SWORDFIGHT IN THE DESERT
JESUS SERIES II (TOPIC: TEMPTATION)
OPEN: Any duck hunters in here? I am not one, but let’s suppose it is duck season and I am hunting ducks. So I am in this boat, shooting down some birds. And I have this awesomely trained beagle that is with me and is fully trained (I don’t know why I choose beagle, I suppose cause it sounds funny). Here is a not a trick question: which ducks do I send my dog to go get. The ones that I have hit and are wounded, or the ones that are still alive?
The Devil is the same way. The Devil comes when we are hurting, when we are hit. That is how he came to Jesus, and that is how he comes to us. He is…a dog.
BIBLE VERSE: Matthew 4:1-11
4:1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 4:2 After he fasted forty days and forty nights he was famished. 4:3 The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread.” 4:4 But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man does not live 6 by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” 4:5 Then the devil took him to the holy city, had him stand on the highest point of the temple, 4:6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you’and ‘with their hands they will lift you up, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” 4:7 Jesus said to him, “Once again it is written: ‘You are not to put the Lord your God to the test.’” 4:8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their grandeur. 4:9 And he said to him, “I will give you all these things if you throw yourself to the ground and worship me.” 4:10 Then Jesus said to him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written: ‘You are to worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’” 4:11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and began ministering to his needs.
TEMPTATION HITS EVERYONE: There is a little boy who had a problem. The boy wanted a new bicycle, but he also loved ice cream. So that night he prayed to God, “Father, please don’t let the ice cream man come down my street so I can use money for my bike.”
Somehow, I don’t think the little boy has the right idea of prayer, but at least he understands where he is tempted. So let’s look at how Jesus was tempted.
1. STONES BECOME BREAD:
BIBLE VERSE: Matthew 4:1-4
4:1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 4:2 After he fasted forty days and forty nights he was famished. 4:3 The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread.” 4:4 But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man does not live 6 by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
TEMPTATION OF THE BODY: Satan tempted Jesus with the challenge of producing instant food. That’s basic, simple, and would seem on the surface to someone living in America to be ridiculous. But, in the land of abundance, food doesn’t always appear to be the stumbling block since we always seem to have food. Our USA temptation tends much more to deal with drugs, looks, style, and other temptations of the body (but food still can be).
JESUS WAS FAMISHED: If I was famished, food would be a major temptation too. I mean, Jesus can turn water into wine and multiply bread and fish at will, it would seem almost reasonable to take Satan’s suggestion to eat. Here is Jesus in the Judea wilderness, a stretch of yellow nothing between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, it glows like a furnace when it’s hot.
TEMPTATION IS TAILORED TO THE INDIVIDUAL: Here is an example, let’s just say the Lord has told Lori to read the Bible for 3 hours tonight at 7:00pm. She agrees. Then when 7:00pm rolls around, she learns that the Green Bay Packers are playing the Chicago Bears on Sunday Night Football. She would say, who cares? Of course she would, cause that would NOT be a temptation for her. But as for me, that would be a big deal. How stupid does that seem? Well, temptation is tailored to the individual.
HOW DOES JESUS RESPOND? Does Jesus take the bait off of barbed hook? No. His resistance comes from scripture. Let’s take a look at a sword shall we?
SWORDS: A sword is a long, edged piece of metal, used as a cutting, thrusting, and clubbing weapon in many civilizations. It has been used and understood as a symbol of war and honor.
Henry V Sword: is single-handed cut is a thrusting weapon at only 27.5 inches long, has a leather sheath, and the pommel (the end of the sword) is in a beautiful circular design, as it sits outside the tomb.
Robin Hood Sword: has a long blade of 45.75 inches long, has gold accents, and has special armor.
Viking Sword: is the typical Godfred sword, lightweight of less than 2 pounds makes killing easy.
Blackbeard the Pirate Sword: Mid-length with 38 inch length, purposefully blackened for authenticity reasons.
Samurai Sword: has a razor sharp blade, and has a blood groove on the backside, has a strong curvature, great for slicing.
THE SWORD IS THE WEAPON OF CHOICE FOR JESUS:
BIBLE VERSE: Deuteronomy 8:3
8:3 So he humbled you by making you hungry and then feeding you with unfamiliar manna. He did this to teach you that humankind cannot live by bread alone, but also by everything that comes from the LORD’s mouth.
