Was Jesus Tempted to Sin?

I've heard some Christians say we shouldn't have New Year's resolutions because we should only desire to grow in holiness and not worry about improving things like our physical fitness or our finances.

What do you think? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. We're talking about the Bible and the Christian life every day. We'd love to hear from you. Here's our phone number, 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673. You can also post your question on our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts.

And you can always email us at questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up today, it's a bird. It's a plane. No, it's some dude with a jet pack. The unidentified flying man in Los Angeles has finally been caught on video soaring 3,000 feet above the ocean with a jet pack. This mysterious flying guy has been spotted at least twice before, but now there's a video taken by a local aviation school.

The video appears to show a solitary man sailing through the sky above the waters off the California coast. Local police, the FBI, and the FAA had announced an investigation back in September after the suspected jet pack traveler was spotted near Los Angeles International Airport. Two separate airline crews had reported seeing him. And, Adriel, the one thing you don't want to do when you're flying your jet pack is accidentally cross into the flight path of a 747.

No, I don't know very much about jet packs, but I'm pretty sure you don't want to go head to head with an airplane. I hope he's a superhero. I mean, he might be. Who knows what he's doing. It's pretty amazing to watch the video, I'll tell you. It's kind of scary, too.

It's like, what if he runs out of fuel? Well, let's get to our first question of the day. This is a call that came in from John.

Hey, Adriel. I was wondering if you could offer some scriptural advice on whether or not believers should watch shows like The Chosen. On the one hand, I think that it's a faithful representation of the character of Jesus and the disciples. While it does take creative liberties, I don't think any of the creative liberties contradict what scripture teaches. I think it does well to help us expand our imagination about the reality that Jesus Christ was God who took on flesh, and so he was a man. On the other hand, I'm hesitant to watch something. Maybe it's my theological roots that make me concerned about something that has an image or picture of Jesus, although I know that a lot of theological traditions do allow for visual portrayals of Jesus because he was a man.

I'm curious what advice or what counseling you would give. Hey, John. Thanks for that question. I would say the majority of evangelicals in the United States, they don't even think twice about it. You mentioned your theological tradition, my own theological tradition as well, which is not in favor of images or portrayals of God or of Jesus for a number of reasons.

One, you think of just the second commandment. We're called not to make an image, a portrayal of God. I have a friend who is a pastor, and if you remember, years ago, there was that movie, the Mel Gibson movie, The Passion of the Christ that came out. It seemed like everybody was getting together with their church to go and see the movie. My friend, when people would ask him, hey, have you seen The Passion of the Christ? He would always respond by saying, no, I read the book.

It's much better. I thought that was kind of a fun way to respond. Really, at the heart of your question, we really have to recognize that we want to be so careful with how we portray God. That's why images in Scripture were forbidden, because it's so easy for us to misrepresent God with our speech, with the way that we live, with the way that we act, and especially if we begin to try to portray him visibly in a picture or even in a movie. And so I think that there is a great concern that the Scriptures have and that we should have here as well. It's a concern that I have personally. I was talking to the team actually earlier today about how sobering it is to answer questions about the faith every single day. You think about what James said in James chapter three, don't let many of you become teachers knowing we're going to receive a stricter judgment.

And so I think about even what I'm doing, and I think, man, this is a sobering thing. It's something that we take seriously because we don't want to misrepresent the Lord. Where can we safely represent God well?

Well, it's always through the Scriptures. Anytime we stray from the Scriptures, it's easy for us to communicate things about the Lord that may not necessarily be true. And so that's why some theological traditions, the tradition that I'm a part of, have really been clear on this issue. We should not make images of God, including of Jesus. Now, you're right, there are other Christian traditions that think it's okay for a number of reasons.

We don't have to get into the theology behind it. But what I would just say for you and for everyone else listening right now is we have to be so careful with how we think about God. And we know that God has revealed himself to us clearly in the Scriptures. That's where we go.

That's where we focus our attention. I think about one passage that comes to mind, and again, I keep going to 1 John because I'm currently preaching through 1 John. But at the very beginning of 1 John, John begins by saying, "...that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes," and he's talking about the apostles there, "...which we have looked upon and have touched with our hands concerning the word of life. The life was made manifest, and we have seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us.

