How to Beat Sin!

Luke 4:2-4 Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. (3) And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. (4) And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. 

Very early on in Jesus’ ministry, he had a face-to-face encounter with Satan who tried to tempt, deceive and ultimately destroy Jesus.  We may look at this series of temptations and conclude that they were no big deal, but we should not be quick to dismiss them.  There are two very important principles that come into play.

1.  Jesus Was CAPABLE to Succumb to Temptation

Hebrews 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 

For Jesus to be the PERFECT example, he had be fully human and endowed with the weaknesses that cause man to fall...and he was!  But not only that, something that is easily missed with this event of Jesus’ life is that the text says that he was tempted for 40 days.  How many times have we heard that person being interrogated for hours by police and finally make a confession because they are simply worn down?  Satan was in Jesus’ face for 40 days.  All the while Jesus was continually weakened due to the lack of food.

2.  Satan is Convincing

2 Corinthians 11:14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 

One of the best things that Satan has going for him is his ability to make evil appear righteous. Wrong to appear right.  Bad to appear good. After 40 days of temptations, we cannot underestimate how convincing Satan could be.

But even with that said, Jesus lived and died a SINLESS Life!  

So HOW did he do it?

If we could understand that, maybe we too could become more effective against the wiles of the Devil.

The first temptation that we have recorded played on the fact that Jesus had gone without food for a significant amount of time.  Satan encourages Jesus to turn the stones to bread.  But Jesus response is the KEY for us.

Luke 4:4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

Most poisons known to man has a specific antidote. The specific antidote to temptation is the word of God!  When we know that something is sin, we can avoid it for the danger that it is.  Without that understanding, we are much more likely to fall for tactic of Satan that the evil activity is OK.

But one of the most important words in this verse is “EVERY”!  We must understand that we cannot choose to overlook some of God’s commands and conclude that as long as we do most, all will be fine.  It will not.  We must have an Active, Ongoing and Engrafting knowledge of God’s word and then we will be able to counteract the deceptions of the devil!

Let us all look at each situation given to us today through the eyes of God’s word and have the courage to do the will of God!