EXPLANATION: Jesus’ response is another way of saying to the Devil, “Look God provided the needs of his people in the desert, He will provide my needs in the desert. You are wrong, I will not listen to you, for God wanted me to eat He would have manna spring up right now.” This type of Scripture usage is the first slice Christ will need in this upcoming battle.
SO WHY EVEN TEST CHRIST IF WE KNOW THE ANSWER?
UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD
“As the Union Pacific Railroad was being constructed, an elaborate trestle bridge was built across a large canyon in the West. Wanting to test the bridge, the builder loaded a train with enough extra cars and equipment to double its normal payload. The train was then driven to the middle of the bridge, where it stayed an entire day. One worker asked, “Are you trying to break this bridge?”
“No,” the builder replied, “I’m trying to prove that the bridge won’t break.” In the same way, the temptations Jesus faced weren’t designed by God to see if Christ would sin, but to prove that He wouldn’t.”
-Pastor Jerry Shirley
2. THROW YOURSELF DOWN:
BIBLE VERSE: Matthew 4:5-7
4:5 Then the devil took him to the holy city, had him stand on the highest point of the temple, 4:6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you’and ‘with their hands they will lift you up, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” 4:7 Jesus said to him, “Once again it is written: ‘You are not to put the Lord your God to the test.’”
TEMPLE’S HIGH GATE: An actual physical place, most likely the Southeast corner of the temple where it looms directly over a cliff some 450 feet high, I other words a football and a half high.
WHY: Did the Devil really tell Jesus to jump because he was confident that God would take care of his Son? No way, the Devil had lured him up there with the promise of seeing a great miracle—in an attempt to kill him. He does the same to us. “God can really use you at the party, He will protect you.” Or, “Stop reading your Bible and the Lord will have to show himself to you in an amazing way to get your attention.” It is really annoying how he attempts to deceive us this way.
TEMPTATION OF THE HEART: Here is the deal, after Jesus does not give into the temptation of the body, Satan challenges Him on his beliefs. Like he does to us. We get some to accept Christ, next thing you know, that person is sick for church. Then they are ill for youth group, then all of the sudden that girl they always wanted to date likes him. See the challenge, it is with the body.
Then, after the person grows closer to Christ through all that, Satan tempts people on their faith. He says, “there really is no God, how do you really know there is a God, how do you really know your saved, how do you really know the scriptures are believable, and on and on and on.”
When this happens, just give all faith to God and the scriptures, when something comes up in the Bible that you are not sure you agree with entirely, just tell God that you believe in Him and get the answer.
WES SLAWSON STORY: When I had just accepted Christ, my brother in law gave me some great advice, he told me to read the Bible, and whenever something came up that I found to be odd, that I immediately agree with the Bible and ask him to figure out any questions later.
WHEN IT COMES TO ISSUES OF THE HEART, HERE ARE SOME “DO NOTS” (Take some time to here to go over them specifically, talk about each one, this could be a whole Bible Study on its own, if you can’t get through all the details, save it for the study next week):
DO NOT:
A. Reason with the Devil: There is no negotiation that goes on, no bargaining. Do not find put yourself in a tough situation just to see if you can hold out against it.
B. Misunderstand the Difference Between RESIST and FLEE: Allow me to explain.
BIBLE VERSE: James 4:7
4:7 So submit to God. But resist the devil and he will flee from you.
The issue here is the Bible tells us to RESIST the Devil but to FLEE temptation (perhaps we could ask what that means). But here is the deal, when it comes to the Devil, many people turn and run from his attacks, quit ministry, stop attending church, at the sight of any spiritual attack. God tells us to stand up to that!
On the other hand, the Word tells us to flee temptation! If alcohol is a problem for somebody, going to a bar is a bad idea. If we suffer with a video game addiction (yup, there are video game addicts), sell your game system, seriously! We have this really cool word in our country, it is calling someone a “gamer.” But what it really means is addict. How can a person devote 500 hours to a game that is meaningless, it is a chasing after the wind. We must flee those temptations.
