When thinking of how great God is, perhaps your first thought is the Creation of the world with the beauty and diversity of the rolling hills, the majestic mountains, the openness of the flat plains, the rivers and the wide expanses of the seas and oceans; and then of course mankind. God set the example of how wonderfully creative and passionate He was in preparing a place for his prize creation – mankind. The Bible is full of history in the Old Testament of how He took care of His creation, from Adam, Abraham, Noah, David, Jeremiah, Jonah, Ruth, Hannah, Esther; and then into the New Testament with Zachariah and Elizabeth, Joseph and Mary, and of course when Jesus was young. Then Jesus showed His disciples how to live by faith and love, and they in turned passed on all that they had learned from Him.

As I was listening to testimonies the other day my thoughts turned to just how great Jesus is. Not just how great He was when He lived on the earth, but also how great He is now – because according to Hebrews 13:8, Jesus is the same today as He was when He walked on this earth.

Jesus is greater than temptations, great than poverty; greater than sickness and disease, and greater than death. The next few weeks we’ll be looking at how Jesus handled these types of situations. This week we are studying how Jesus is greater than temptations.

Jesus is greater than temptations:

Jesus set the example of how we should handle temptations in our lives. The most familiar temptations that Jesus dealt with is after He’d been in the wilderness fasting for forty days and nights. Matthew chapter four gives the overview of the situation; the tempter comes and questions Jesus about His true identity as the Son of God. Each time Jesus answers the temptation with, “It is written…” and concludes each statement appropriately, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God,” “Thou shall not tempt the Lord thy God,” and “Thou shall worship the Lord thy God, and him only shall thou serve.” The first thing to notice is that Jesus knew the Word; and He only had the Old Testament to read! We have a double portion of the Word (in a sense) because we have the Old and New Testament to read, to learn, and to speak in the midst of our temptations.  Hallelujah!

I think that most of the time we usually think Jesus only dealt with temptations that one time when He was in the wilderness, but that’s isn’t true. Hebrews 4:15 tells us that Jesus as our High Priest sympathizes with us in our weaknesses because He “was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” So, that means if you have trouble with jealousy, guess what, Jesus can relate. If you have trouble with anger, guess what, Jesus can relate. You pick one of your problems and know that Jesus can relate. The point is that He just never sinned with temptations.

The next point I want to make is that I’m sure Jesus was tempted to NOT go to the cross, because when He was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, He asked the Father if there was any other way, but then submitted His will to the Father’s will. (Matthew 26:39, Mark 14:36) Now aren’t we very thankful that Jesus submitted to the Father’s will and purchased Salvation for us! Hallelujah!

It’s one thing to know that Jesus understands the temptations we face and another to know He didn’t just leave us with that knowledge but He also provided a way of gaining victory over the temptations that come our way. Hallelujah! In the Garden of Gethsemane when He had asked His disciples to pray with him and they had fallen asleep, Jesus told them to “watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation.”  Jesus again links not giving into temptation with prayer and forgiveness in Luke 11:4 which is part of what we call “The Lord’s Prayer”. Obviously, prayer is a key protector from yielding to temptations.

Another very important truth to know is found in First Corinthians 10:13 where we are told that no temptation overtakes us except what is common to mankind. In other words no matter what type the temptation is coming at you, you are not the first, nor will you be the last to fight it. That same verse goes on to give us the victory hope because it also says that God is faithful and will not let us be tempted beyond what we can bear; and that He also provides a way out for us. I use the words victory hope because though God has done His part in providing everything we will ever need, we have to do our part by believing Him, submitting our will to His will, and obeying His Word in order to walk in everything He has provided.

Proverbs 4:14-15 teaches that we are not to set our feet on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evildoers, but avoid it and not to travel on it, but turn away. Proverbs 16:17 also says that those who avoid evil and guard their ways preserve their lives. We also find in First Thessalonians 5:22 that we are to abstain from all appearance of evil. Abstain means to refrain from practice, to stay away from, separate yourself from all appearance of evil. To me, this means that if we want to avoid temptations, we should avoid being near the temptation! We can’t avoid all temptations and tribulations because Jesus said in John 16:33 that we would have them in this world, BUT that He has overcome the world. Remember all those times that Jesus pulled away from the crowds to pray, He was keeping His heart before the Father, keeping Himself focused on the reason He was sent to the world, keeping His will submitted to the Father’s will.

I hope by now, that you realize that the only way we can consistently have victory over temptations is our prayer life. Be encouraged for Romans 8:37-39 says that we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us, and nothing can separate us from the love of God. Prayer helps us to keep our eyes on what God has said about the situation we are facing, so stay prayed up!