The Temptation of Jesus...
I. Introduction...
Praise God Church!
How many in here tonight have ever been
through a time of testing?
How many have ever been through trials or temptation?
I’m pretty sure everyone in here has been
through something like that. Amen?
There’s been at least one time in your life when
you’ve experienced some kind of temptation.
I’m sure the majority of us probably go through that daily.
Maybe you’re not tempted everyday to do some
kind of immoral act.
Maybe you don’t feel led of the flesh or the
Devil to sin against God daily,
But I’m sure you face some kind of temptation in your life.
You might go to the store and see fresh baked
apple pie in the bakery
And maybe you’re tempted to buy it even though
You know that it won’t be good for the diet
you’re on. Amen?
That’s temptation.
And how many know that the only way you’re
going to succeed in that diet,
The only way that you’re going to accomplish
the goal that you set out for is to
Overcome the urge or overcome the temptation
to buy that pie. Amen?
You can’t lose the weight if your steadily
stuffing your face with pie. Amen?
There are so many things in life today that tempt us,
There are so many products and gizmos and
gadgets out their that appeal to
the eye and appeal to the flesh
Sometimes it’s hard for me to walk through the store
and not buy something or at least be tempted
to buy something.
And in that sense I think we’ve all experienced
some kind of temptation in life. Amen?
Well, that’s what I want talk about tonight.
II. The Meaning of The Words Tempt and Temptation...
a) Root Words...
The Greek word for tempt is the verb peirazō (pi-rad’-zo).
It is translated both tempted and tempter in
the King James Version of our text tonight.
KJV was translated from the textus receptus
which simply means "received text".
Peirazō appears in the Textus Receptus 41
times, but it’s not always translated tempted
or tempter.
12 different words
tempted, 15...tempting, 7...tempt, 6...tried, 3...tempter, 2...assayed, 1...examine, 1...prove, 1...tempteth, 1...try, 1...about, 2...gone, 1...
And it means to test objectively, to examine
closely or influence.
It’s a verb so it always implys action.
The Greek noun is peirasmos (pi-ras-mos’)
which translates temptation.
And even though it doesn’t appear in our
scripture tonight it has 21 occurences in the
King James Version of the Bible.
Both words derive from the root word peira
(pi’-rah), which means experience or trial.
Peira which is a noun derives from the verb
peiro which literally means to
perforate or pierce through someone or
something in order to find out the constitution.
If steel is going to be used for a building it’s
constitution has to be tried.
Basically, it’s strength has to be tested in order
to find out whether or not it is fit for the job. Amen?
In the same way we as Christians have to go
through tests.
The trials that we go through are a part of our
perfecting process.
Now the Devil doesn’t see it that way.
b) Satan’s Tempting...
The Devil tempts us with the express purpose
of showing us that we are failures.
He doesn’t want to prove your strength.
He doesn’t want you to grow and learn from
your mistakes.
He wants to take you down and keep you there.
His main goal is to show you how weak you are
in your sarkikos (fleshly) state.
He knows that the sarks (flesh) is weak so he
tries to use it’s lusts and it’s desires against you.
When you put your Jesus on and head out into
the community to work for the kingdom of God,
The devil despises that.
He hates to see God’s people actually being obedient.
He sees it as some sort of front.
He sees you as a faker and he wants to expose
your flaws to God and everyone who look to you
as a Christian.
He wants to ruin your witness and the best way
he knows how is to PEIRO or pierce through
and prove how weak you truly are.
And He does that through peirazo or tempting you.
He is labeled the accuser in scripture and that’s
what he wants to do.
He wants to prove your weakness so that he
can accuse you before the Father.
He focuses all of his time and effort toward the
task of destroying the relationship that we have
with God.
c) God’s Test...
God never tempts us in that way.
He tries us in order to prove to us and others
that He can use us,
He never puts more on us than we can bear.
His tests are setup for us to be able to pass with
flying colors.
He makes sure we know all the answers
and that we have all the tools needed to
complete the test. Amen?
He provides us with all that we need to get
through so that we might identify Him as our provision.
And when we’re looking toHim for the answers,
When we’re looking for Him to provide we’re
placing our trust in Him. Amen?
So what’s the purpose of His trial?
His test promote a greater trust in Him.
It brings us closer to God.
It’s still peirazo...It’s the same word,
But the meaning of the word depends on who
uses it. Amen?
III. Jesus Allowed Himself To Be Tempted...
a) Read...
Mat 4:1 Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
Mat 4:2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward hungry.
