04.19.2026 | Jesus Was Tempted
Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13; and Luke 4:1-14
Have you ever been drawn by the smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies? In 2003, the Immaculate Baking Company of North Carolina created a giant outdoor oven and baked the world’s biggest cookie. The chocolate-chip monstrosity stretched 102 feet wide and weighed more than 40,000 pounds! Can you imagine how big that temptation must have been?
We have all given in to temptations that cause us to sin. It might be the temptation to eat a cookie when Mom said to wait, or it could be the temptation to play a few more minutes of video games when we are supposed to turn off our devices. As hard as we might try, we all fall into the temptation to sin. That’s why we need Jesus!
When Jesus was tempted by Satan, Jesus used the Word of God to do battle with the enemy. Jesus did not give in, and He remained perfect and righteous. The Word of God—the Bible— can help us avoid sin and flee from temptation, but we have an even greater defense. The Gospel of John says that Jesus is the Word made flesh. All who believe in Jesus have been set free from the power of sin and given the power to say no to temptation. Jesus is the perfect, righteous Savior who came to battle sin and defeat it for good!
Like us, Jesus experienced temptation. But unlike us, Jesus never sinned. When we repent and believe Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins and rose again, God credits us with Jesus’ perfect life.
