SIN—What God’s Children Are Called to Avoid
“Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him.
(Matthew 3: 13-17 & 4: 1 NASB)
But John tried to prevent Him, saying, ‘I have need to be baptized by you, and do You come to me?’
But Jesus answering said to him,
‘Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’
Then he permitted Him.
After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him,
and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.’
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.”
Have you ever wondered why Jesus Christ allowed Himself to be baptized by John?
&
Have you ever wondered why Jesus Christ allowed Himself to be led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil?
Truly, there is only one reason, & it has everything to do with God’s creation—with us.
- Have you ever stepped away from following the Lord to go your own way?
- Have you ever stopped doing the Lord’s will to do your own will, plan, & dreams?
- Have you ever failed to obey the Lord, purposedly going against what you knew was God’s perfect plan?
- Have you ever sinned?
Of course we have because we are so human.
- Yes, unfortunately we often think our way is better.
- Yeah, it can be so difficult to walk in total obedience.
- Nodding our heads YES we affirm that we have sinned and wonder (at the same time) why we allowed ourselves to do that which the Lord abhors.
Notice Jesus and what He did while he was tempted by the devil.
“And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry.
And the tempter came and said to Him, ‘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 ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.’
Then the devil took Him into the holy city and had Him stand 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 WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU’;
and
‘ON their HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP,
SO THAT YOU WILL NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.’
Jesus said to him, ‘On the other hand, it is written, ‘YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.’
Again, the devil took Him to a very 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 fall down and worship me.’
Then Jesus said to him, ‘Go, Satan!
For it is written, ‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.’
Then the devil left Him;
and behold, the angels came and began to minister to Him.”
(Matthew 4: 2-11 NASB)
- The devil is sly. We say that, and in this Bible passage, we truly see just how sly the devil really is as he tempts Jesus first with food, then power, and then glory.
- The devil only wants to separate us, to split us into two pieces, so that we feel incomplete.
- The devil knows the Bible, and this passage proves it so because the devil quotes Scripture to Jesus Christ the Savior of the world.
- The devil wants only to deceive us, causing us to stumble in our faith-walk, leading us to feel so ashamed that we think God would never want someone so dirty, so sinful as us.
- The devil is a liar & deceiver & a fraud!
- BUT JESUS
- BUT JESUS CAME—TO SEEK & SAVE THE LOST!
- BUT JESUS CAME—SO THAT WE COULD EXPERIENCE LIFE IN ABUNDANCE!
- BUT JESUS CAME—ALLOWED HIMSELF TO BE TEMPTED WHEN HE WAS SO HUNGRY (40 days and 40 nights without food or drink) SO THAT WE COULD SEE—IT IS POSSIBLE TO AVOID THE LIES THE DEVIL SPEAKS!
- BUT JESUS CAME—SPOKE SCRIPTURE AGAINST THE TEMPTATIONS OF THE DEVIL, SHOWING US HOW WE CAN ALSO FIGHT AGAINST THE DEVIL’S TEMPTATIONS TOWARD US!
- BUT JESUS CAME—HELPING US (GOD’S CHILDREN) AVOID SIN!
THANK GOODNESS, JESUS CAME!
May we cling to Him & May we cling to His Holy Word & May we walk within obedience to our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ.