LifeWay Explore the Bible Series for Sept. 26: Resisting temptation requires God’s assistance_92004

Posted: 9/17/04

LifeWay Explore the Bible Series for Sept. 26

Resisting temptation requires God's assistance

Luke 4:1-44

By Pakon Chan

Chinese Baptist Church, Arlington

When Jesus was about to begin his ministry, he was led by the Holy Spirit to go through some spiritual disciplines in the wilderness. Jesus was wholly God and wholly man. As a human being, Jesus went to the wilderness to prepare himself for his mission and ministry.

There is an interesting parallel between Moses and Jesus. Moses fled into the wilderness for 40 years in which he was prepared for the great mission of leading his people out of the bondage of slavery in Egypt. Likewise, Jesus was led and stayed in the desert for 40 days to prepare himself for spiritual warfare.

Oftentimes, we mistakenly think spiritual discipline is enjoyable and beautiful. We may sit in a comfortable room, read the Bible and dream of how to be a strong Christian or how to win a spiritual battle. It is not wrong to enjoy our devotional time; however, spiritual discipline is more than just feeling good in our relationship with God.

Spirituality many times comes from a difficult battle with temptations. The first step in spiritual discipline is to have a quiet time. This should include reading the Bible and praying. The real challenge is in the struggle with temptations and sins. We can meet God in the darkest valley of our life, and it is God's promise of victory (Psalm 23:4).

Jesus as a human being went through the darkest valley with victory in his spiritual tests for the ministry.

Jesus understands us

Jesus is the only high priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses, for he “has been tempted in every way, just as we are–yet was without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). Only a person who has experienced grief can comfort others in grief. Our Lord understands us because he was tempted.

We struggle very hard with daily temptations. We have more failures than victories. Our Lord Jesus knows that, and he knows our every situation. The Bible tells us he sympathizes with us. This means Jesus does not condemn us while we are struggling with temptations. He wants to help us, and all we need to do is to go to his throne of grace to seek help (Hebrews 4:16).

Jesus overcame temptations

It is more important that Jesus was not only tempted in every way, but that he did not sin. Jesus overcame all temptations, so his encouragement and help are powerful.

We all are tempted by our lusts, Satan and the world. We are able to sympathize with each other. However, we cannot save each other nor are we able to overcome temptations by our own power. Only Jesus can save us, because even though he was tempted in every way, he did not sin. He has the power to overcome temptations. It is Jesus' power of overcoming temptations that gives us confidence that we can go to him for help.

Satan is the greatest deceiver. He will use every means to deceive us. He uses lusts, selfish desires, money, power and fame to deceive and tempt us. Most of all, he twists the meaning of biblical verses and uses them to deceive us. Jesus knew the motivation and the tricks of the Evil One and used God's word to correct the misused ideas of the Scripture by Satan.

Knowing half of the truth sometimes is even more dangerous. Nothing will be worse than abusing the Scripture with incomplete understanding. Jesus has set a very good example in fighting against the temptation of abusing Scripture to satisfy our selfish desires. He accomplished this using his complete understanding of the Scripture.

We can resist temptations

Jesus loves us, and he does not want to condemn us while we still are struggling with temptations. Jesus wants to help us to overcome all temptations. There are several things that we can do to help us resist temptations. They are:

Know that Jesus understands us and sympathizes with us.

Come to his throne of grace to receive mercy and help.

Have confidence in his love and power.

Study God's word diligently.

Use God's word to resist temptation.

Trust the Holy Spirit for he is interceding for us (Romans 8:26-27).

It is not possible to avoid temptation, no matter how spiritual we are. Temptation can be beneficial to us if we can overcome it. It also can serve as a passage to spirituality. We can pray to the Holy Spirit and ask him to lead us through the passage from temptation into spirituality.

Discussion questions

Are you afraid to come to Jesus when you are in temptation?

What kind of confidence do you have in Jesus when you come to his throne for mercy and help?