Reality Christian Magazine Spring Volume 8 | Page 22
RealFacts
Even Jesus Was Tempted
“If you are the Son of God...” -Matthew 4:3
By Charles Spurgeon
Satan came to tempt Jesus and question his sonship. There is no
sin in being tempted, for the perfect Jesus was “one who in every
respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” (Heb. 4:15).
Temptation does not necessitate sinning; Jesus was tempted, “yet
without sin.” Not even the worst forms of it involve sin. Jesus endured the subtlest of temptations from the evil one himself.
HOW SATAN TEMPTS
Solitude will not prevent temptation. It may even aid it as Jesus was tempted while alone in the wilderness. Also, fasting and prayer will not always
keep off the tempter for these had been fully and perfectly observed by
Christ.
Satan began the whole series of his temptations by casting a doubt upon
Jesus’ sonship. Has the enemy tried this with you? Has he tried to cast
doubt on your salvation or your status as son or daughter of God?
God had but one Son without sin, but he has none without temptation.
Satan does not come with point-blank denial for that would be too startling; doubt and deception serve Satan’s purposes better than heresy. He
opens with an “If ” making the doubt look like holy anxiety concerning
divine sonship. Yet, Jesus’ sonship is made clear in scripture (Ps. 2:7) and
the Father had just pronounced him as his beloved Son (Mt. 3:17). Satan
tries to make us doubt what God has told us is true.
Jesus faced these subtle yet massive temptations right after a major monument in his life, his own baptism where all of the Trinity was present.
If Jesus’ perfect character was doubted, how well may Satan question us
whose faults are so many?
WITH DOUBTS AND CIRCUMSTANCES
Listen to how Satan can further support his temptation with Jesus’ circumstances, “You are alone. Would a Father desert his child? You are
in a desert. Is this the place for God’s So n? You are with the wild beasts.
Wretched company for the Son of God! You are hungry. How can a loving
Father let his perfect Son hunger?” Put all these together, and the tempter’s
question comes home with awful force to one who is hungry and alone.
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Satan attacks our Father’s honor
and tempts us to doubt God’s
providence and call on our life. He
attacks our comfort and strength
as members of the heavenly family.
If robbed of our sonship, we would
be naked, poor, miserable orphans
with no home. How could we pray,
“Our Father” (Matthew 6:9). How
can we say with patience, “Father,
thy will be done,” (Luke 22:4) if we
are not his sons? Doubt of sonship
leaves us naked to the enemy.
OVERCOMING
TEMPTATION
Jesus trusts the Father and overcomes the temptation. He does
not give in, and he never gave in
or gave up on his way to Calvary
to pay for our sins and the times
when we give in. When tempted,
we must trust the Father’s words
and promises as Jesus did when he
was tempted. Satan only questions
truth for he is the father of lies
(John 8:44). Therefore let us stand
strong in the truth that we are sons
and daughters of God not because
of our work, but because of Jesus’
finished work on the cross.
Satan does not come with pointblank denial for that would be too
startling; doubt serves Satan’s purposes better than heresy.
After temptation passes, it is usually the prelude to angels coming
and ministering to us as in Christ’s
case (Mark 4:39). No calm is so
deep as that which follows a great
storm. When we see others thus
tried, do we think them brothers?
Do we not question their sonship
as Job’s friends questioned him?
What wonder it would be if we
instead encouraged one another
with truth and gospel!