That which we have seen and heard, we proclaim also to you." The focus of the apostles was not on making images of Christ, it was on proclaiming Christ, who he was. It's in that sense that they quote-unquote painted a picture for us. I mean, Paul, the apostle, says the same thing in the book of Galatians where he talks about how he placarded, he billboarded Jesus Christ before the Galatian church. How did he do it? It wasn't through actually painting a big billboard. It was through the proclamation of the gospel.

And so if you want something sure, something that you know you can rely upon in terms of understanding who God is and how he has revealed himself, read the book. It's always better. That's what I would say. So, John, thank you for your question.

You know, it's an interesting question. I've watched a little bit of The Chosen, and one of the things that's a bit of a struggle for me is the actor who plays Jesus, and he does a wonderful job. They included a little bit of extra dialogue, which kind of shows him having a sarcastic sense of humor. And I don't know if I quite get that from the pages of the gospel. Certainly when he was talking to the Pharisees, Jesus had some things that were somewhat cynical. But I thought to myself, oh gosh, I don't know if they're taking some liberties here with the personality of Jesus. Yeah, and typically, right, in movies that always is the case. I mean, a while back, a few years back, there was that movie Noah that came out, I think, with Russell Crowe. I never got to see it, but I remember hearing all about it afterwards because people were saying, yeah, it really wasn't like the biblical account of Noah.

You had all these kind of strange creatures and whatnot. And so that's oftentimes what you're going to find. And the sad reality is that's a lot of people's exposure, quote unquote, to the teachings of the Bible is they don't actually read the scripture, but they've seen the movie Noah and, you know, Charlton Heston's The Ten Commandments, that kind of a thing. We want to get people back into the word. You mean Charlton Heston wasn't Moses?

Yeah, they didn't have video cameras back then. Oh, thank you for clarifying that. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Here's a question that came in from Brennan.

He posted this on our Instagram page. I recently graduated from college with a degree in youth ministry. I'm at home right now and I get to see many friends and acquaintances from high school. Most of them are not Christian. When I'm around these people, I find myself being influenced by them and tempted to do and say things that are disobedient to God. I'm a person who hates to miss out on things with friends, but I don't want to be influenced by them and tempted to dishonor God. What should I do? Should I leave my old friends behind and move on? Should I still hang out with them and trust in God to keep me strong so they may see the light of Christ living within me?

I'd appreciate any advice you could give. Hey, I love this question and congratulations on recently graduating with a degree in youth ministry. You know, the youth in the church need to understand the truth of the gospel.

A while back there, there was a guy named Christian Smith. He talked about how the majority of young evangelicals, they believe in what he called moralistic therapeutic deism, which is just the idea that, you know, a lot of the young people in our churches, they don't understand the gospel that God redeems sinners, not on the basis of our own goodness or righteousness, but solely through the merits of Jesus Christ. We sort of have this view of God that he's, you know, he's just nice. He wants us to live moral lives. If we do good things, he's going to be good to us.

That kind of the almost this sort of deistic view of God. And so it's really important that, Brennan, you teach the gospel faithfully to the people that the Lord brings into your life. Now, we all know what it's like to be around individuals and even friends who don't believe in Jesus and who have different perspectives on the world and on life. And I think that the key question you need to ask yourself is, am I influencing them or are they influencing me?

And it sounds to me like you're saying primarily at this point, they're influencing me. And I think about what the scriptures say in places like First Corinthians 15, that bad company can corrupt good habits. So we have to be really careful with the company that we keep if that company is causing us to turn away from the Lord. Now, one of the things I love about Jesus is he had no problem keeping company with sinners. But one of the things you notice about Jesus and the gospels in particular is that when he would spend time with sinners, he always changed the atmosphere.

It was his presence that began to influence them. And I think that that's a wonderful thing. Obviously, this is Jesus, the eternal Son of God. And I think for us as Christians, if we can be faithful to the Lord, charitable, loving, encouraging, standing firm for what we believe, even in the midst of having friends that disagree with us, I think that's a really good thing, so long as we're not compromising in our views. And so the question is, are we like Jesus in that when we spend time with these friends who don't embrace the truths of the gospel, we're being an influence, or are we being influenced? And if that's the case, then I think sometimes it is okay to say, okay, look, I need to take some time and focus on my relationship with the Lord and really maybe take a step back, which isn't to say, I never want to encourage people to abandon your non-Christian friends, you shouldn't be with them. No, I mean, again, just look at Jesus, how compassionate he was. He says, I didn't come to seek and save the righteous.