C. Shout the Devil Down: I hear these TV preachers pontificating aloud about how he looked Satan in the eye and casted him away, then go on bragging and bragging and bragging. Now, it is true that the name of Jesus is more powerful than the Devil, and using scripture is the way to call him out. But, don’t call him out. Don’t dare the most evil force in the universe to attack you or call him to your playground for a fight. Yeah you can win through the name of Jesus, but, are you ready for the casualties around you?
D. Fail to Learn the Scripture: Notice what Satan says here: “He will command his angels concerning you and with their hands they will lift you up so that you won’t strike your foot against a stone.”
BIBLE VERSE: Psalms 91:11-12
For he will order his angels to protect you in all you do. They will lift you up in their hands, so you will not slip and fall on a stone.
SCARY: This is scary, now listen up. The Devil quotes Scripture, and he is accurate. He did this in the garden when he confused Eve & Adam, he is trying this with Jesus, and he is trying this with you. He doesn’t necessarily think he can convince you that everything you believe is false…just SOME of the things. And those SOMETHINGS lead to complete doubt, then he steals your heart. So how do we combat this from happening? By knowing the Bible.
DISCUSSION NOW: HOW IS YOUR QUIET TIME? Yet again, we must bring up and demand a consistent quiet time, failure to do will be madness.
E. Answer the Devil without Scripture: Again, emphasize the fact that the only way to beat down the Devil is with scripture, with the word (this has been illustrated earlier with mention of sword, re-emphasize this again here).
3. WORSHIP ME:
BIBLE VERSE: Matthew
4:8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their grandeur. 4:9 And he said to him, “I will give you all these things if you throw yourself to the ground and worship me.” 4:10 Then Jesus said to him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written: ‘You are to worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’” 4:11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and began ministering to his needs.
TEMPTATION OF THE SOUL: These are the three areas he attacks: body, heart, and soul. The attacks are predictable, and we should expect them to come.
TEMPTATION ISLAND: A few years ago, there was a real dumb TV Show that hit the tube. It was a reality show, and the premise was about breaking up relationships. Here is the deal, they took a bunch of supposedly strong couples, and put the guy on this romantic island with dozens of hot women to see if he would cheat (honestly, I am not sure why there weren’t prostitution charges brought onto the show, since they had women there paid to entice sex).
Anyhoo, all the guys felt they were doing well because they “hadn’t sinned” because they hadn’t cheated. What? Of course they sinned, cause get this: PUTTING YOURSELF INTO TEMPTATION IS SIN. Many people forget that.
And the worst sin is failing to worship the Lord. And how do we do that?
HOW DO WE WORSHIP THE DEVIL?
For this answer, we are going to bring them back to Commandment #1, and lead a discussion with the students of what is more important to them than Christ. A few weeks back I had led them in a list of what is more important than Christ, and had the youth make a list of 1-10 to see what is most important to them. Seriously, if Christ is not number 1, who are we worshipping?
Sources:
Burnett, Wayne. Three Keys to Overcoming Temptation. Riverview Church of God, Virginia, June 2001.
Replicapower.com.
Shepherd, Steve. Led By the Spirit—Tempted By Satan. Jonesboro Christian Church, Arkansas, April 2006.
Shirley, Jerry. THE GOSPEL OF JESUS: Swordfight in the Desert. Grace Baptist Church, Illinois, March 2006.
NAME: __________________
SWORDFIGHT IN THE DESERT
JESUS SERIES II (TOPIC: TEMPTATION)
BIBLE VERSE: Matthew 4:1-11
1. STONES BECOME ____________________:
TEMPTATION OF THE ______________________:
TEMPTATION IS __________________ ______ _______ _________________________:
HOW DOES JESUS RESPOND? _______________________________________________
Types of Swords: _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________
BIBLE VERSE: Deuteronomy 8:3
8:3 So he humbled you by making you hungry and then feeding you with unfamiliar __________________. He did this to teach you that humankind cannot live by bread alone, but also by everything that comes from the __________________ ______________________.
2. THROW ___________________________:
BIBLE VERSE: Matthew 4:5-7
Temple’s High Gate:
TEMPTATION OF THE ______________________________:
A. _____________________________________
B. _____________________________________
C. _____________________________________
D. _____________________________________
BIBLE VERSE: Psalms 91:11-12
For he will order his angels to protect you in all you do. They will lift you up in their hands, so you will not slip and fall on a stone.
E. _____________________________________
3. WORSHIP ______________________________________________: