How to Fight Temptation Part 2
Notes
Transcript
Last week:
We need the Spirit and the Word to fight temptations
Deprivation can increase temptation
Memorization can help application
God’s commission requires submission.
This week vs 5-13.
Ministries are still tempted as Jesus was:
Materialism:
Pragmatism:
Sensationalism:
And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness
for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry.
The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’ ”
And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time,
and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will.
If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.”
And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’ ”
And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here,
for it is written, “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’
and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ”
And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”
And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.
Jon Courson, in his commentary on Luke, identified those three temptations that ministries face:
Jon Courson’s Application Commentary Chapter 4
I believe the three temptations Jesus faced at the outset of His public ministry are the same three temptations that will come to anyone involved in any aspect of ministry—be it to family or to the body.…
The temptation of materialism. “You should be living in a nicer house,” Satan will whisper. “You’re the King’s kid, aren’t you? Don’t you think He wants you to drive a Mercedes? Aren’t you hungry?”
The temptation of pragmatism. “Look at all those nations,” Satan says. “Shouldn’t they be saved? So you have to bow down to me for just a moment, and look at what you’ll get.”
The temptation of sensationalism. “Come and see the power of God as we jump from the temple,” the evangelist beckons. “Angels will surround us. The glory of God shall move among us. Healings and wonder and glory will flow through us.”
Materialism, pragmatism, and sensationalism—three ways Satan will try to infect a ministry. Watch out. Be as wise as serpents in these last days in which we live.
The materialism temptation runs rampant in Evangelical Christianity today. You are a child of the King, so you should expect to be living royally. Yet we must remember that just as for Jesus, these things were not to be the immediate focus, we also should live our Christian life not for any material benefit we may expect in this life, but for the eternal blessings which God has promised. In light of that, we ought to be willing even to die for Christ’s sake, if He should call us to do that.
May the Lord strengthen us in our times of need not to violate his law and will in order to sooth ourselves with material things. Man cannot live by bread alone, nor by any other comforts we may find in our material goods.
Ministries are still tempted as Jesus was:
Materialism:
Pragmatism:
Sensationalism:
For ministries, materialism may look a little different than for the individual. Ministries mark their success by the size of the giving, or the size of the building, or the modern features of the building. Rather than being built on the all sufficient Word of God, many ministries are built on materialistic desires. The ministry itself may be materialistic, so it teaches and preaches a materialistic gospel that promises the congregation that God will bless them with abundance. In fact, the focus is so heavy on this that there is little time to teach the real gospel. Certainly there is little time to preach about how scripture tells believers how to live, how to walk in a manner worthy of their calling.
Or perhaps that is what they are saying, but they define living in a manner worthy of your calling as living in a manner that glorifies materialism instead of self-sacrifice and a willingness to die to self. Rather than following the example of Jesus who willingly set down his power and wealth, they teach their followers instead to live like King Nebudcannezzar or the Pharoahs of Egypt.
Yet we would be wise to learn from the negative example of Achan, who took plunder for himself. But Achan got caught. Israel was instructed to bring all plunder to the Lord, yet Achan brought it to his own place.
Joshua found him out though. Josh7.19-26
Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the Lord God of Israel and give praise to him. And tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.”
And Achan answered Joshua, “Truly I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I did:
when I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels, then I coveted them and took them. And see, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”
So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and behold, it was hidden in his tent with the silver underneath.
And they took them out of the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the people of Israel. And they laid them down before the Lord.
And Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver and the cloak and the bar of gold, and his sons and daughters and his oxen and donkeys and sheep and his tent and all that he had. And they brought them up to the Valley of Achor.
And Joshua said, “Why did you bring trouble on us? The Lord brings trouble on you today.” And all Israel stoned him with stones. They burned them with fire and stoned them with stones.
And they raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day. Then the Lord turned from his burning anger. Therefore, to this day the name of that place is called the Valley of Achor.
