I’ve been reading a book by a well-known author and learned
that this person experienced the same temptation that I have (and no, I’m not
going to be any more specific than that!). Upon reading that, my thought was,
“Ah, I’m not the only one. Even X has been there and has fallen to that
temptation.” But even as I thought that, and again in Sunday’s sermon
on Hebrews 4:14-16, I was reminded that it is even more important and earth-shattering
that Jesus “in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin”
(ESV). While I know that to be true, my brain makes a couple objections: 1)
Jesus was God, so of course He didn’t give in to temptation. 2) Jesus never had
to deal with the personal guilt and shame of having sinned.
It’s rather baffling to consider how Jesus could be fully
God and fully man and what that actually means as far as His experience of
temptation is concerned. Hebrews seems pretty clear in stating that Jesus knows
exactly what we go through. And presumably He knows it even more fully because
He experienced “every” kind of temptation, whereas we are usually tempted in
just a few areas. We could also make the case that since “He Himself bore our
sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin” (1 Peter 2:24),
therefore He experienced all the sins that each one of us have committed, along
with all the guilt and shame those sins created. (Ed Welch explores this idea
further in his book Shame Interrupted.)
To borrow a couple thoughts from an email from Pastor Matt:
“…while it’s true that he did not
have to deal with sin as a sinner, with all the compounding complications and
consequences of past sins, he in other ways experienced temptation even more
than we do in that he experienced it all the way. Whereas we all have given in
to temptation, he never did and so endured the full length of it. Not to
mention the fact that the tempter seems to get more aggressive the more we’re
living for God and no one ever lived so completely for God than Jesus, which
would indicate that the severity of his temptations was stronger than any other
human ever experienced.”
C.S. Lewis explains:
“Only those who try to resist
temptation know how strong it is… A man who gives in to temptation after five
minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later… Christ,
because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only
man who knows to the full extent what temptation means” (as quoted in http://www.desiringgod.org/sermons/draw-near-to-the-throne-of-grace-with-confidence).
So the evidence mounts that Jesus was not only fully human,
but perfectly human. He lived the perfect life we were meant to live before the
Fall. And so His sinlessness in the
face of every temptation should bring us greater comfort than the sinfulness of our fellow man. Because He
faced temptation, He knows what we go through every day. And because He
resisted temptation completely, He is worthy to be our intermediary before the
Father.
Those who have fallen prey to temptation can indeed
empathize with our guilt and shame, and perhaps they can even give us some tips
for resisting temptation. But they cannot absolve us of sin and make us
righteous before God. They can have compassion on us in our sin, but they
cannot give us the forgiving mercy and sanctifying grace we need. Jesus not
only cleanses us from the effects of sin, but He can also protect us from
temptation or strengthen us to endure it. In 1 Corinthians 10:13, Paul does
tell us that our temptations are “common to man,” but the real encouragement is
found in God’s faithfulness to protect His children.
In this life we’ll never perfectly obey, but I believe progress
is possible. I find that the difference comes in allowing failure to drive us
back to the throne of grace rather than farther away as our enemy intends. When
we know that grace and mercy are readily available, we can come back with
confidence.
A beautifully encouraging picture is painted by C.S. Lewis
in the book Yours, Jack (p. 94):
“I know all about the despair of
overcoming chronic temptations. It is not serious provided self-offended
petulance, annoyance at breaking records, impatience et cetera doesn’t get the upper hand. No amount of falls will really undo us if we keep on picking
ourselves up each time. We shall of course be very muddy and tattered children
by the time we reach home. But the bathrooms are all ready, the towels put out,
and the clean clothes are in the airing cupboard. The only fatal thing is to
lose one’s temper and give it up. It is when we notice the dirt that God is
most present to us: it is the very sign of His presence.”
What more can be said but—
“Let us then with
confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find
grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).
