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I'll do it my way!
The first sin ever committed in the
universe was not one of immorality, but a sin of arrogance in
acting independently of the will of God by a created being. That
was Satan's original sin.
God does not create robots, but He has
given the freedom of choice to both angels and to mankind as well.
God will not violate the free will of His creatures, but there are
certainly consequences to follow deliberate disobedience to the
known will of God.
Before he became known as Satan, or God's
adversary, Satan was a cherub... the most beautiful and
intelligent angel to ever come from the hand of God. The Bible
does not reveal to us how long Satan was content to serve God, but
we do know that one day he decided to disobey the will of God, and
he declared himself to be equal with God. In Isaiah 14:12-14,
Satan's five famous 'I will's' are recorded: (1) I will ascend
into heaven; (2) I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
(3) I will sit upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of
the north; (4) I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; (5)
I will be exactly like God. |
When a believer in Jesus Christ refuses to learn the
Word of God and follow God's plan for his life, he is saying, 'God's
way is not for me ... I'll do it my way.' If a man's personal goals,
his family, or the everyday affairs in his life are more important to
him than finding God's plan and purpose for his life, he also is
committing the sin of independence. The
greatest power in the universe is not the atom, nor anything man has
designed, but the greatest power is the Word of God. God's Word is
'alive and powerful, sharper than any two edged sword; able to
separate the soul from the spirit, the joints from the marrow, and it
can discern the thoughts and intentions in man's mind." (Hebrews 4:12)
In John 1:1 b, the Lord Jesus Christ is
identified as THE WORD OF GOD. In John 1 :12a we understand that Jesus
Christ, the Word, became flesh and lived among men on this earth. In
Revelation 19:13b, He is called THE WORD OF GOD.
The very thinking of Jesus Christ has been
written down for us throughout the 66 books known as the Bible. The
word of God is declared to be the mind, or the thinking, of Jesus
Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:16)
Christ Jesus is God and Man in one Person
forever. In His humanity, He came into this world minus a sin nature,
but He had a free will to choose to follow His Father's plan for His
life, which was to die on a cross as a substitute for all the sins of
the world, or to bypass the cross and accept Satan's offer to give Him
ALL the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. That was a
legitimate offer, because when Adam deliberately disobeyed God, Satan
became the ruler of this world.
Just as with the woman in the Garden of
Eden, temptation comes to each one of us in three stages: (1) to
fulfill the desire of the flesh; (2) to fulfill the desire of the
eyes; (3) to satisfy man's pride. (1 John 2:16)
God cannot be tempted (James 1 :13).
However, the humanity of Jesus was able to be tempted. The word
baptism means IDENTIFICATION, and immediately following His baptism,
by which He identified Himself with His Father's plan for His life,
Jesus was tempted by the devil. He resisted the devil's temptation by
use of the written Word of God. Matthew 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13 both
record the details of this unique temptation:
Jesus was driven into the wilderness by
the Holy Spirit to be tempted by the devil. After not having any food
for 40 days and 40 nights, the tempter came to Jesus and said to Him,
"I know you are the Son of God ... why don't you turn these stones
into bread and satisfy your hunger?" Jesus answered, "Man shall not
live by bread only, but by every word that comes from the mouth of
God." (Deuteronomy 8:3b)
Then the devil misused scripture when he
took Jesus to the very peak of the temple in Jerusalem and said,
"Since you are the Son of God, why don't you jump? It is written that
the angels will bear you up if you fall." (Psalm 91 :11 ,12) Jesus
replied, "You shall not tempt the Lord your God."
Finally, the devil took Jesus to a high
mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of
them saying, "I will give all of this splendor to you if you will fall
down and worship me." Jesus replied, " Get away from Me, Satan! You
shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve."
(Deuteronomy 6:13)
God the Father has promised His Son, Jesus
Christ, a future kingdom over which He will rule for 1 ,000 years, and
if Jesus had accepted Satan's offer of the kingdoms of the world at
the time of His temptation, He would have had to bypass the cross, and
there would be no salvation for mankind.
Jesus' temptation was unique, but, as a
believer in Jesus Christ you can resist the temptations of this cosmic
system only when you are willing to learn, digest and apply God's Word
to everything that happens in your daily life.
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