Should we not learn a lesson from this about the dangers of materialism? And this is why Jesus was wise to refuse to go against the plan of God and turn the rocks into bread. Man cannot live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. Let us beware of our materialistic desires.
Ministries are still tempted as Jesus was:
Materialism:
Pragmatism:
Sensationalism:
The next danger we see in these temptations of Jesus is pragmatism. Pragmatism is a very real danger to the church and how it conducts itself. But what is pragmatism? Basically, pragmatism is a philosophy that says “if it works, it must be good, or at least ok”. But pragmatism ultimately leads to making truth relative. Pragmatism is saying that the truth of the message is less important than the response to that message.
So a pragmatic church or preacher may look to see what the most popular preachers and churches are doing and try to duplicate it. But pragmatism will never try to duplicate expository preaching or solid bible studies. Pragmatism is saying the only way the church can grow and thrive is if it competes with other churches in offering entertainment or comfortable atmospheres, or non-confrontational talks rather than preaching. Pragmatism and materialism are closely related.
Pragmatism often draws on the human tendency toward materialism. So pragmatism will say to the crowds, come here, we have a nicer facility, come here, we have a Starbucks in our lobby. Come here, we have fancy lights and fog and a really loud band. Come here, we will never make you feel bad about your sin. Come here, and we will tell you how much God thinks you are so great, rather than telling you to bow before a great God.
Pragmatism says that whatever brings in the 3 B’s is good. The three B’s that measure the success of a church in many people’s eyes. Buildings, bucks and backsides in the seats. And sadly, this is the assumed answers many preachers expect are being sought when someone asks how their ministry is doing. 2 pastors may meet at a conference, and one says, brother, how is your church doing? And the answer will be something like this: Well, we are in a building project right now. We have 300 attending on Sunday, and the finances are excellent.
Or many pastors, who cannot make such good reports, will just shrug off the question since they are embarrassed to answer. And yet, not many pastors will say, like Paul did, I rejoice, because faith is growing in the people of God, and they are growing in love for one another! They are persevering under trial! Do you know what i like to think about and thank God for? That people in the congregation are asking difficult questions as they seek to better understand God’s word. That people spontaneously decide to seek out new opportunities to serve. That before even being asked, people step in to help out.
If God should bless us with increase in the 3 B’s, we should rejoice and thank Him. But if we hold these up as our only mark of success, we will be always tempted towards pragmatism. It is a sad truth, but many churches have leadership that is unconcerned with the truth. The preaching is weak or even wrong. Yet they will boast in their numbers; They will say, but many people are coming there, isn’t that a good thing? But I ask you, would you attribute this same measure to say that Islam is successful, and that Mecca must be a great church, since millions travel every year there on pilgrimage.
Pragmatism is good for businesses that want to make the most money possible, but pragmatism in the church can be disastrous. And this is the temptation Jesus faces in Luke4.5-7
And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time,
and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will.
If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.”
Why go through the struggle, Jesus? You know you have to go to great struggle and sacrifice to get your kingdom, let me give you a shortcut. But Jesus was not interested in this shortcut. Luke4.8
And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’ ”
Kent Hughes put it this way: “Jesus drew himself up, faced the devil head-on across the wild desolation, and quoted again from Deuteronomy 6:13
where Moses warned his people who were attracted to idolatry, ‘it is written, “worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’ There was to be no compromise in Jesus’ ministry, no concessions to the power brokers of this world, no seeking improper ease, no idolatry. Again we must cry, ‘All praise to Christ Jesus!’ We must not fall to the common error of supposing that the temptations that came to Jesus were somehow easy. They were excruciating. Jesus met them as a human totally dependent on the Father, not as a quisi-man.”
Perhaps you wonder how the devil had this authority, to offer these things to Jesus. Courson says, “you see, when Adam and Eve chose to listen to Satan rather than God, they, in effect, handed him the title deed of the planet. That is the reason for the pain and the problems that beset our world daily, our lives individually. The lust of the eyes doesn’t refer only to looking at something that would tempt or stimulate you to do wrong. The lust of the eyes is seeing any other way than God’s to accomplish His purpose”
Again, our Lord was up to this task, to fight and defeat the temptations he faced. We must strive to be up to the task as well. pragmatism has caused too many churches to sell out, and even entire denominations. They will say, “if we don’t relax our standards on this issue, we will lose people”. So they go against the very word of God, and water down the Bible, and to their own detriment. And sadly, in some cases, to their own damnation. When Jesus says to some of those who will say to him, “Lord, Lord,”, and to whom He will say, “I never knew you”, we can certainly conclude that many in that camp will be the pragmatists who put convenience or the hard work of knowing scripture, who put attendance numbers over the discipleship work they were called to, who glorified the building they created over the Creator who they supposedly built it in honor of.
Pragmatists will say we can partner with the world, as long as it helps our bottom line. In Nazi Germany, it was pragmatists in the church who sold out the church to the control of the Nazi party. This is what grieved Bonhoeffer and many others. These pragmatists valued their own favor with Hitler more than their favor with God. The immediate danger to their bodies if they did not comply with Hitler and the Nazis caused many to put their very souls in danger by abandoning the foundations Luther had set, that the faith was dependent on Scripture alone as its guide, and instead they chose the politically expedient way.
Soon the church was a version of the abomination that caused desolation. Churches were draped with swastikas and sang the songs of the Nazi party. But the bishops and ministers at least could say they kept their lives and were not sent off to a reeducation camp, right? How many churches will continue to go down the path of pragmatism in our time? For many, it is simply more important to be loved by the world than to declare the truths of scripture.
Ministries are still tempted as Jesus was:
Materialism:
Pragmatism:
Sensationalism:
The last temptation had the element of sensationalism. Jesus could show off by jumping from the highest point of the temple. He would be a heroic figure, rather than a traveling rabbi living without a place to lay his head. I think perhaps many of us at times have daydreamed about being the hero. We imagine ourselves being in a situation where we do something amazing, and people see it, and we are celebrated for it. Young men dream of being a hero on a battlefield, or a super hero, or going into a burning building to save a baby. Others imagine themselves as the surgeon who performed a life-saving operation.
Some imagine themselves on the stage, or on TV, or the move screen. Some imagine themselves in a politically powerful position. How many of us, even in our school days, tried some foolish thing to get the attention of our fellows students?
And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here,
for it is written, “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’
and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ”
Not only is this temptation towards the sensational, but also we learn from it that the devil has adapted his tactics to Jesus’ defense. In the first two temptations, Jesus resisted them because He knew the Word of God and how to apply it. In both cases, he quoted from Deuteronomy. God’s Word was hidden in his heart, that he might not sin against God the Father. We see once more that knowing our Bibles is important to protect us from going in a bad direction and sinning. Jesus knew His Bible, and how to apply it to the situation.
In the first two cases, he used scripture to fight the temptations. But in the third case, the devil uses scripture in his temptation. We learn a couple of lessons from this. First, that the devil, and even workers of iniquity in the church, have many times throughout history, distorted the word of God in order to get people to reject God’s ways in an attempt to please their flesh. Here the devil quotes from the Psalms.
The devil is saying, “see, Jesus!” Scripture is practically telling you to do this. You will prove God’s faithfulness!”
Let’s look at the Psalm referred to here: Psalm 91
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.
A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.
You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked.
Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place— the Most High, who is my refuge—
no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent.
For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.
On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.
“Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name.
When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.
With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”
Kent Henry said of this final temptation, “It was a powerful, beguiling temptation. Satan was in effect saying, “In the first temptations, you have shown your trust in God’s Word. You are a fruitful man - Psalm 91 is you! This is what the people are looking for in a Messiah. You are a man of faith, aren’t you? Just jump, and the whole world will see who you really are!”