I came to seek and save the lost. And I think our heart as followers of Jesus should be that way too. But we have to be careful that we're not being influenced in a negative way, in a way that causes us to turn away from the Lord. And just to encourage you, brother, you remember the apostle Paul in the book of Galatians, he talked about how he had to confront Peter, the apostle.

Why? Because Peter was being negatively influenced by his peers. I mean, this is something that even the apostles themselves, even men like Peter struggled with.

And so you're not alone. I think the question is the same question that Paul brought forward to Peter in the book of Galatians and Galatians chapter two. Are you walking in step with the truth of the gospel? Is the conduct of your life in line with what Jesus calls you to? And it can be even when you're around people who disagree with you.

And in those situations, you get to be a light. But if you're having a hard time with that, if this is a stumbling block for you at this time, then I would say maybe if you're not strong enough to spiritually in a place where you can do that, then it's okay to say, look, I need to take a step back, which is not to cut yourself off from them or even to say I'm through with you because you're evil and I'm righteous. Not that kind of an attitude, but just focusing on the Lord and growing in your faith so that you can be in a position where you get to influence them instead of them influencing you.

God bless you, Brennan. You know, I was also thinking, Adriel, that Brennan needs to find some Christian friends who are a positive influence in his life. He doesn't want to be this youth pastor who doesn't have any other mentors or strong believers in his life that all of his friends are non-Christians. I was thinking of that Proverb 1320, whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.

And that is something all of us need to remember. Who are we spending the majority of our time with? Yeah, and I think at the heart of it is just being a member of a faithful gospel preaching church. When we're a part of the body of Christ and we're surrounded by people who, you know, different ages, different backgrounds, but all seeking to grow together in the word of God and under the grace of Christ.

I mean, you start to build these relationships that do help to strengthen your own faith and support you so that when you are engaging with non-Christian friends, you're able to be a positive influence and an encouragement to them, a bold witness of Jesus Christ, which is what God calls us all to. I think that's great advice, Bill. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. And you know, it can be tough to begin reading the Bible if you've never really picked it up before. And with many Bible reading plans, they can be kind of complex and somewhat daunting. And that's why we're excited to tell you about a new Core Christianity Bible reading plan. Yeah, Bill, I mean, one of the things I appreciate about this Bible reading plan in particular is it doesn't necessarily take you through the entire Bible, but it's going to help introduce you to some of the major themes in the scriptures.

And it's really quite simple. It's just about a chapter a day. But the goal is we want people to be reading the word. We want you to be in the scriptures because we know that faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. It's one of the ways that our faith is strengthened. And so we've created this resource to encourage you, to help to guide you in your reading of the Bible.

And I know it's really going to be a blessing. Our prayer is that this new habit will carry on, not just in this year, 2021, but throughout the year so that over time, you will continually grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you'd like to download the Core Christianity Bible reading plan, just go to corechristianity.com forward slash reading plan. That's corechristianity.com forward slash reading plan. Let's get to another question.

This is an email that came in from Kaylee. She says, Hey, Pastor Adriel and Bill, what do you think of New Year's resolutions? I've seen some Christians say we should only desire to grow in holiness and not worry about improving our practical life or our body image or physical fitness or finances. I'm just wondering if these resolutions are things we should avoid or if we should be encouraged to engage in them.

Well, I think it's up to each individual. There's nothing inherently wrong with New Year's resolutions. I know for many of us, we make those resolutions and we do really well throughout the month of January.

And then as time goes by, we feel like failures. And so they end up coming back to bite us. You just think about the gyms all around the United States. Come January, they're packed.

They're full of people. It's hard to get in and find some time to work out. But then, you know, February, March rolls around and you begin to see them thinning out. And so I think a lot of times we make these resolutions and we say, I'm going to do this. And then over time, we fail. That can be a great discouragement for many people.

And I think we want to protect ourselves from that. But there really is nothing wrong with New Year's resolutions. And there's nothing wrong with wanting to get our finances or our health in order. The fact of the matter is, God cares about those kinds of things as well. I think sometimes we can have maybe an overly spiritual view of the Christian life where, you know, it's only about the Spirit and my devotions and that kind of thing, the things that are really, really good. But God doesn't care about my body or how I spend money.

