OVERCOMING THE FUNDAMENTAL ROOTS OF SIN, A CASE STUDY FROM SCRIPTURE

Bible Reference: Mathew 4:1-11

Good morning everyone,

We thank our God for such a wonderful day and granting us the grace and peace we need through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Today we will be finishing our discussion on the roots of sin and I trust God by the end we will wake up from our weakness and overcome every temptation that comes our way through the help of the Holy Spirit.

In my first discussion I made mention of the fact that Christ was able to overcome the temptations of the evil not because He is God even though He is God, but He was able to overcome it through the Holy Spirit, because bible makes us understand that He stripped off all Godliness( Philippians 2:7).

Having said this, it gives me assurance and hope as a child of God who has the Holy Spirit that I can also overcome temptation.From our bible reference in verse 3 of Mathew chapter 4 ” And the tempter came and said to him, if you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread”.Here the devil tried to tempt Christ on one of the root which is the LUST of flesh, but Christ having been filled with the Holy Spirit replied ” It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God”.

It is important to note that Jesus had free will just as Eve had, It wouldnt have been tempting if it wasnt a possibility that Jesus could have done what the devil told Him. Here once again people say Jesus was God, I agree Jesus is God but as we saw in Philippians He stripped of all Godliness and the only power that He had that was divine was the Holy Spirit. The very same power Jesus had to overcome temptation is the same power we have.

From  verse 4 of our bible reference, what can we learn from the first temptation of the evil. Here it tells us that we can only overcome the LUST of flesh by the word of God.As christian youth how do we overcome desires of the flesh, like sexual sin, drug addiction etc, well the scripture says by the word of God.Soaking yourself and filling your spirit being with the word of God is the way to overcome desires of the flesh.

As we can also find from Psalm 119: 11 ” I have laid up thy word in my heart, that I might not sin against thee”. The word of God keeps us from sin and vice versa.The more the word of god you have in you, reduces the cravens of the flesh and strengthens your love for God.

The second temptation of Christ from verse 5  of our bible reference reveals one of the root, which is the PRIDE of life.How did Jesus overcome the pride of life, He overcame it again by the word of God and also acknowledging the fact that it is not about Him but it is about God. When we worship God we say to God, its not about us but is about Him, its not about what we want but its about what He want. I will say through WORSHIP.

Finally the last temptation of Christ found in verse 8 of our bible reference and here the devil tried to use the LUST of the eyes.Here Christ overcame the the lust of the eyes through Humility. As we can find in James 4: 6 ” And he gives grace generously. As the scripture says, God opposes the proud and give grace to the humble”

From todays discussion, we have seen clearly how Jesus was tempted in all the three roots and how he overcame them by the help of the Holy Spirit, by (1) The WORD OF GOD, (2) WORSHIP  and (3) HUMILITY.

Once we have the Holy Spirit we can overcome temptation by the grace of God.

God bless you and have a wonderful day.