Recently a question was brought to my attention from the Frances and Friends Forum regarding the kinds of temptation that Christ suffered while here on earth. This person was concerned as they were being taught to believe that Christ was tempted in ALL things including fornication and homosexual acts. They recognized this as false teaching but were unsure of how to defend their position.

So, what does the Bible really say? Was Christ tempted to lie, steal, cheat, commit adultery, and so on? No! While our Lord was most certainly tempted, He was not tempted to do these types of things but was tempted to step outside the revealed will of God. The account given in Mathew clearly tells us the type of temptation that Christ suffered and if we understand this as we should, it is the temptation we all suffer.

From the Expositor?s Study Bible

?THEN (immediately after the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Him) was Jesus led up (urgently led) of the Spirit (Holy Spirit) into the wilderness (probably close to Jericho) to be tempted of the Devil (as the Last Adam, He would be tempted in all points like as we are [Heb. 4:15; I Cor. 15:21-22, 45, 47]).

?And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He was afterward hungry (other than Christ, three men in the Bible fasted forty days and forty nights: Moses [Deut. 9:9, 18, 25; 10:10], Joshua [Ex. 24:13-18; 32:15-17], and Elijah [I Ki. 19:7-8]).

?And when the tempter (Satan) came to Him, he said, If You be the Son of God (since You are the Son of God), command that these stones be made bread (Christ was tempted to use His Power for His Own benefit, which He was to never do).

?But He answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds out of the Mouth of God ([Deut. 8:3]; man is a spiritual being as well as a physical being; therefore, dependent on God).

?Then the Devil took Him up (a powerful force) into the Holy City (Jerusalem), and set Him on a pinnacle of the Temple (its highest point, which Josephus stated, was about 700 feet from the ravine below),

?And said unto Him, If You be the Son of God (since You are the Son of God), cast Yourself down (literally spoken): for it is written, He shall give His Angels charge concerning You: and in their hands they shall bear You up, lest at any time You dash Your foot against a stone (derived from Psalms 91:11-12).

?Jesus said unto him, It is written again, you shall not tempt the Lord your God ([Deut. 6:16]; to tempt God is to question His Word, which casts doubt on His ability to do what He has promised).

?Again (the third temptation), the Devil took Him up into an exceeding high mountain (not definitely known, but probably Nebo), and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them (showed them to Him, not in a physical sense, but rather in a spiritual sense);

?And said unto Him, All these things will I give You, if You will fall down and worship me (the temptation was that Christ abrogate the Cross, through which He would regain all things).

?Then said Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan (presents Christ for the first time Personally addressing Satan): for it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve (Satan desires that mankind worship and serve him; we are to worship and serve the Lord Alone).

?Then the Devil left Him (?departed from Him for a season,? ministered, we aren?t told)?. (Mat. 4:1-11) meaning that there would be other temptations [Lk. 4:13]), and, behold, Angels came and ministered unto Him (in what manner they ministered, we aren?t told)?. (Mat. 4:1-11)

Temptation Common to Man

It is obvious from the text that Jesus did nothing but the Father?s will. This is where Satan?s temptations centered upon in regards to Christ. It was to endeavor to get Him to step outside of the revealed Will of God, and to use His power for His own benefit, or to do things not sanctioned by the Father. That was His temptation!

This was actually the first temptation recorded in the Word of God. When we look at the temptation leveled against Eve in the Garden of Eden, it was not the fruit that was the temptation, but rather to step outside of the revealed Will of God! Even though Adam was not directly tempted, he still disobeyed the Word of the Lord and stepped outside the will of God. In fact, every single temptation that man has experienced began with this temptation, which is to ignore the Word of God, or to register unbelief as it regards the Word of God.

When the Bible tells us that Jesus faced temptation that was common to all man, it means we are all universally tempted to step outside of the prescribed will of God. In other words, we are tempted to contradict the Word, to violate the Word, or to ignore the Word. Every temptation whether it is lying, stealing, cheating or adultery, begins when one is tempted to step outside of the will of God. Satan?s primary purpose will always be to tempt us to disobey the Word of God.

The temptation of Christ was to disobey the Word, i.e., ?disobey His Father.? However, although He was tempted he never sinned. When we look at the temptation we see that the ingredients were all there. He had fasted for 40 days and he was hungry! Why not turn the stones to bread? The stones were there and he had the power to do it. However, to use his power for his own personal gain would have been wrong and the Father had told him not to do such a thing. It would have been sin because He would have been stepping outside the prescribed will of the Father. In this regard Jesus faced what we all face. Every sin starts with being tempted to step outside of God?s will.

So was Jesus tempted to commit adultery and fornication and homosexual acts? NO! However He WAS tempted to step outside of the will of His Father even as those who commit the acts above are tempted to step outside of the will of the Father. The only difference is that Jesus was tempted and did not sin.

Obama and those of his persuasion do not know the true love of God. They have a different interpretation of His mandate to love and care about the world.

The goal in godliness is to give life at every turn. God is about Life. God is Love. The kind of love that produces and enhances life.

The wages of sin is death. All sin heads in death?s direction. That is why God opposes it.

The sin of greed leads to death because it is selfish. Greed is about gathering wealth. Life is about sharing, giving, helping, and loving. Love is about using wealth to spread life-giving truth and help.

Obama comprehends the sharing wealth part, but he does not have the freedom of choice part right. He wants to give people freedom to choose in places that infringe on another?s rights such as the unborn baby?s right to life or in the case of calling sin, sin--giving freedom to sin and forbidding those who know that it leads to death from having freedom of speech.

