Overcoming Sin
Notes
Transcript
Doxology:
This is my Bible. It is God’s Holy Word. It is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path, and I will hide its words within my heart, that I might not sin against God. Amen!
Scripture Reference: Luke 4:1-13
Last week, we looked at the baptism of Jesus. We were able to see how John declared Jesus as the Lamb of God. That moment was a very high moment. It was climactic. We see the Holy Trinity in action; we see the Holy Spirit alighting upon Christ; we see God the Father speak from heaven, acknowledging Jesus as His Son.
But this week, we see a drastic shift: Look with me at what Mark says:
11 Then a voice came from heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
12 Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness.
As soon as the events of His baptism were finished, the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness. It was during this time, that Jesus was tested like no other.
1 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,
2 being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.
3 And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
4 But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ”
5 Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
6 And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.
7 Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.”
8 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”
9 Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here.
10 For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you,’
11 and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ”
12 And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ”
13 Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.
Context
Context
Would you believe me if I told you that Satan had only three tools in his toolbox? That’s right. Today, we are looking at the temptations that Satan brought against Jesus, in the attempt to cause Him to sin. If Satan could cause Jesus to sin, then everything else afterwards would not have happened. It was the sinlessness of Jesus that allowed Him to be who He was. Without absolute perfection, Jesus could not have become the spotless Lamb of God, who would take away the sin of the world.
As we will see, Satan takes three attempts to bring Jesus down. But what I want you to see and understand is that these three types of temptation are the same three types of temptation that Satan brings to every single one of us. Every temptation can be classified in one of these three categories.
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.
17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. These are the same three types of temptations that Satan brings against us again and again. He doesn’t need any more than that. He is so good at administering these three temptations that it simply works. We fail over and over to the same three temptations.
The lust of the flesh is a temptation against the body. It is the temptation of doing something. It deals with our passions.
The lust of the eyes is a temptation against the soul. It is the temptation of having something. It deals with our possessions.
The pride of life is a temptation against the spirit. It is the temptation of being something. It deals with our pride.
These are the same three temptations that Satan has used from the very beginning. He used them against Adam and Eve.....and they worked. He has been using them ever since.....and they still work.
1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden;
3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.
5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
“The tree was good for food” - That is the lust of the flesh.
“It was pleasant to the eyes” - That is the lust of the eyes.
“A tree desirable to make one wise” - That is the pride of life.
These three temptations worked on Adam and Eve, they have worked on all of us, and they are the ones Satan bring to Jesus. Because of his perfect track record of causing all to sin, he is sure of himself. He has no doubt that Jesus will fall victim to these temptations, just as every other person has. But Christ is no normal man. He is the Son of God indeed.
Comparing Adam’s temptation with that of Jesus reveals some obvious differences and makes Jesus’ victory over His temptation all the more remarkable:
Adam faced temptation in the best possible surroundings, the garden of Eden. Jesus faced temptation in the worst imaginable setting—the wasteland of the Judean desert.
Adam lived in the sinless perfection of the pre-fall world. Jesus lived in a sinful, fallen world. No overwhelming buildup of temptation lured Adam into sin, because he yielded to the first temptation he faced. Jesus, on the other hand, faced repeated temptations over the first thirty years of His life (Heb. 4:15), and intense temptation during the forty days before the final three recorded here.
Adam feasted on all the lush provisions the garden had to offer. Jesus was weakened by forty days of fasting.
In the best of circumstances, Adam fell; in the worst imaginable circumstances, Jesus did not.
The consequences of Adam’s fall to temptation were lethal to the human race; the consequences of Jesus’ triumph over temptation were life-giving.
Content
Content
The Lust of the Flesh
The Lust of the Flesh
3 And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
On the surface, this temptation seems pretty straight forward. Jesus has fasted for 40 days. Many of us do good to make it 4 hours without some type of food. Jesus was hungry. No doubt about that. As many of us say, “He could have eaten a horse.” He had to be starving.
So, in a very basic sense, the temptation was to turn stones into bread so that He could eat. But what exactly is the temptation here? Eating bread, in and of itself, is not wrong.
Jesus taught us to pray and said, “Give us this day our daily bread.”
Jesus fed the 5,000 with what.....bread and fish.
Jesus broke bread and ate it with His disciples at the last supper.
Bread is not the issue here. Satan is attempting to destroy the perfect unity of the Holy Trinity.