But Kent Henry says later that we must not test him through rationalized disobedience. We can try all day long to twist scripture to our own liking, to try and make scripture say what we want it to say so that we can do what we want to do. That is a tendency many of us have. But rather than that, we need to strive to know the scriptures so well that any attempt by anyone, human or demon, to convince us to believe lies about what the Bible says will fail miserably.
I had the honor of listening to Sinclair Ferguson Friday evening as he preached from 2 Tim3 on the sufficiency of scripture. He used such a great illustration I thought I must use it, and it fits with our lesson this morning, even though I am preaching on a different main topic.
The illustration is that of a great musician who had taken care to learn a piece of music so well that they could play it without a score. Occasionally you may have seen this, or at least on video. for example, a piano player may learn a piece by Chopin or Bach and memorize it so that with now sheet music at all in front of them, they can play it. I played Trumpet in High School. And since we played certain songs again and again, I had them memorized. One was the national anthem, the other was our school song. I suppose there may have been others I had memorized more or less. But those were simple songs, and the Trumpet part is only one part, unlike a piano, where the player is playing multiple notes simultaneously.
But the musician who plays nearly perfectly without having any score of music in front of them knows it so well he simply “plays it”. So how does a Christian get to the point where they can just live it, or play it? In other words, if a Christian could possibly follow the command to live a manner worthy of the gospel, how could they even do it? They need to know scripture so well, that, just like that musician, they simply play it as they go.
All of us need to know scripture so well that no matter what decision we must make, no matter what temptation we must face, that the ways of God are so ingrained in us that we simply “play it”. When I was a senior in High School, I no longer needed the sheet music to play the school song or the national anthem. May God help me to know His Word so well that in every situation I find myself in, I may just play it in a manner worthy of Christ.
Now, Sinclair uses that illustration to wrap up his message about the sufficiency of scripture, meaning all we need to live a life honoring God is found in his word. And certainly the application of that illustration was apt for his message. My application for it may be slightly more narrow to this area of temptation. We can see from the example of Christ that if we know how to rightly apply God’s word, we can overcome those who would twist God’s Word to steer us astray.
I remind you of what I said last week, though. Remember that not all temptation comes from Satan; often it comes from our own lower nature. James 1.14-15
But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.
Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
As we near the end of this message, let me pose a final thought to you. Remember that the gospel writers have put the account of Jesus temptation in writing for us to learn about. However, they were not present as first-and observers. So how did they know about these temptations, what strategy the devil used, how Jesus fought him off? There is only one way that they could have known this. Jesus must have told them.
Imagine how encouraging this must have been! Jesus telling them about his temptation, and how he used the Word of God to fight off this temptation. Indeed, I can imagine Jesus repeated these lessons more than once, as he did many of his parables. In these lessons He was teaching his disciples how to win. You see, you need not be discouraged, no matter how you may have failed in the past in fighting off temptation. You may indeed win the battle. You see, Jesus does not make you pay for the full seminar to find out his strategies to win. He has given us all we need in the Word of God.
It is our job to know it and learn to apply it. Let us strive to know it so well that like the musician who plays from memory, we simply play it out, that is, scripture, with every breath we take and with every move we make. As we do this, we can fight the temptation of materialism, as we are reminded that whatever we have in this life will not be taken with us in the next, and that our eternal state is more important than the here and now.
We can fight the temptation of pragmatism, where we would tend to measure our success not based on our faithfulness which is of immeasurable value, but on measurable things like those 3 B’s I spoke of.
We can fight the temptation of Sensationalism, as we will realize that anything done against God’s will, not matter how much attention it gets us, doe not glorify our good God.
Ministries are still tempted as Jesus was:
Materialism:
Pragmatism:
Sensationalism:
As Jesus struggled against these temptations, he was willing to have patience and trust in God’s plan. This was only the first recorded time when Jesus was taunted about proving himself to people. They challenged him to do more miracles, to show more signs, to prove himself. Again and again, Jesus lived out the Father’s will, which was in many of those times he was being challenged, “not yet”.
Today we celebrate Palm Sunday. Luke19.28-40
And when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.
