The Battle Is On!
Matthew 4:1-11
Good morning MGCC…
OKAY – we are in week six of our study of Matthew’s Gospel, “The King and His Kingdom” our text in Matthew 4:1-11
LET’S – get to it. Matthew 4:1ff
Then
(after His baptism in the Jordan River by John the Baptist)
Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.
The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.
6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” 11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
- Matthew 4:1-11
Prayer
OKAY – I want us to do, a little introductory work before we dive into our text… BY - looking at some: key terms, key connections and key truths.
Key Terms
NOW - I want to start off by defining some words that at first may seem kind of obvious, YET - it’s important for us to do, so that we are all on the same page as we unpack Matthew 4:1-11, this morning…
So word number one, is…
Sin
AGAIN - you might think that it is not necessary to define the word sin; however, The Oxford Junior Dictionary recently took the word sin out of their dictionary.
AND - the reason they gave for taking it out is because, “The word sin has fallen into (quote) disuse and is no longer recognized by the younger generation.”
AND IT - explained that there are other synonyms that can be used in place of sin. AND SO - some of the synonyms recommended would be words like indiscretion, lapse in judgment, accident, mistake.
AND YET - those words are not the same word.
I MEAN - the Bible doesn’t say that we are “mistakers,” right? The Bible says that we are sinners. The word is a different…the word is a different word.
UNDERSTAND - when we talk about sin, we’re talking about more than just a lapse in judgment or making a mistake, or an accident where we tripped, and we fell.
LIKE - that’s not how the Bible defines sin.
INSTEAD – the Bible defines sin as “a transgression against God.” WHERE WE - do something He said not to do, or we don’t do something that He said to do.
AND UNDERSTAND MGCC – sin is not just a transgression against yourself or a transgression against a cultural norm or against someone else.
SIN - is a transgression against God.
Luke 15 (the prodigal son… I have sinned against heaven and against you)
NOW - The Bible gives us a word picture of sin, in Romans chapter 3 where it says, that sin is missing the mark.
(A bullseye)
AND – it also says in Romans chapter 3 that, “All of us have sinned.” We’ve all missed the mark. We’ve all fallen short of God’s standard. All of us have.
We have all sinned. SO - we’re all sinners.
YEAH – go ahead and look around, you are in a room full of sinners.
AND YES – I know that our world today, does not like the word sin.
IN FACT – a trial is underway in Finland, where one of the defendants a 61 year grandmother of 7 a medical doctor faces up to two years I prison and one of the charges is for posting a picture on twitter of a verse in the Bible.
The prosecutor said, in one of his arguments said, ‘The bible cannot override Finnish law, and that the use of the word sin is harmful.’
NOW – I am not sure if the word is all that harmful, but I know that sin itself is harmful, it makes us God’s enemies, it incurs a debt we could never pay, and our only hope is the Grace of God through His Son Jesus Christ.
AND SO - every week when we gather together we take Communion, and what we’re doing in that moment is we are recognizing the fact that Jesus has done for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves. We are recognizing, THAT…
- Jesus paid a debt he did not owe, because we owed a debt we could not pay
- His sacrifice and the Father’s love
- It is His grace that saves us.
UNDERSTAND - the Bible says that, “Without the shedding of blood, there’s no forgiveness of sins.” We’ve all sinned. Jesus has paid the price for our sins. “The wages of sin is death.” He paid those wages when He died on the cross.
SO - the word sin is a very important word. AMEN?!
The second term is…
Temptation.
NOW - some of you are like, “Well, wait. Didn’t we just talk about temptation?” No, we talked about sin.
Sin and temptation…different words.
UNDERSTAND - they are not the same thing.
To be tempted is not to sin. And I think it’s really important that we understand this, because for some of us, we treat it like it’s the same thing. BUT – it’s not the same thing.
Jesus, as we just read in Matthew 4, was tempted, and yet He was sinless. IN FACT - Hebrews 4:15 says, “He was tempted in every way just as we are tempted but was without sin.” So temptation and sin are two different words.
NOW - culturally, the way we tend to define temptation
IS THIS - “draw or desire to violate something that we’ve personally committed ourselves to.”