Mat 4:3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
Mat 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Mat 4:5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
Mat 4:6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest
at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Mat 4:7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
Mat 4:8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
Mat 4:9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
Mat 4:10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
Mat 4:11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
b) ...
How many know that the Devil is real?
He’s just as real as you and me. Amen?
Too many preachers today want to exclude the
Devil and Hell from their sermons because they
don’t want to scare any body off.
They want to give them that real good feel good
kind of gospel.
The kind that just makes your ears tingle it’s so good.
But they’re not helping anybody.
They’re sheilding their churches from the truth
and causing them to be unprepared because
they’re unaware of the enemy walking around
like a roaring lion. Amen?
There is a Devil and he is active in this world.
And if Jesus didn’t want us to know about Him
then He wouldn’t have allowed him to be
mentioned in the scriptures.
Paul called him the prince of the power of the air.
and there are many other references to him in the Bible,
But just by looking in our text tonight we know
that there must be a devil because Jesus was
tempted by him.
If there is no Devil then that makes Jesus a liar.
That would mean that He was personally deceived.
Or that He was seeing things out in the desert.
But how many know that Jesus never lied?
He was tempted by Satan.
c) ...
If the Devil tempted Jesus how many know
that he’ll tempt everyone of Jesus’ followers?
Mat 10:24 The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.
d) ...
Jesus was able to overcome the peirasmos
(temptation) of Satan.
He with stood the devils tempting with the
Word of God.
What was He doing?
He was demonstrating for us how we can use
the tools of God to become victorious. Amen?
I said earlier that God had already given us the
tools to pass the test.
And those tools are His Word and the Power
that comes with it.
When we stand on His Word,
When we claim those promises as our own,
What we’re doing is demonstrating our faith
and trust in God.
And How many now that without faith it is
impossible to please God?
But God finds pleasure in you when you put
your faith into action in your time of peirazo.
And you pass His test and claim the victory
over the tempter.
The devil can’t stand that He’ll even try to
distort the word like He did with Jesus,
He’ll try to disguise a lie as the truth if it’ll
cause you to become a failure.
The key is to remember that...
e) ...
The Devil never has our eternal well-being in
mind, unless he’s planning how he might
destroy it.
He’s the enemy!!!
It’s that simple!
Never play with the enemy and definitely tae
advice from Him.
Because you can rest assure he’s got his best
interests in mind.
No matter how good he makes it sound there’s
always a catch 22.
f) ...
Look at Jesus...
Satan offered Him all the prosperity and all the
kingdoms of the world,
But Jesus knew that giving priority to material
prosperity,
By ruling over the kingdoms of the world, was
the devils plan and not God’s plan.
God never desires that we have material
prosperity at the expense of our inner,
spiritual relationship with Him.
It must be God’s kingdom and righteousness first,
And then all your physical needs.
Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God,
and his righteousness; and all these things
shall be added unto you.
He wants to be your provision.
He wants to supply your needs and not only that,
He wants to give you the desires of your heart.
3Jn 1:2 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.
He wants your soul to prosper first.
He wants you to grow in the spiritual realm
first.
We’ve got too many christians running around
chasing that almighty dollar
They’re too busy too be serving an almighty
God.
But God’s saying seek me first and I will be
your provision.
I will make you prosper.
Even as your soul prospers so will you.
Too many fall by the wayside because they
would rather have the money and fame
Than to give God pleasure.
They fail their tests.
But not us here tonight Amen?
We grow in our trust in the Lord.
g) ...
From every temptation,
Every test and trial we gain strength.
We grow and learn from past mistakes and
present victories.
And as we grow the Lord places on us greater
responsibility.
Luk 16:10 He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.
See everytime that I start going through a test,
Every time peirazo comes my way
I consider it a blessing.
James said in...
Jas 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
When you fall in to peirasmos.
I consider it a blessing,
I count it all joy because I know that the trying
of my faith is working patience,
That I might be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
I now that when I’m going through a test God
is trying to take me somewhere I’ve never been before.
He’s preparing me for something more.
He’s perfecting me.
IV. Lead Us Not Into Temptation...
a) ...Jesus taught us to pray lead us not into
temptation and that same word there is
parasmos.
But He went onto say deliver us from evil.
the greek word for evil there is ponēros (pon-
ay-ros’)
it means something hurtful
And we should pray that God would eep us
from the hurtful peirazo of the devil but we
should welcome the strengthening and training
that we receive from God.
If we shun his attempt to prove us then we
won’t be able to live up to our full potential in
Christ.
b) ...
And let’s remember tonight that no matter
what we are going through that He will never
leave us,
And He will never forsake us.
Psa 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
