Matthew 4:1-4
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry. And the tempter came and said to Him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." But He answered, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by ever word that comes from the mouth of God.'"
This story recounts to us how Jesus, although He was God, went through excruciating temptations while He was on this earth. The devil kept barraging Him with temptation after temptation, and although Jesus was weak from not having eaten or drunk in the last 40 days, He still held firm and gave no way to the temptations laid before Him. He showed His perfection by never giving in to even the most powerful and intense temptation.
In contrast to the perfect picture of Jesus, we are ever prone to fall; daily giving into temptations both great and small. Whereas Jesus stayed firm and secure in His defense against evil desires, we waiver and give in. Simply put, we cannot by ourselves win any battle against temptation; it is strong and we are weak. But we know One who has already won all those battles for us; we know One who went through all those hard moments when it would have been easy just to give in; we know One who defeated every temptation thrown at Him.
Yes, it is true that we cannot win alone, but for us who believe, that perfect righteous One lives inside of us and can conquer our sins for us. In the same way that the apostles cast out demons in the name of Jesus, we can overcome temptations in His name. Now, let's stop and clarify that simply saying, "In the name of Jesus!" doesn't do anything to help you; doing something "in the name of Jesus" means that you are calling on His authority instead of your own. Like when a child can't overcome an obstacle and calls to his father for help, we should call to Jesus in the midst of temptation and cry out, "God I can't do this, but I know you already have. You live in me and through you I have the authority to say no."
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry. And the tempter came and said to Him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." But He answered, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by ever word that comes from the mouth of God.'"
This story recounts to us how Jesus, although He was God, went through excruciating temptations while He was on this earth. The devil kept barraging Him with temptation after temptation, and although Jesus was weak from not having eaten or drunk in the last 40 days, He still held firm and gave no way to the temptations laid before Him. He showed His perfection by never giving in to even the most powerful and intense temptation.
In contrast to the perfect picture of Jesus, we are ever prone to fall; daily giving into temptations both great and small. Whereas Jesus stayed firm and secure in His defense against evil desires, we waiver and give in. Simply put, we cannot by ourselves win any battle against temptation; it is strong and we are weak. But we know One who has already won all those battles for us; we know One who went through all those hard moments when it would have been easy just to give in; we know One who defeated every temptation thrown at Him.
Yes, it is true that we cannot win alone, but for us who believe, that perfect righteous One lives inside of us and can conquer our sins for us. In the same way that the apostles cast out demons in the name of Jesus, we can overcome temptations in His name. Now, let's stop and clarify that simply saying, "In the name of Jesus!" doesn't do anything to help you; doing something "in the name of Jesus" means that you are calling on His authority instead of your own. Like when a child can't overcome an obstacle and calls to his father for help, we should call to Jesus in the midst of temptation and cry out, "God I can't do this, but I know you already have. You live in me and through you I have the authority to say no."