The Vast Temptation of Christ

I am currently teaching through Hebrews with the college class at our church. It has been a remarkable study for me. One thing that I recently had to teach through that I have always struggled to really embrace was Hebrews 4:15:

Heb 4:15
For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand the passage and I believe that Christ was indeed tempted in all points as we are and that He didn’t sin. My problem has always been the fact that based upon my understanding of the hypostatic union, because of the full deity of Christ He really couldn’t have sinned. I am ashamed to say that this truth always made verses like Hebrews 4:15 seem a little “not so special”. I mean, if He was tempted, but He really could never have given in, that’s not much of a temptation. Obviously I never said things like that out loud, or even intended to think that way, that’s just where I was.

During my study of Hebrews and to my great delight I was thoroughly rebuked by John Piper and C.S. Lewis in regards to my foolish thinking regarding the temptation of our great High Priest.

In his sermon on this passage Piper recounts Lewis responding a weak minded person like myself.

Fifty years ago C.S. Lewis imagined someone objecting here: "If Jesus never sinned, then he doesn't know what temptation is like. He lived a sheltered life and is out of touch with how strong temptation can be." Here is what Lewis wrote in response to that objection:
A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. 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. That is why bad people, in one sense know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in . . . Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means—the only complete realist.

Jesus knows the battle. He fought it all the way to the end. And he defeated the monster every time. So he was tested like we are and the Bible says he is a sympathetic High Priest. He does not roll his eyes at your pain or cluck his tongue at your struggle with sin.

I have never been so delighted to be rebuked so harshly. The whole book of Hebrews has been an amazing blessing that has resulted in my seeing and savoring Jesus more than ever. This truth though, about our truly sympathetic High Priest, is something that has really gripped me and caused me to fall on my face before my sinless Savior.

What's Going On Inside of Me? (Part 2)

In part one we established why we do what we do starting with the heart and ending with behavior and actions. [If you haven't read that yet I would encourage you to read it first] No one screamed stop yet, so lets move on to part 2 and discuss specifically how this relates to our response to temptation. Once again I am going to attempt to use the circles to illustrate how this works itself out biblically.

First of all let's talk about Proverbs 4:23.


Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.

This is the reason that the heart is at the center of the circle. It is the command center. We are told here to watch over our hearts, other translations use a more urgent term; guard your heart. This verse bears a couple of questions. First, what do we guard our heart from? Second, how do we guard our heart? It would seem clear that we are to guard our hearts from sin and temptation. Since our behavior flows from that which fills the heart (Matt. 12:34) we must build a fort of protection around it to keep it from being filled with evil. Here is how I think that works out practically.

As you can see, I would argue that a Christian should guard his heart with an overflow of affection for God. This establishes a fortress around our hearts that is naturally combative to anything that would try to enter that might be anti-God. As you see the white representing the affections think about the white blood cells that God has so richly blessed our earthly bodies with. If something foreign begins to enter into our bodies and try to establish itself the white blood cells immediately go into action to destroy the enemy. Romans 8:13 says that we should be "putting to death the deeds of the flesh". This describes the Christian in preventative attack mode and is illustrated below:

This is a picture of those times in our lives where our affections are overflowing to an active onslaught against sin. This are those time in life where it seems that resisting and fleeing temptation are automatic. As you can see the heart is overflowing and shooting at temptation with both barrels. The temptation doesn't even penetrate to the point where it is considered by the intellect and will. The Christian is so deliberately seeking God in thought and deed that temptation doesn't even stand a chance. It is at these times in life when we must fall on our face before God in worship and adoration for the gift of the Spirit through which we can put to death the deeds of the body. If for a second we begin patting ourselves on the back for the great job we are doing we should stop in fear and trembling lest we stumble:

Prov 16:18 -Pride goes before destruction,And a haughty spirit before stumbling.

But unfortunately, as a result of our depravity we don't always do as we should, or as we'd like to. It is at those times that we echo the words of Paul in Romans 7: 18-20

...I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. 19 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. 20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.

I think that this is what's going on when we find ourselves giving in to the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life (1 John 2:16). This is illustrated below:

I think that James 1:13-15 describes what you see above perfectly:

Let no one say when he is tempted, " I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.

When are we tempted? James is clear that it is when we are drawn away by our own lust, or you could say our own affections. When we become self focused and not God focused we lose our fort, and our heart is left vulnerable. We contract a spiritual HIV and our immune system against sin is no longer functioning like it once did. Even the simple temptations can now prove to be fatal.

So what is the treatment? How can we avoid this horrid disease? Proverbs 4:23 is the answer. We must guard our hearts kindling Godward affection. This affection is born out of regular study and meditation on God, His Word, and our Savior. This is the person James describes in James 1:25 who stoops and gazes into the law of liberty (parakupto) as opposed to a casual listening or reading and a subsequent quick forgetfulness.

May God grant us hearts that are guarded by an overflow of affection for Him and that resist temptation for His glory.