Jesus Was a Man
I am a big fan of legendary, classic rock and roll music. By classic, I mean really classic…Elvis, the Bee Gees, the Beach Boys. One of my favorite songs is “Born to Be Wild.” Whenever I hear it, I always make the joke that this song was written about me. I also make the same joke when I hear Elvis’ song, “Trouble.”
My sister usually rolls her eyes because she knows the truth: these songs don’t describe me at all during any part of my life. Yeah, I like to have fun, but even my “baddest” days have been pretty tame.
Of course, I’m far from perfect. (Another fact my sister will be happy to share.) The truth is that no matter how hard we try, none of us can be perfect because we are all born with a sinful nature.
Except for Jesus.
As we discussed earlier, because Jesus was born by the Holy Spirit to a Virgin, Jesus did not have a sinful nature. He had God’s perfect, holy nature.
That meant that Jesus never sinned.
Think about that—never.
Not even when he was hot.
Not even when he was tired.
Even when the disciples were working on His nerves or the Pharisees were being total buttheads, Jesus still never sinned.
The Bible is clear: “You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.” (1 John 3:5, ESV)
It’s important to remember that just because Jesus didn’t sin doesn’t mean He wasn’t tempted.
Matthew 4:1-11 shows us that Jesus was tempted.
Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”
How could Jesus be tempted to sin?
Because just as He was completely Divine, He also chose to take on a human body.
His body was able to get tired. (I don’t know about you, but it’s easy for me to sin when I’m tired.)
His body got hungry. (Yet, He never got hangry.)
He grew up in a family with brothers and sisters and parents who weren’t perfect. Yet, He never lost His temper, never lied, never complained, never talked back.
In all His days on the earth, living in a human body, Jesus never sinned.
That is the legendary, amazing truth about Jesus: when He was tempted, He chose not to sin so that He could fulfill His destiny.
Because Jesus never sinned even while being tempted and living in a human body, He could be the sacrifice that paid for the sins of all of humanity.
Because He never sinned, He could be our Savior.
Because He never sinned, He set an example for us to follow on how to overcome sin in our own lives.
The One and Only Perfect Human to ever walk the earth became the perfect sacrifice so the imperfect humans could be reconciled to God.
That’s legendary.
Memory Verse: “You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.” (1 John 3:5, ESV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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