Tempted As We Are Heb 4:15-5:8

I. Intro A. It has been said that the difference between a person who commits certain sins and a person who does not is not that one person is better than the other, but that they never had the opportunity presented to them like the one who sinned did. 1. knew the truth of that statement. He had a rule, in fact it is called the . He put it in play at the outset of his ministry. It is this – he would never allow himself to be alone with a member of the opposite sex other than his spouse. 2. More recently, adopted that same rule for his life and has been mocked for it. 3. The Billy Graham rule has been called sexist, unfair, discriminatory and outrageous.1 4. But Billy Graham knew a truth about human nature. As devout and committed to the Lord as he was, he knew that the opportunity to sin played a big part in his ability to resist sin. Even though he was a Christian minister that did not exempt him from temptation and sin. So he followed the biblical admonition to stay away from sin and not be led into a situation where he might fail. 5. The Billy Graham rule is a defensive rule. He played defense against sexual immorality. He did not want to give the temptation even a chance. B. Our text this morning talks about how Jesus was tempted. It says he was tempted in every way that we are tempted. Jesus was not immune to temptation or its power over our life. He was tempted just like we are. 1. The book of Hebrews makes a point of saying that Jesus was made like us in every respect (Heb 2:17). It says he was tempted (2:18). The temptations to him were real and had an appeal and a power to them. They had to be resisted by him otherwise they would not have been temptations. Our text twice mentions how Christ bore our weaknesses in his body. And in the context of what the author is discussing, part of that weakness is the allure and power of temptation. Jesus was able to be tempted just as we are. (Heb 4:15, 5:2). He knows what it is like when we are tempted. 2. Now while Billy Graham played defense against temptation, Jesus plays offense.2 Billy Graham sought to avoid temptation. Jesus did not. I. The tempting of Jesus A. While we are told to resist the traps of the devil and his temptations (2 Tim 2:22- 26; James 4:7) Jesus did not take that approach. A part of what Jesus taught us to pray was “lead us not into temptation”. That means we are asking the Lord to put a hedge around us so that the temptations that come to us are buffered. Jesus did not ask for such a protection against the devil or temptation. 1. He did not ask for that kind of protection because he came into this world to deal with sin and defeat it. He came here to live the righteous life which man

1 https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/14/kamala-harris-pence-women-1221741 2 Barth CD IV v1 p.261 1

fails to live. The way that he dealt with it was to confront sin and temptation head on. He did not come to be on defense, rather he came to be on offense. B. Jesus faced temptations throughout his entire ministry. Sometimes it was Satan that tempted him. Other times it was the Pharisees and religious leaders. And he was even tempted by one of his own, Peter, who disputed Jesus’ disclosure that he would go to Jerusalem and be put to death (Mt 16:23). C. We first read about Jesus being tempted in the Gospels right after his baptism (Mt 4; Luke 4 and Mk 1). The fact that this temptation occurs after his baptism is no mere coincidence. John’s baptism of Jesus was a “baptism of repentance” (Mt 4:11; Lk 3:3). 1. John knew Jesus and was hesitant to baptize him with this baptism. (Mt 4:14). It was a “baptism of repentance” and he was the Messiah! But Jesus told him it was necessary to “fulfill all righteousness” (Mt 4:15). 2. What Jesus meant by that statement is that he came into this world to deal with sin and to deal with it on our behalf. And he would do that in part by suffering death to make atonement for our sin. But there was more. He would also deal with sin by living the life of a penitent baptized person. a. One of the questions that is asked of a person who seeks to make a public profession of their faith and be baptized is: Do you now resolve and promise, in humble reliance upon the of the Holy Spirit, that you will endeavor to live as becomes the followers of Christ? (BCO 57-5). b. That is the promise of baptism – the promise of a person repenting of their sin - a penitent believer. That promise or commitment is that we will seek to live as a follower of Jesus – as a person who turns away from sin. 3. Jesus’ baptism was a commitment to “turn away from sin” and live a life of obedience unto the Father. Now turning away from sin does not mean that Jesus had to stop sinning, as if he had been sinning. He never sinned. Hebrews makes that clear. John’s hesitancy to baptize Jesus makes that clear. a. Jesus’ baptism was a sign and seal on his life that he set forth to do the Father’s will when confronted with temptation and sin. He came up from the Jordan committed to live the life of a penitent believer who when temptation comes to him resists it – turns from it - and remains faithful and obedient to God’s calling. D. That is the commitment he placed upon himself at his baptism just before he entered the wilderness to be tempted. E. Mt 4:1 and Luke 4:1 both tell us that the same Holy Spirit who came down upon Jesus at his baptism is the one who also led him into the wilderness. 1. Jesus did not go into the wilderness to have a quiet time with the Lord after his baptism. He did not go to separate himself from the world and live the life of an aesthetic – a monk’s life. 2. He went into the wilderness in order to be tempted (Mt 4:1 - Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil). He went there to face temptation. The wilderness, as we saw in our study in Genesis 1:1-2 was a place that was formless, void and dark. It was chaotic. It was a

