YEA Lesson Library

The Lesson

The alarm went off in a department store as four teens fled the scene of the crime. Security officers raced to the young men’s department to see why the salesperson had pushed the alarm. Four boys, each with an armload of Tommy Hilfiger clothing, bolted and ran as fast as they could. By the time the saleslady communicated the problem and a description of the four boys to the officers, the thieves were no longer in sight.

Why did these four kids steal many hundreds of dollars worth of designer clothes? James 1:14-15 tells us that “each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full-grown gives birth to death” (NIV). How do you think these kids justified in their minds the taking of all those clothes? Maybe they thought they had a right to look cool and be well dressed like other kids. How could it be a wrong desire just to want to look good? Were these kids trying to cut corners and not pay the price in order to just look cool?

Could these thugs justify their actions by saying the department store makes so much money that it would never miss a thousand dollars worth of stolen goods? The department store owner had to work hard to build such a business. These thieves, like other kids, could work and earn money to buy their clothes.

Maybe these thugs justified their actions by saying “everybody does it.” Think about that for a moment. What if everyone decided to shoplift a few things every time they went shopping? What would that do to prices?

As far as we know, these boys didn’t get caught. Does that mean they have all of those stylish clothes with no penalty? The Bible says, “The wages of sin is death.” Yes, there is a very real penalty to be paid. What effect did shoplifting have on their character?

Jesus was human the same as you are. He got hungry and cold. He felt pain the same as you do. Good looking clothes would have looked as good on Him as they do on those teenage thugs. But Jesus never had an evil desire. After Jesus was baptized, Satan wanted nothing more than to find some evil or wrong desire in Jesus. But Jesus knew Satan was after Him, so He charted a course of action to be as spiritually prepared as possible when Satan tried to tempt Him. To be prepared would require having a very close relationship with His Father. So He went off alone to fast and pray. All the physical things could go hang – even food and water. Jesus wasn’t concerned with what looked good on Him, what tasted or felt good. What Jesus wanted more than anything else was to qualify to be your Savior. And this required that He be sinless.

The Spirit of God led Jesus out into the barren wasteland of Judea – a place where He could be alone and commune with His Father. For forty days He ate nothing. Can you imagine how hungry and physically weak He must have been? Satan must have thought that Jesus’ weakened physical condition would leave Him vulnerable to temptation, especially food. So He sought Jesus out and said, “If you are God’s son, tell this stone to become a loaf of bread.”

Think about that for a moment. Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin. He grew up knowing He was the Son of God. When He was baptized the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove and a voice from heaven said, “this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.” If someone questions whose son you are, wouldn’t your first inclination be to prove it? But Jesus resisted that temptation. He knew it was wrong to obey any of Satan’s suggestions. Jesus replied by saying, “It is written in the Scriptures, ‘Other things in life are much more important than bread!’”

Then Satan took Jesus up and showed Him all of the kingdoms of the world. Satan told Him, “I will give you all these magnificent kingdoms with all of the glory that goes with them, if you will only worship me.” Who could resist such a temptation? Satan was offering Jesus rulership over every nation on this earth. That’s a lot of importance! However, Jesus knew the Scriptures very well. He knew how evil it would be to worship Satan. He quickly said, “We must worship God, and Him alone.”

Satan lost big time. But he still wouldn’t give up. He took Jesus to a high roof on the Temple and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say that God will send his angels to guard you and to keep you from crashing to the pavement below!” Satan knew how to appeal to the ego. What he tried to get Jesus to do seemed to be without risk – just jump off the roof of the Temple and angels would be there to protect Him. But Jesus recognized that Satan was trying to tempt Him with a wrong desire, and He wasn’t about to follow Satan’s suggestion. He responded by quoting another Scripture. “Do not put the Lord your God to a foolish test.”

Satan saw the determination in Jesus to obey His Father – He saw real character. He ended his temptation and left Jesus for a while. Angels came and ministered to Jesus.

There will be times in your life when everything in you cries out to give in to temptation. You may be tempted to shoplift so that you can look cool. Or you may think that you won’t get caught if you give in to sexual desires just this one time. You may not be prepared for an exam and be tempted to look at someone else’s paper. Peers may be as persistent as Satan was with Jesus. Sometimes friends can make it seem like so much fun to try drugs or alcohol. What should you do when you are tempted to sin? Remove yourself as quickly as possible from the temptation. Pray and think of Scriptures which will strengthen you. Remember, sin brings death. Focus your mind on God’s word.