Anchored in Truth, not Tossed by Desire

Recap

Following the Baptism and Jesus and the approval of the Father - this is my beloved Son in whom is my delight”, Jesus was led into the wilderness to fast (Seek God) and be tempted by the Devil

Jesus was victorious -

To show us how to succeed - you can.

To be victorious for us, we will not always

When things are going well, that’s when Satan wants to work:

Charles Spurgeon: "I know well that when Christ is nearest, Satan also is busiest. The presence of temptation in your life is not a proof of deterioration, but the contrary, for the more you know of God on the one hand, the more you will know of Satan’s temptation on the other hand"

Moses, Elijah, Peter, Paul, or Jesus

We will spend a few weeks focusing on temptation. The first time I walked into the church Lyndsay attended, I sat in the back row… I was late. She sang that day… and the preacher preached on temptation. I felt like my whole life could be defined by temptation - ever feel that way?

Temptation is real in a spiritual world.

Every day we are just enormous small decisions away from broken hearts, broken homes, violated lives, and death.

Did you hear about so and so…. Temptation is here to steal, kill and destroy what God has given for life.

QUOTE ABOUT TEMPTATION:

1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

Do you believe it about yourself? Your spouse, your children? you friends?

Jesus was led by the Spirit seeking the Father

God’s intention for your life is to be led by Spirit

to Seek God (fasting) in moments of solitude (Wilderness)

Spirit lead me, Father I want to know you, Jesus I need you.

LED IN THE WILDERNESS, NOT WANDERING Corn Maze?

Tempted by the devil (accuser in greek) Satan (accuser in Hebrew)

What Satan intends for destruction, God intends for deliverance

If God said, “this is my beloved Son, in whom is my delight?

Satan questions the truth and attacks desires.

If you are the Son of God (not if you are hungry)

Exalting Jesus in Matthew Self-Gratification

This is the place where Satan works—at the level of our wants.

If you are special to the Father, If He loves you, If He will provide, why do you feel this way? Simply do it yourself.

Truth vs Desire

Jesus was led by the Spirit, too often, we are led by our feelings.

I feel like is all to often is given an unworthy seat at the table. Truth is at the head

I feel like vs I know that

From bitterness to gender confusion to _____________

Truth has the power to align feelings, but feelings are untrustworthy guides to truth

Feelings are incomplete on their own.

Dependent clauses:

Like wrapping paper without a gift

Like paint in need of a canvas

Like letters waiting to be formed into words, FEELINGS MUST BE ORDERED BY TRUTH

FEELINGS THAT ARE NOT ORDERED BY TRUTH WILL ORDER YOU

Feelings are incomplete cravings

hunger when God desires for you to experience health

sex when God desires for you to experience intimacy

fun when God desires for you to experience fulfillment

God desires more than you do.

Not an evil desire -

Doubt the Father, do it your own way.

Exalting Jesus in Matthew Self-Gratification

realize that any attempt to satisfy your wants apart from His will ultimately leads not to delight, but to destruction.

“I feel” leads to bad decisions

Save money by being stingy and lacking generosity

lonely so I settle

need to work hard so I

Parenting according to wants:

______ loves playing

my child doesn’t like sitting in church

______ wants to go to such and such

Know how to feel

Deuteronomy 8:2–3 “And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”

Jesus did not deny desire, He did not ignore desire, he ordered desire.

Placed it in its place: not by bread alone, but by greater desires

Have you ever forgot to eat lunch because you were working hard?

Feelings are incomplete desires

when shaped by truth, they become purpose, calling, mission

shaped by truth

In the Word (yes with solitude)

In Community

On Mission

Don’t give an inch

For new parents, this is a to scale drawing of your child sleeping in your bed.

Billy Graham (20th-century American evangelist):

"Temptation is the devil looking through the keyhole. Yielding is opening the door and inviting him in."

1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

QUOTE"The Devil did not tempt Adam and Eve to steal, to lie, to kill, to commit adultery; he tempted them to live independent of God”

Thomas Brooks: "Satan gives Adam an apple (fruit), and takes away Paradise. Therefore in all temptations let us consider not what he offers, but what we shall lose"

What you will forfeit is much greater than what you stand to gain.