SO – the word doesn’t tend to get used, as a violation against God, but rather as a violation against our own personal commitment, standard, emotion, feeling, or desire.
FOR EXAMPLE - you might be on some kind of a diet.
BUT LISTEN - regardless of what that diet is… more than likely a Large Cookies and Cream Milkshake from CFA is probably not on it.
AND SO – we might say, “Well, I’m on this diet, and I gotta tell you, it has been really rough. I MEAN - this week as I drove up and down HWY 29, like every single time, I was tempted to pull into CFA and get me a shake.’
Okay. But drinking a CFA Shake isn’t a sin. Thank the Lord, right! They’re not a sin.
BUT AGAIN – this often how we use the word being tempted.
HOWEVER - that’s not what we mean when we’re talking about, in the context of temptation in the bible.
INSTEAD - we’re talking about a violation, a transgression against what God has said, we’re talking about this pull and desire to violate the will and ways of God…
NOT – just something that we’ve arbitrarily decided on or something that has been culturally determined for us.
Hey check out the following quotes about temptation from Erwin Lutzer…
“Temptation is not sin, it’s a call to battle.”
“Each temptation leaves us better or worse,
neutrality is impossible”
“We cannot say no to temptation,
without saying yes to something better”
The third and final key term, is…
Satan.
UNDERSTAND - the Bible describes satan as “a real, intelligent being, who is behind the evil in this world.”
YES – satan is the one behind all of the evils in human history. LIKE – he was the one behind…
• the Holocaust, the atrocities of slavery
• the wars, the genocides, the ethnic cleansings
AND – he is the one behind
• sex-trafficking
• the forty million plus people who are enslaved today
• the 63+ million children who lost their lives in the womb
• all of the hatred and violence and racism and anger and conflict and division and abuse and ugliness… that so dominates our world today
NOW – many today think that it’s intellectually naïve to believe in the devil. INSTEAD - they think of him more like a metaphor for evil, then an actual being.
YEAH - they see Him, as kind of a cartoon character…
AND LISTEN - to be clear, satan’s totally fine if that’s how you think of him.
C.S. LEWIS - said that the two cultures in which the devil operates most freely is either…
• A culture in which the devil is overthought. LIKE - you see him behind everything, and you overestimate his power.
• OR - a culture in which he is dismissed and not believed in.
AND MGCC - in our Western world, that (dismissing, not believing in, understaimation) tends to be the direction that we have gone.
Check out this Barna Survey ‘of Christians’…
“Satan is not a living being”
• 40% strongly agree
• 17% agree somewhat
• 9% disagree somewhat
• 26% disagree strongly
• 6% not sure
OKAY – here’s the deal…
IT IS - much more intellectually naïve to dismiss the idea of the devil, than it is to believe in him. GET IT?
Key Connections
Okay – now let’s talk about a few key connections in Jesus’ temptations, there are three I want to ‘briefly’ point out
The baptism of Jesus
UNDERSTAND - the temptation of Jesus takes place right after He was baptized by John in the Jordan River, ‘to fulfill all righteousness.’ AND REMEMBER - as soon as Jesus came up from the water, the heavens opened up, the spirit of God descended like a dove, and God the Father said, “This is my son, whom I love, with Him I am well pleased.”
The temptation in the garden
UNDERSTAND – there is most definitely a connection between Jesus’ temptation and what goes down between Adam, Eve and satan in Genesis 3. ALSO – keep in mind that in Scripture Jesus is referred to as the second Adam.
BUT LISTEN – where Adam failed when tempted in a beautiful garden, Jesus conquered in a barren wilderness.
Israel’s wilderness wandering
UNDERSTAND – Israel wandered in the wilderness for… 40 years, and failed. Jesus fasted for 40 days and nights and was faithful in victory.
AND LISTEN – each verse that Jesus quotes after He says, “It is written” is from the book of Deuteronomy.
A BOOK – about Moses preaching to and preparing the people for leaving the wilderness.
Key Truths
We are all involved in a spiritual battle
Whether we want to acknowledge it or not
Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by His vast strength. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the tactics of the Devil. 12 For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.
