|
Temptation
Have you seen the bumper sticker that says, "I can resist anything but
temptation”?
Like many humorous things, it’s funny because it’s all too true. Even as
Christian believers, we find ourselves losing the battle with temptation far
more often than we’d like. And if we believe that Jesus came as a great
teacher and role model to show us the right way to live, we can even fall
into fear and despair about our salvation, realizing that we will never
measure up to his perfection.
But the truth is, if Jesus were merely a great teacher and role model, we
would have no hope at all for salvation. That’s because none of us perfectly
follow Jesus’ example.
Jesus never sinned. He was perfect, but try as we might, we never have
been and never will be. Even though the Holy Spirit dwells in us and leads
us, we simply are not in tune with the Spirit the way Jesus was.
That’s why the gospel is such good news. The gospel is not that Jesus was
the world’s greatest teacher and role model, though he was.
The gospel is that Jesus fulfilled for us in our place every righteous
requirement of the law. He overcame every temptation in our place, as one of
us, both representing us and substituting for us before God. Then he died
and rose from the dead for us, and sits at the Father’s right hand, both as
the perfect glorified human and the Son of God. In Jesus, God has healed and
restored humanity. He has drawn humanity into Jesus’ own intimate
relationship with the Father as his beloved son.
In Jesus, God destroyed the work of the devil and defeated sin—our
sin—once and for all. That’s the good news. That’s the gospel.
How can you lose out on such a great salvation? Only by not trusting the
giver of the gift. By not trusting God to be who he says he is for you –
your Redeemer and Savior. By not trusting God to love you, to forgive you,
to transform you, as he says he has already done for you in Christ.
The apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:4-6:
“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is
by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated
us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus…”
The gospel really is good news! Trouble is, for many of us, it seems too
good to be true. We want to have at least a short list of “do’s and don’ts”
to separate the wheat from the chaff. But God gave us no list. He gave us
himself. In Christ, we have everything we need for salvation.
I’m Joseph Tkach, speaking of LIFE.
Jesus asked his disciples, "Who do you say that
I am?" We have a free booklet, A Brief Introduction to Trinitarian Theology,
to help you answer that question. In the United States, to request your
free copy, see www.wcg.org/lit Or call
us toll-free at 1-800-423-4444.
More programs in this series
Click
here to tell a friend about this program
Copyright 2009 by Grace Communion International. All rights
reserved. You may download and print one copy for your own use. If you wish
to make copies, please contact us.
If you would like to donate to help support this ministry,
click here.
If you want to receive email notifications about new
material on this site,
click here and we'll
send a message once a week to let you know what has been added.
Alphabetical list of
articles already on this website
|