2

dangerous place. It is where demons are found.3 It was where Israel failed when they were tempted. 3. And into this place the Spirit led Jesus, and he was tempted by Satan 3 times. III. The three temptations that Jesus faced A. Satan knew the one he was tempting. So the temptations that he put before him were not easy temptations. None of the temptations called on him to deny God or do anything immoral. That would have been too easy. B. The 3 temptations were all justifiable had he yielded. If they were presented to us we could easily justify yielding to them. I have never met a temptation that I accepted that I could not justify to myself before yielding to it. 1. In the first temptation, Jesus had not eaten for 40 days. Satan tempted him to eat. There is nothing immoral about that. The temptation is easily justifiable if he had yielded. Eating is necessary to maintain life. In fact, in another instance at the well when Jesus had not eaten his disciples said, “Rabbit, eat.” (John 4:31). They saw nothing wrong with it. Jesus could have easily justified eating. 2. In the second temptation Satan asked him to demonstrate his complete dependence on God. Jump. Have faith in God and his care for you. Is there anything immoral about complete trust in God or longing for assurance from God? We all long for assurance. Jesus did also. It would not have been hard to justify and get that assurance from God. 3. And the third temptation Satan shows him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he says that they could all be his if he would simply fall down and worship him. Think about what he offered Jesus at that moment – all of the wealth, all of the power and the things that go with that – the pleasures, the status, the wine, women and songs, armies, wealth, access to places, the ability to do good and make a difference…. Think of all the good he could do, without the suffering. How many times have we dreamed of winning the lottery and all of the things that come with that? That – and more – is what he offered Jesus. Would you turn away the lottery winnings if you won? That is how tempting this temptation was. 4. There is no temptation that we have ever faced that Jesus did not face. And he faced them all the way through. He knew the full power of the temptations, where we often quit early and only know a portion of the temptation. C. All three of these temptations have one thing in common. Satan tempted Jesus to be his own man – to gratify his own desires above all others. He tempted him to put his needs above all others. And in each of these temptations Jesus could have easily justified doing just that. 1. Except, he had been baptized into the life of a penitent follower of God and God’s will. At his baptism he rejected going his own way in order to learn obedience to the Father by being obedient. When he was baptized he committed to live the life of a repentant believer who resists temptation and turns from sin. 2. As he resisted the temptations, he lived out the life of obedience God called him to. That is how we can be reckoned righteous before God. Our savior

3 TDNT v 2 p. 657 3

lived a life of obedience in the face of temptation. He lived the penitent’s life we ought to live, but in our weakness, fail to live. And so he does just as he told John the Baptist at this baptism – “he fulfilled all righteousness.” 3. That is the righteousness that God credits to us when we turn in faith to Jesus. That is the righteousness that we could never achieve. Jesus lived that penitent life to secure for us what we could never secure ourselves. IV. The ability of our priest to help us when we are tempted A. While Jesus went straightforward into temptation – he had no Billy Graham rule. He went straight into the teeth of temptation. That is not the example we are to follow. 1. When we are tempted our text tells us that there is help available for us. That help is from our high priest, Jesus, who knows what it is to be tempted as we are – and who went through those temptations without sinning. B. One of the things our priest does for us is that he acts as a priest. He offers prayers and petitions for our needs. 1. We see that in the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus as he prays for the disciples the Father had given to him (John 17). 2. We see it as he tells Peter that Satan desires to sift him as wheat, but Jesus tells Peter that he prayed for him that his faith would not fail. (Lk 22:31) Peter failed that night. He denied Jesus 3 times. But his faith did not fail. He wept remorsefully, and then we read how he ran to the grave of Jesus when he was told Jesus was alive. C. Now while our priest prays for us as he did Peter, we do have a responsibility to go to him in our time of need. And here is one of the great and distinguishing marks of Christianity – our God allows weak and tempted followers to enter into his presence and seek help. That throne room is not for the strong and self- sufficient. It is for us in our weakness and we have an advocate there who knows what it is to be weak when we are asking the Father for his grace on our behalf. At the same time he opens up the Father’s will to us through his word. 1. It is very humbling to be teaching this when I myself have failed time and time again when tempted. I have known the right thing to do, but then went off on my own justifying whatever it was I was tempted to do. I could explain it. I could make the exception necessary for me to move forward in the temptation and move right into sin. I suspect we have all done this. 2. Here is one of the areas where I (and we all) need to learn to follow Jesus – to seek to keep the promise of our baptism. Our commitment is “to follow Jesus”. And that is quite different than adhering to a moral code. A moral code is impersonal, uncaring, and unable to relate to us. We are called to follow Jesus. That is personal. That is relational. 3. Following Jesus is not the same as having an opinion about him. It is not the same as having knowledge about him. Nor is it developing a Christian religious philosophy. I hope as I teach the class that I am not simply transferring my knowledge of Jesus to you. We have been called and set apart to follow a person – to draw near to our priest – to come to Jesus (Heb 12:24). 4. When we come to him in our weakness it is not to hear him say, “Hey, I did it, so can you.” He does not say that. We don’t come to Jesus with a love for

4

him that approaches temptation with the idea that if we fail we drive another nail into him or in some way hurt him more. That is not true. He finished all of his suffering on the cross. 5. It is one thing for us to justify yielding to temptation when we are talking to ourselves. Our text calls us to come before our priest. Jesus knows all of the ways yielding to temptation can be justified. He has been tempted just as we are. He will gently help us when we are tempted to see through the temptations to the goal that God has for us – to know Jesus and follow him. 6. The unique element of our faith is that God calls us sinners who are weak to come into his presence – his very throne room – and find help in our time of need. His son, Jesus, has secured the forgiveness of our sins. He knows what it is to be tempted and deals with us according to God’s grace. He speaks to us through his word and into our hearts and conscience by the Holy Spirit. He loves us and if we go to him he will help us in our time of need. The Hebrews were on the verge of forgetting this (Heb 3:8, 12). But our text – this word from God - calls them back by reminding them of their priest who deals gently with them. We have that same priest we can go to when we are tempted. He will help us in our time of need.

5