– Ephesians 6:10-12
Our enemy is formidable
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
– 1 Peter 5:8
Now that is a wart hog… and I can tell you this wart hog, unlike pumba was not singing
Hakuna Matata – Swahili for ‘no worries’
Hakuna Matata what a wonderful phrase
Hakuna Matata ain’t no passing phrase
It means no worries for the rest of your days
It’s our problem free philosophy
HM, HM
I say H, I say M
satan attacks when we are most vulnerable
I MEAN – like, lion does not want to work any harder than it has to…
After a spiritual high or victory
AGAIN - Matthew 4 records that this temptation of Jesus came directly after He was baptized.
NOW WHEN - God the Father torn open the heavens
AND SAID - “This is my son whom a love, with Him I am well pleased!” THAT - is what I call a spiritual high.
POINT – often times temptations will come on the heels of a spiritual high point in your life. (Exodus, Elijah)
You become a Jesus follower (like satan was not concerned when you were on his team, but now that you changed jerseys the battle is on!
When we are tired and weak
UNDERSTAND - the three specific temptations of Jesus that we read about in Matthew 4, came at time of extreme physical weakness; Jesus had not eaten in 40 days.
After 30 days without food, the tissue in your body begins to break and you begin to absorb muscle, you begin to die
QUESTION - raise your hand if you have ever gone…
• One a day without food
• Three days… a week… 3 weeks… 4 weeks… 40 days
NOW – most of us are hungry right now and we have only been fasting since breakfast… “Man, when is Steve going to be done, I’m starving.”
UNDERSTAND MGCC - Temptations often come when we are WHEN - we are exhausted, stressed, overwhelmed…
WHEN – we are physically and emotionally spent.
AGAIN – we are most vulnerable to the evil one
• After a spiritual high
• When we are tired and weakened, and 3rd…
When we are alone
This temptation came to Jesus when he was alone.
Eve was alone in the garden when tempted
David was alone of the roof top when he was tempted
MGCC - we much more vulnerable to temptation when we are alone.
(Hebrews 10:25-27)
AND – the final key truth to keep in mind when temped,
is that..
The stakes in this battle are eternal
A thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.
– John 10:10
Each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. – James 1:15,16
Yeah the stakes are high for us, and they were high for Jesus in the wilderness
AND UNDERSTAND – if Jesus would have lost this battle in the wilderness… it would have been all over.
The Passage
Led by the Spirit
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. – Matthew 4:1
Jesus was led by who? by the Spirit.
NOW - I read that, and I am like, ‘say what?’
The Holy Spirit led Jesus to be tempted by the devil. False.
But it’s in the Bible so it’s true.
QUESTION – what did Jesus teach us to pray, “Lord, led us not into temptation…” and what does that infer?
That sometimes He does.
BUT LISTEN – James makes it clear that God does not tempt us, but He does allow us to be tempted.
UNDERSTAND B/S – there is a difference between being tested and being tempted.
God’s tests – are to reveal and refine) what is inside of us
satan temptations – are an invitation to sin
God never tempts anyone to sin
satan always tempts people to sin
BUT LISTEN – while God will never tempt us Himself He will allow us to meet our enemy face to face.
AND YEAH – I know that testing and being allowed to be tempted are usually not a good time. The truth is that…
There is no testimony without a test.
NOW - some of you are actually in the test part of your testimony right now. Don’t rush it, don’t worry it will get worse before it gets better. Just hang in there.
But you go through the test to get the testimony.
There’s no message without a mess.
And some of you are in the mess right now and it doesn’t feel so good.
But again, God while He is not causing it, He is allowing it.
And that’s going to be part of your story.
Part of what He will use to enable you to help other people, to change lives, and to draw you closer to Him.
So while satan is tempting here In Matthew 4, it is God who is allowing it, because it is part of the plan.
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. – Matthew 4:1
AND NOW – let’s unpack the three ways that satan tempts Jesus and see what truths they hold for us today.
Tempted by the devil…it is written
Temptation #1..