When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples,
saying, “Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here.
If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘The Lord has need of it.’ ”
So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them.
And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?”
And they said, “The Lord has need of it.”
And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it.
And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road.
As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen,
saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.”
He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”
Jesus was at that moment being celebrated as the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Perhaps to many, this would have seemed to be a great time to make his move, to take control of everything. And yet, the Father, one last time, whispered in His ear, “not yet”. He must continue to submit himself to what the Father had in store for him.
For Jesus, throughout his ministry, there were many “not yet” moments. And still, we have a final promise, that Jesus will return. Up to this moment, it has been “not yet”, but soon, and very soon, Jesus will come again. His patience will have pleased the Father, and He himself will be glorified as the one and only true King.
Following our Lord’s example, we each must also continue to endure whatever suffering He has called us to, knowing that we also will be glorified if we are in Christ. But for us, that is not yet. not yet. We will, one day, be completely and totally sanctified, free entirely from any last vestige of sin that would cling to us. We will be totally free from sin, not willing to sin, not even desiring it, not even being tempted by it. But not yet. In the meantime, we must try to be obedient to our Heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
And you can live in a victorious way now, even in the midst of struggle and suffering. Jesus could endure it because He knew the end of the story. So can we live through the times of struggle and trials and temptations, and mistreatment and even persecution to the death if that is what Jesus calls us to. Why? Because we trust the Word of God and all of its promises! Jesus has saved those who are in Him, He will come again, and He has given His Spirit to each who He has chosen as His own.
The Spirit of God, the same spirit that ministered to Jesus and strengthened Him in each of His trials, is the same Spirit given to each believer. Rom8.11
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
What kind of power is this? Resurrection power! Each believer has access to this resurrection power! What greater power is there than the Spirit who brought to life the dead! This is why we can live victoriously over our temptations. We are heirs of Christ, and part of our inheritance is the Holy Spirit, which helps us to put to death the deeds of the body. Even in suffering we may have the strength from God the Holy Spirit.
So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.
For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
So yes, we can live victoriously over temptations. We may still lose a battle here and there, but God has won the war! So we do not live like little wimps, who say, “but Lord, my temptations are so great! I must be tempted beyond anyone else to keep falling into sin!” No, we live with victory over sin because Christ had victory over the grave.
We will be tempted, we will be tried, we will suffer, we will endure pain in this life. But Christ is already victorious! We must never forget in the midst of our trials that He has won the victory! We will be tempted towards materialism, and we can answer back to that temptation, I am instead choosing to be content! Paul gave us encouragement to be content!
I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.
I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
We will be tempted by pragmatism, when it seems easier to do what produces results, even when it goes against God’s will. Yet we can say, like our Lord did, I will trust in God, that following His ways will ultimately be better for me than any temporary situation.
We will be tempted towards sensationalism, to gain an audience and fans. Yet, we can remember that Paul trusted not in putting on a show, but in presenting Christ crucified
And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.
For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling,
and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
And why did Paul preach this? Rom1.6-17
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
And so, rather than trying some novel new approach to doing church, we will stick with these basics. We will trust that the message of the cross is sufficient to bring men, women, and children to Christ. We will trust that the gospel is the power of God for everyone who believes
We will look to the example of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the lamb who was slain, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Prince of Peace, the Holy One, the Righteous One, the eternal Jesus Christ, Lord of all heaven and Earth. His example of how to defeat temptations is clear and written for us to learn from and follow.
We will repent of our failures and know that he forgives that which we confess to Him, and we will stand up once again to go into the fight against sin. We will not allow past failures on our part to discourage us from knowing that Christ has already done His part, and so, “it is finished”. Rest, then, brothers and sisters in Christ. Rest and know that the war is already won, even as we continue to fight some battles. You have the power of the living and omnipotent Spirit of God, who capably raised Christ from the dead, living in you!
May God help us to live out this life to which we are called, for His glory, and for Jesus’ sake.