That's of this world. We're heavenly minded, that kind of a thing. But the fact of the matter is, is God cares about your body and God cares about how you spend money. You think about how Jesus in the gospel spoke. I mean, over and over again, he gives these parables and these teachings related to money and possessions because he knew that there was a correlation between how we think about this world and our resources and even money and how we think about God's kingdom.

Where your treasure is, that's where your heart is going to be also. And so I think it's important for us to recognize that actually the body and health and, you know, being prudent with our resources, all of those things are important. God cares about those things. And so if there are areas of our lives that are out of order, as far as that's concerned, we should bring them to the Lord and we should seek to grow, to be sanctified, if you will, even in those areas. Now, I often think about what Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 4 related to bodily exercise and training and godliness.

And I think that's another important thing to bring into this discussion. 1 Timothy 4, beginning in verse 6, Paul said, If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed, have nothing to do with irreverent silly myths, rather train yourself for godliness. For while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. You see how Paul puts it there, bodily training is of some value. There's nothing wrong with it.

It's a good thing. But we also want to make sure that we are being trained in godliness, committed to that. And so if you have resolutions this year, one thing I would encourage is focus on training and godliness.

And how does that happen? What happens is the word of Christ fills our hearts and our minds as we come before the Lord in prayer. And so I think we want to have all of it. We want to bring our entire lives, our bodies before the Lord and say, God, use me, lead me, guide me, and help me to bring my entire life, my body, how I think, how I spend my money in subjection to your will. That we're never going to do that perfectly this side of heaven, but it's something we strive for because God has been so gracious to us, so merciful to us in the gospel.

He's given his only son who laid down his body for us so that we might offer our bodies up to him, redeemed belonging to him. Thanks for your question. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. By the way, don't forget, starting on January 18th, your opportunity to interact live with Adriel on the air. Mark that on your calendars. The program airs at 1.30 central time, 11.30 a.m. Pacific time.

Your chance to call in coming up on the 18th of January. Well, here's a question that came in from David on our Facebook page. He says, I was recently at a church Bible study where the question came up of whether Jesus was tempted to sin, if he ever desired to give into sin, or was he simply tempted by sin? I know the Bible says he was tempted in all ways, for example, experiencing true physical hunger in the wilderness, but it seems that he never even considered giving into the devil's temptation to turn stones into bread. I believe scripture seems to say beyond a shadow of a doubt that God abhors all sin, that there's nothing attractive about sin to him. Given that, do you believe that Jesus was ever tempted to give in to sin? No, I don't believe that he was ever tempted to give in to sin.

Now, we often are. We have these sinful inclinations, these disordered desires, but when we're talking about Jesus, we're talking about the eternal son of God, the divine person who cannot sin. Now, he experienced temptation in his humanity through the incarnation, but that doesn't mean that he himself ever desired sin. Now, a couple of the passages that I think are helpful to go to, you brought up the one in Hebrews chapter two. Hebrews chapter two verse 14, starting there, this is a wonderful passage, listen, since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham.

Therefore, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. So he experienced those temptations like the one you just referred to there in the wilderness, but I don't believe that he ever felt the desire to sin. Now I think about what James says, you know, this is the other passage I wanted to go to. In James chapter one, it says this, verse 12, blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one, but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire, and desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

James says it very clearly right there. God cannot be tempted with evil. He doesn't have evil, wicked desires. And who is Jesus? He is no less than the second person of the Holy Trinity, the eternal Son of God, who in the Incarnation assumed humanity so that he might experience in his flesh the temptations of life. But that doesn't mean that he had the same kinds of sinful desires that we have.

No, he was perfect. He was without sin so that he might be the perfect redeemer of sinners. Thanks for your question. This is Core Christianity, where we answer the questions that you have about the Bible and the Christian faith. And we have an amazing team of people behind us producing this show. They write the core articles for the website. They produce our core Bible studies.

These are the resources that are helping you and other believers more fully understand the gospel. And as you can imagine, this requires a lot of different people to come alongside us. We can't do it without your prayers and your financial support. With a monthly donation of $25 or more, you can join what we call the inner core. Just head over to corechristianity.com forward slash inner core to learn more or give us a call at 833-843-2673. Thanks for listening to Core Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at corechristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar or call us at 1-833-843-2673.

That's 833, the core. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this podcast. And be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together. Thank you.