After fasting forty days and forty nights,
NOW - both Mark and Luke indicate that Jesus was tempted the entire time, SO - these 3 temptations that are recorded are satan’s final ‘shock and awe’ attempt to get Jesus to give into Temptation. YEAH – I think he is like,
“Oaky, here we go… day 40 I have this guy right where I want him. Hey, I broke the first Adam, I can break the second one as well”
After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” - Matthew 4:2,3
NOW NOTICE – that satan begins by questioning the identity of Jesus. “If you are…” “If you are the Son of God…”
BECAUSE - he knows that IF he can get Jesus to question His identity, IF he can get Jesus to question who He is and what God has said about Him, THEN whatever comes next gets a lot easier.
AND HEY – don’t miss the connection and the contrast?
IN MATTHEW 3 - Jesus is baptized, and when Jesus is baptized, God speaks from heaven and says,
“This is my…” What? “This is my son.”
IN MATTHEW 4 - the devil tempts Jesus and says,
“If you are the son…”
SO WHAT WE SEE - right out of the gate?
IS THAT - the devil comes along and he questions what God has said.
“Did God really say you are the son of God”
“Did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden?”
AND UNDERSTAND B/S – your enemy, the devil, will use the same attack plan on you. HE WILL – get you to doubt God’s Word, “Did God really say?”
AND LISTEN – many times the evil one will try to get you to doubt what God has said about you.
TO QUESTION - how God feels about you, how God sees you. TO QUESTION - your identity as a son, as a daughter of God.
BECAUSE IF - he can get you to question who you are ‘in Christ’, then getting you to do something gets a lot easier.
He says, “If you are the son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
AGAIN – as James says, satan appeals to our desires.
He tempts us with what we already want most, with what we feel that we are lacking.
For Jesus, He is lacking food, and so He is tempted where He is lacking. And this is often how temptation comes.
We’re vulnerable where we are lacking.
SO IF - you’re lacking intimacy, or maybe you’re dealing with some loneliness…you’re lacking some companionship…so okay, that’s where you can expect an attack to come from.
AND LISTEN - I want to make sure to point that the devil is not tempting Jesus to do something that on its face is sinful. I think this is important.
AND WHAT - I mean by that is there is not anything sinful about eating bread. That’s okay. LIKE - there are other places where Jesus ate bread.
IN FACT – one time He multiplied a few loaves and feed thousands of people.
NO – there is nothing’s sinful about eating bread!
AND LISTEN – I know this can get a little confusing…
LIKE – the first miracle of Jesus was turning water into wine, and that’s okay, but the first temptation is turning stones into bread, is not okay.
BUT UNDERSTAND - temptation is not necessarily the what, INSTEAD – it’s the when and it’s the how that gets us into trouble.
AND MGCC - that was the temptation for Jesus. It wasn’t the what. It was the when; it was the how.
RU tracking with me?
SO - let me give you a parallel for us when it comes to sexual sin. So sexual pleasure…a gift from God. His idea. He thought of it. Beautiful gift from God.
But there’s a how. There’s a when.
SO - God gives us this gift. Context of marriage…husband and wife. And so the temptation is not the what; it’s the how and the when. The temptation is to say, “Hey, you can experience this pleasure, and you don’t have to worry about how God says or when God says.”
AND B/S - this is oftentimes how temptation comes. It’s not the what. It ends up being the how and the when that the tempter uses to try to hook, entice and drag us away.
OKAY – here’s the deal… satan is tempting Jesus to take things into His own hands. “Jesus, you don’t need to wait on God to provide for your needs, you do it, you turn these stones into bread. If you really are God’s son why is He letting you starve in the wilderness. Jesus, the need is legit, you do it.”
AND UNDERSTAND MGCC – he does the same to us…
INSTEAD OF - waiting on love how about lust (it’s here and it’s now)… INSTEAD OF – working things out with your spouse, he is offering you a way out with someone else.
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” - Matthew 4:4
UNDERSTAND – Jesus is saying, “I am choosing to trust God to meet My needs in His time and in His way.”
AND - He quotes a passage in Deuteronomy chapter 8, where God provided food for His people in the wilderness at the right time, when they needed, and how much they needed.
AGAIN JESUS - is where? in the wilderness.
AND - just as God provided then, He will provide now.
AND SO - Jesus responds to temptation by saying, “God can be trusted to meet my needs and my desires in His way and in His time. I will not do things my way. I will not use my divine power to satisfy a fleshly or self-serving need or desire.”
AGAIN – how does Jesus resist satan… by quoting Scripture.
