HE SAID NO TO TEMPTATION

The message of Jesus Christ is the “gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). The way we would say that today is, it is the good news about God‘s willingness to bless us in ways we cannot fathom. Jesus is God’s way of telling us that we have no idea how much he loves us, but if we will believe the message about Jesus, we will find out. The story of Jesus would be unbelievable and “too good to be true” if it was not, well, true.

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, lived as a man on this earth. He obeyed God‘s law to perfection. That means he never said a word he should not have said. He never had a thought that was sinful. He never did an unlawful deed. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, for an earthly life of about thirty-three years, he never sinned. He never broke a single one of God’s laws. It’s not that he could not have sinned. The Bible says he was tempted exactly like we are, yet he did not sin (Hebrews 4:15).

Everything he did, he did for you. That is the way you should think about the gospel. But also remember this: everything he did not do, he refused to do for you. In other words, every time he was tempted to do something wrong, he refused to do it. He knew, just as we should all know, that if he had given in to sin one time, he could not have died as a perfect sacrifice for us. And a perfect sacrifice is the only kind that could have saved us.

So there are so many wonderful things to contemplate when it comes to Jesus that it staggers the imagination. One of the things you should be thankful for and dwell on and focus on in your meditation and your study is the temptation of Jesus. Picture him being tempted. You know what that is like. And picture him refusing that temptation with you on his mind. Because you were. That is why it is called the good news. He said no to temptation, and he did it all for you and me.

Dewayne Dunaway