He want to take people?s wealth and spread it around the way he sees fit. The God kind of love wants to give people Jesus so that they will want to be generous with their wealth, but will also know how to use it wisely.

Yes, Love has a counterpart--her name is Wisdom. Jesus is the complete package. When He is living in your heart, you will want to give and share, but you will want to do it wisely, knowing that foolishness is another sin that lead to death.

So when love and wisdom are working together, they will truly be productive. It is robbery, another sin, to take people?s money and do what you want with it.

It is foolish to feed people?s bodies without feeding their minds with truths that will help them avoid bad choices and help them make good choices that will change their way of living for the better.

And those who are God-fearing know that it is foolish to feed just the body and the soul without feeding the spirit, because they know that a God-centered life is a life producing life. And they know that feeding the spirit is far greater than feeding the body and soul for eternal life is spiritual life. True Christians care about the hungry and have a deep desire to feed them, but they care even more about helping them receive eternal life. They will not do the one and leave the other undone.

Adultery and fornication of any kind is deadly. God, the giver of life, forbids all fornication because it leads to death. Sex was ordained by the life-giver to give life. Again Wisdom must have a say in the sexual relationship in order for it to produce life and not death.

Man?s kind of love often influences them to want to have sexual relations unwisely.

Wisdom says one life-time partner of the opposite sex in order to produce offspring.
Wisdom says the life-time partner must not be a close relative in order to avoid bad production.
Wisdom says no sex with anyone other than your life-time partner in order to avoid the problems that come with misusing what God has designed, to avoid hurting yourself and others, and to avoid contracting diseases from those who have misused God?s gift.

I hope this article makes the issue clearer. There is a right way and a wrong way to love, to give, and to help. This is why God went to such extreme measure to get His message in writing and get it to the people. Now the very ones who were privileged to have access to it have turned their back on it and said, we will decide what is good and what is bad and what is right and wrong.

BUT GOD IS LIFE AND NOT MAN.

? Sylvia Huffnagle

A biblical Christian has repented of their sin and of doing things their way. They have asked God to forgive them and have asked Jesus to come into their heart and be their Lord and Savior.

They learn from the Bible that God?s plan of salvation includes entering into Christ?s crucifixion and resurrection. They are glad to hear that all they have to do is live by faith--faith that their old man or carnal nature is crucified and faith that they have been resurrected from the dead and given new life--the life of Christ.

They understand that Jesus is the blueprint and He will recreate them in His image as they yield to Him.

They have a game plan and that is to spend each day listening to and learning from the Lord.

They renew their mind with the Holy Bible and have a servant?s heart toward God. They take pleasure in loving, witnessing, and ministering to people o9f all walks of life because Jesus lives in them and they are a member of His body and therefore happily do His thing.

They have been relieved of the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust for other things. Their life is hid with Christ in God. This world is not their home. Their burden is light and their yoke is easy. They have a glorious and eternal future. For now, they are willing to suffer rather than to fail to please God, if it is necessary to their particular ministry.

They practice looking in the mirror of the Word and when they walk away, they remember what they look like because they are doers of the Word.

The put on the full armor of God and stand against the enemy.

They long to congregate with like-minded people so that, as a body, they can help one another live, move, and have their being, in Christ.

They abhor the thought of a worldly church and understand that the church is built upon the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone. And they understand that God ordained the church to be a place where Christians urge one another on to love and good works.

That church is a tight-knit group of like-minded people who walk by the spirit and not by the flesh. They operate the same as the human body--all having their unique function, yet always working as a unit, being single-minded on serving the Lord.

? Sylvia Huffnagle

Believers make God their God because they hear the good news and come to understand that God is a good, all-knowing, all-powerful, benevolent God and He is offering to save them and take care of them. Then teachers come along and say things like ?We should just worship God and forget about always getting something.? or ?We think too much about what God can do for us instead of just being obedient and take what comes.?

These statements come from two factors: One, it?s true that too many Christians are centered up on their own interests instead of Jesus? interest and two, these statements sound so humble and pious.

True Christians may need to be reminded that they belong to Christ and that they need to be about the Father?s business, but the teacher has taken piety too far in saying that the Christian should not look for God, their Father, to take good care of them and help them and bless them, because the Bible teaches what God expects of the believer and goes right on to teach what the believer can expect from God.

In the Biblical balance the believer is to live for God, but God created man to gratify His joy in giving. You can?t out give the giver, in fact God would not be happy with children who acted like servants. He is happy with children who are eager to serve, but He is not looking for a Master/servant relationship with people, He wants a Father/child relationship with people.

So what should the teacher have said to make the point that Christians have a much broader area of concern than their own interests. Well, remember, I?m referring to believers who heard the good news and want God in their life. I am not referring to the group who just wants to go to heaven when they die and get their own way while here. The second group can?t be persuaded to live for God because that is not the deal they made. Most of the selfish Christians fall into the second group, but it is possible for some in the first group to get sidetracked. They need teachers who teach the whole message in the balance that only the Bible has. So the teacher teaches man?s part and God?s part, both of them already rightly worded in the Bible--teach the Bible--all of it.

This is important to know because if you give people the ?we should? messages without giving them the reasons we should and the way to carry out the ?we shoulds?, you?ll not get godly results, you?ll get insincerity, loveless love, and religion; for the joy of the relationship with the Godhead is in the mutual benefits. The life of the believer and the church is in a Father/child relationship with God.

? Sylvia Huffnagle