He was Holy and God accepted His death and the blood He shed as the perfect Sactifice, to redeem man from the sin in the garden.
Yes, He WAS tempted!!
Hebrews 4:15
I have read this... somewhere.
It didn’t penetrate past the Holy Spirit.
My point being, if no sheep satisfied God for our redemption... there had to be a better more acceptable sacrifice..
If God sent His Son to be our sacrifice
If God conceived His son by the Holy Spirit
Jesus was a different Man among men. Jesus walked, talked, prayed, healed, performed miracles.. was more God than man..
Temptations such as Satan offering Jesus the kingdoms.. were given... but..
And this is the point I am trying to make...
Let me put it this way. No temptation ever got past the teflon..Jesus heard... it did not get into his mind... there was no struggle .. No thought on it..
God sees us.. there are terrible things in this world to see.. if we choose to..
God turned away from His Son on the cross..
To try to make Jesus as a man like all others.. He was not. He was Holy and He was the SON OF GOD.
Temptations were there to be had..
Jesus never looked at one nor entertained one.
His mission was to be our sacrifice.. the Perfect One His Father required. If He had given it thought.. it would have been a weakness in his spirit.. and made Him imperfect.
Long write to explain what the Holy Spirit could do in a second.
Huh?
What is your point?
Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit... and He said the Holy Spirit would be sent to help us after He was gone to Heaven..
so what is your point?
If indeed.
But the Creator existed BEFORE He ever was clad in human flesh.
We are not given explicit details, but the bible (niv) records this:
Matthew 1:18-2018 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about[d]: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet[e] did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
If in that sentence was the same as using the word “since”..
there was no doubt.
And you are reading my words in a very weird way.
Is your point to argue or just to shut me down?
I don’t need the dialogue...I am not a young woman writing this.. I am a tried and tested many years..
Thank you Elsie
Your statement makes it sound to me as though the Holy Spirit was somehow residing in Jesus at the time; protecting Him in some manner.
I do, however, see that the bible indicates that Jesus was filled with the HS...
https://www.biblehub.com/luke/4-1.htm
Neither. We both have had long experinces with the bible, but maybe some of the lurkers (haven't they got a day job? lol) would like to see the scriptures from where we are picking up the things we type.
I can see that my memory of the verses has proven to be a bit foggy and my including them here is just another way of correcting myself.
I mean no animosity.
One more attempt...
Jesus was Holy... He was filled with the Holy Spirit. God was His Father. Those items make Jesus more than mere man..
And God demanded a perfect sacrifice for the redemption of man.
Perfect means perfect.
Temptations come from man or situations.. yes, they do come. Some give in and indulge. Some do not. Some entertain the offer and then decide. All are mere men..
Jesus prayed to His Father.. He said He only did what His Father directed him to do.. told him to do. He was in constant touch with His Father . . except for the one time on the cross..
Jesus, being full of the Holy Spirit, healed and performed miracles. The woman with the issue of blood said “If I could only touch Him.”... she knew he was different... a man with Power.. and when she touched even his garment...Jesus knew virtue had gone out to someone... that Power was in Him and others recognized it too...
if even an ordinary man is in constant prayer and communication with God...there is no temptation that would interest him.. Heaven surrounds and there is nothing the world can offer..
with that in mind, Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit and was prayed up and had communications with His Father. You still think He would listen to or entertain a word or deed someone did to take His mind from God and onto a temptation that was supposed to get him? You still think Jesus was vulnerable to any temptation?
my point was NO, JESUS WAS NOT TEMPTED TO PARTAKE OF THE WORLD IN ANY WAY BY ANYONE. Temptations may come.. but Jesus was not of this world and this world had no pull on Him whatsoever.
That movie I walked out on... they made him as any ordinary man... My Jesus was not ordinary.. I lost a son and before that son was taken to glory... Jesus met with him one night and took him to the edge of glory.. There is nothing that is greater than to have a close one with God and His Son.
Please, I do not want to argue or explain myself any further. I am satisfied I know what I am saying...
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