UNDERSTAND MGCC – For every lie the devil feeds us there is a truth of God that can free us.
Jesus said if we know the truth it can set us free!
SO – you gotta be in this book.
LIKE – it has to be on you so that you too can say, “It is written.”
SO – Jesus takes satan’s temptation and He filters it through the word of God… and says “nope, that’s not what I need right now.”
He says, “Yeah, your offering me something and it sounds really good but it is not what I need. It is not what God says. And even though it may not be necessarily the worst thing, it’s not the best thing, because what I need right now is God.
I need God more than I need food. That’s why I am out here in the first place not to fed my flesh, but to fed my spirit.
AND SO – I am waiting on Him, I’m trusting in Him.
I love it, Jesus beats the devil by knowing God’s word.
The Bible is God’s shock blocker…
One of my favorite plays…
VIDEO of NCAA Best Bocks
Not here, not now, this is HIS house
Okay, the second temptation
Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.
About 500 feet above the Kidron Valley…
6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down.
For it is written:
“Okay Jesus, you say that you want to live your life by God’s Word… well here’s one for you (Psalm 91:11-12).
“‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” - Matthew 4:5,6
So Jesus is tempted here with pride…
YOU KNOW – the temptation, TO - live your life to prove yourself instead of please God. TO - live your life to try to impress people.
QUESTION - satan tempted Jesus to jump off where?
At the Temple.
Why at the Temple and not off of some cliff out in the Judean wilderness? Because it wasn’t really about the jump, but about who would see Him jump. “Hey, Jesus I can see that this ministry of yours is off to a slow start, let’s pump things up a little.
And again, this doesn’t feel very relevant to us. Like, that’s not tempting to me, to throw myself down.
HOWEVER – it is a little bit, though, like a junior high boy who’s tempted to do something ridiculous and stupid,
“Yeah, well, I’ll show you…”
Again – the pride thing, being too concerned with what other people think of you. AND SO - that’s what’s going to drive our decision…our oftentimes self-defeating decision.
AND SURE - we don’t throw ourselves off a high ledge, but maybe you throw yourself into…
• Your work because you’re trying to impress people with how important you are;
• OR you throw yourself into making money because you’re trying to impress people with how successful you are;
• OR - you throw yourself into your appearance because you’re trying to impress people with how good you look;
• OR - you throw yourself into your education because you’re trying to impress people with how smart you are.
AND LISTEN - there’s nothing wrong with any of those things in and of themselves, but what ends up happening is they become our…they become our identity. They become what’s most important to us.
AGAIN - when the devil tempts Jesus, he does so by quoting…this is scary stuff…he does so by quoting Scripture. The devil says, “It is written,” and he quotes Psalm 91 and he gets it right.
NOW - he takes it out of context for sure, but he gets it right. AND B/S - we need to sit up and pay attention to this, because we’re going to see a lot more of this in the future.
UNDERSTAND - that this is how the enemy is going to tempt us in the 21st century.
LISTEN - as more people have more platforms and information becomes more widely accessible, we’re going to have more and more voices that will take something that the Bible says and they will use Scripture and say,
“What you think this means, it doesn’t actually mean. What’s always been taught here, it’s not actually what the Bible teaches, about… sexuality, gender and life in the womb. Let me just…let me just take this and twist it around enough. so that you can justify feeling okay with doing whatever you want to do and what everybody else says is okay.”
B/S - That’s…that’s how the enemy tempts Jesus, and Jesus responds by saying in verse 7,
7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
AND HERE – Jesus is quoting from Deuteronomy 6, about when Israel tested God in the wilderness, “Is God not among us? If so He better give us water, prove yourself God?”
QUESTION - why do we…? Why do we test God? Again, it comes down to trust. We test what we don’t trust.
And so, Jesus comes back to that and says, “Don’t…don’t test God, trust God.”
I need to keep moving. One more temptation in Matthew chapter 4,
Temptation #3
8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
In other words, “Here’s a short cut.” Let’s just skip the whole cross thing. You can have the kingdom without the cross.
10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”
I will not worship you satan.
QUESTION – have you ever been tempted to worship satan?
“Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law”
- satanic Golden Rule
NOW UNDERSTAND - Jesus responds by nderlining that this is really about worship. It’s really about idolatry. It’s really about who or what you put your trust in.
You show me what you worship, who you worship, who you put your trust in, where you put your hope—and I’ll show you where you’re going to be most tempted, where you’re most vulnerable to temptation.
Like, if you worship comfort and security…that’s where you put your trust. That’s what you live for…is comfort and security…then you’re going to be really tempted to feel anxious and fearful.
And if you worship pleasure and that’s what you put your hope in and that’s what you live for…you put your trust in pleasure…then you’re going to be tempted with lust .
And if you worship money and possessions…like, that’s…that’s where you’ve put your trust, then you’re going to be tempted with discontentment and envy and jealousy.
And if you worship what other people think of you…like, you put your trust in other people’s opinions…like, that’s kind of what determines whether you have a good day or a bad day, then you’re going to be really tempted with pride or insecurity.
It all comes down to who or what you have put your trust in… It all comes down to worship.
Do you trust Jesus?
Do you trust God that He knows what’s best for you?
Do you trust His timing?
Do you trust His promises?
Do you trust His provision?
Do you trust that He loves you?
Do you trust Him?
AND SO - Jesus is tempted three times, and each time He says, “It is written.”
Now here’s the connection I want to make sure we get before we’re done.
Matthew 4 Jesus is tempted.
In Matthew 3, Jesus is baptized. Don’t miss this connection. It’s really important. Jesus is baptized, and when He is baptized, He receives the weapons He needs for the wilderness… the Word of God and the Spirit of God
(the Spirit did not lead Jesus into battle until He had His weapons)…. We have those same weapons!
Then the devil left Him, and angels came and attended him. - Matthew 4:11
UNDERSTAND – for some of you in this room or watching online, those 6 words are the reason you are here.
BECAUSE – you needed to hear from God that help is on the way. BECAUSE – you need to know that if you hold on, if you hang in there, if you don’t give up or give in, if you hold on to your hope… help is on the way!
WHILE – there is a time for: testing, temptations and trials… it does not last forever. IF WE – hold on to our hope ‘in HIM’ the devil will flee from us. help is on the way!
BROTHERS AND SISTERS…
GOD IS SAYING – trust me in your trial, trust me in your temptation… I’m sending help. SO…
• Hold on to your marriage even though things are messed up right now, because help is on the way!
• Have faith in that financial hardship, help is on the way!
• Fight through that depression even though you don’t feel like it, help is on the way!
• Don’t give into the temptation to ‘do it your way’ and satisfy that need in an ungodly way, help is on the way!
• Don’t become weary in doing good, help is on the way! And you will reap a harvest if you do not give up!
YEAH – I know that the devil is trying to take you out, but HELP is on the way!
One last thing…
Now we read in the Gospels about the temptation of Jesus. But how do we have that?
Because at some point Jesus told the disciples,
“Hey, guys, I want to tell you about something that happened to me.”
It’s remarkable, I think. I don’t know what the evening was like, but let’s say they’re sitting around a fire, having some dinner.
The bread gets passed around, and Jesus is reminded, and He says, “Hey guys, I want to tell you about a time the enemy showed up and I was really tempted.” “You were tempted?” “Yeah, I was. I was tempted.”
Jesus is honest with His temptation. I MEAN - that’s the only reason we know this happened. And if Jesus can be honest with His temptation, then you can be honest with your temptation.
For some of you, you have received the Word of God and you have received the Spirit of God, but you have not been honest with anyone else about the temptation that you’re dealing with.
And because you’ve not been honest about the temptation that you’re dealing with, temptation has become much more tempting to you.
Like, the enemy knows that if you keep it to yourself, that temptation is much more tempting. You feel like you’re weak for being tempted. You’re not weak. Jesus was tempted.
LISTEN - If it’s not weak for Him to be tempted, it’s not weak for you to be tempted. So you need your weapons: the Word of God and the Spirit of God. It’s your only hope.
And you need other people. You need to make sure… that you’re honest with a brother in Christ, a sister in Christ about the temptations that you’re struggling with.
YES – the battle is on!
But ‘in’ and ‘through’ Him the victory is won!
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. – 1 Corinthians 10:13
