“It is written, you shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.”
Matthew 4:10
I had an interesting experience last week in two areas of ministry I am involved in. One was with a group of school age children in Pioneer Club on Wednesday night, and the other was the next morning with a group of mature women believers in my Bible study on Matthew. The Lord ordered it so that we had the same Bible story in each group, from Matthew 4. With both the women and the children, it was the story of Jesus being tempted by the devil.
I showed the children a rock, a piece of bread and a picture of a desert and asked them what story I was going to tell. One little boy promptly replied, “the Temptation of Jesus!” I was amazed! As I read the story of Jesus and the devil, I asked the children, “What does ‘it is written’ mean?” One girl raised her hand and said, “It was written in the scrolls!” I asked, “What was written in the scrolls?” A boy answered, “verses from the Bible!” I asked, “were they from the Old Testament or the New?” He answered, “the Old Testament, the New hadn’t been written yet!” I marvel at how smart these kids are! They have parents who are teaching them God’s Word! The lesson on Jesus’ temptation taught the importance of memorizing scripture verses so when we are tempted, we can recognize the devil’s antics and shut him down with God’s Word!!
In my ladies Bible study group, we were discussing how Jesus resisted the devil with scripture, even though He could easily have changed a stone to bread. Instead, He answered, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Matt. 4:4. Again when He was tempted on the pinnacle of the temple, he could have had his angels bear Him up, but He answered, “You shall not tempt the Lord your God.” Again, the devil didn’t give up and continued with another ridiculous statement about the kingdoms of the world. Jesus replied, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.” Jesus had created the kingdoms of the world!
One lady said, “He didn’t take the bait from the devil, but He could have!” Another lady on the other side of the room almost hopped off her seat and said, “Oh NO, Jesus could never sin and do what the devil wanted, Jesus was God!” At that point, everyone spoke at once! NO, Jesus did not have the sinful nature, He was God and couldn’t sin! The dear lady said, “but He was on earth as a man and had all the feelings of a man.” At that point, I had to step in and say, “lets look at some scriptures, John said ‘there was no sin in Him.’” My friend sitting next to me got out her phone and looked up some scriptures on the sinless nature of the Lord Jesus. Here’s what she found:
- 1 John 3:5: “And in Him is no sin.”
- 1 Peter 2:22: “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.”
- 2 Corinthians 5:21: “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us.”
These are the witnesses of the Apostles John, Peter and Paul. If Jesus had sinned, we would have no Savior! The truth is, Jesus resisted the devil because He was God! He came to earth in the “appearance of a man.” “Christ Jesus, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death even death on a cross!” Philippians 2:5-8.
Jesus is God! Hallelujah!!
Your friend, Jean