22 And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.”
1 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,
We must remember that Jesus is 100% God, but He is also 100% man.
We all have moments in our lives when we are filled with the Holy Spirit....some more than others, but none of us are able to remain in that condition permanently. We are not perfect.
Jesus on the other hand, remained full of the Spirit at all times. This means that He constantly denied the flesh and the desires of it, so that He could walk fully in the Spirit.
God was pleased with Jesus because of His perfect obedience and faith. Satan is attempting to destroy that perfect fellowship by trying to get Jesus to put his fleshly desires first.
“I know you’re hungry. Since You are the Son of God, you should not have to fast as other men do. You should not have to put Yourself through such torment. You are already perfect. If anyone has a right to make these stones bread and eat, it is You. You have fasted long enough.
Furthermore, if the Heavenly Father loves You so much, then why did He lead You into this desolate place? You are in the middle of one of the most desolate places on Earth. All that is here is dirt and rocks and You. Where is His love in that. You were sent here to bring life, but looks like to me that all He is trying to do is bring death.....to You. Come on.....eat!!!”
Satan knew that in the incarnation, Jesus had voluntarily set aside the independent use of His divine power.
Jesus was fully God. This is indisputable.
9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;
Furthermore, He knew who He was and what He was capable of.
53 Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?
54 How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?”
He chose to live as a man, to operate as a man, and fulfill the righteousness of God as man.
5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.
8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Satan knew this. His temptation was not about making bread. It was about tempting Jesus to doubt the provision of God. “The Father is going to kill You. You have not eaten in 40 days. You cannot survive like this. You must exercise Your Divine power and turn these stones into bread. Save Yourself.”
How many times have we all faced this same type of temptation? How many times have we worried because God has not answered our prayer, and in panic, decided to meet our needs in our own strength and effort? If God has led you into a place, like the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness. You must remain strong. You cannot allow the lies of Satan to tempt you where you are. God brought you there. God will sustain you there. God will come through, but you must remain faithful.
But how? How are we supposed to remain faithful is such trying times?
Listen to what Jesus said about the issue:
4 But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ”
This interaction between Satan and Jesus is heavily synonymous with Israel and the wilderness. Jesus fasted for 40 days, and Israel was in the wilderness for forty years.
Satan is saying, “Jesus.....think about it. Those rebellious people constantly doubted God. They complained all the time, and not matter how many times God performed miracles for them, they still doubted Him. But even so, He still provided food for them. He rained down manna from heaven. He provided quail for them to eat. He brought forth water from the rock. Yet, He has done none of that for you.”
Jesus’ response, is quote Scripture:
3 So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.
Jesus quotes this with Israel in mind. What is He getting at? Israel did get manna from heaven. Israel did get quail from the sky and water from a rock. Guess what.....they still died in the wilderness.
You can have all the worldly pleasures that satisfies the lust of the flesh, and you can still die in the wilderness.
My goal is not to satisfy the flesh, but to give way to the Spirit in my life. I will not fret or complain for lack of fleshly things for the spiritual filling of God is more important. If I have that, I will be fine.
34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.
31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
1 My son, do not forget my law, But let your heart keep my commands;
2 For length of days and long life And peace they will add to you.
3 Let not mercy and truth forsake you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart,
4 And so find favor and high esteem In the sight of God and man.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and depart from evil.
8 It will be health to your flesh, And strength to your bones.
9 Honor the Lord with your possessions, And with the firstfruits of all your increase;
10 So your barns will be filled with plenty, And your vats will overflow with new wine.
19 And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
We must maintain the integrity of the inner man. This is why so much emphasis is placed upon reading the Bible, Studying the Bible, Memorizing Scripture, Praying to God, having quite time with the Lord, and so on. Our relationship with God is a must. As we lean into our relationship with Him, the love for worldly, fleshly things fades away.
But the opposite is also true. As we spend time and energy claiming and gaining worldly fleshly things, the love for Godly things fades away.
Jesus leaned into and trusted with His life the truths of God’s Word. If we do the same, we can overcome this temptation. The lust of the flesh is so tricky. It plays on the desire of our flesh. The only thing that can combat this desire is to have a greater desire. It is to desire God more than the things of this world. If we do that, we can be successful.
The Lust of the Eyes
The Lust of the Eyes
The Pride of Life
The Pride of Life
Commitment
Commitment
11 Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.
