Don't bring a knife to a gun fight
Notes
Transcript
Subject
Subject
What can one do when he finds himself in a situation fighting against the tempter?
Complement
Complement
He should draw on the Word of God to find against the enemy and achieve victory.
Big Idea
Big Idea
One should use the Word of God to fight against every temptation.
Introduction
Introduction
I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a fight. I have. I had a mean right hand and would hit him with a few jabs, then danced around with my footwork and landed an upper cut and that's a knockout. I was undefeated in 15 matches, then I turned off my xbox and went to bed.
In all seriousness though, I have been in a fight before and it wasn’t fun. let’s just say I wasn’t so much the fighter but the fightee. I had no business being in the fight in the first place actually. This happened when I was about 12, my mom and I left China to join my father in England. When I first arrived at school, having a language barrier, I was the only Chinese kid I knew. Everyone around me was different than me and I was assigned a homeroom. A couple of weeks in as I was still getting to know the people around me, during a home ed activity class, a guy I was paired up with was playing around, so he flicked me and naturally I flicked back and he got angry and pushed me, I stumbled and fell with my back to the corner of the table beside me. I started crying and everything, it was not a good look. The worst part is I don’t even think he got reprimanded and the vice principle came and asked if I wanted to switch homerooms. So as the indignant 13 year old, I felt betrayed by the system, injustice was upon me and I felt like this is racial profiling, he targeted me because I am new and I am Asian. Then in a couple of days, we had PE class, and while changing into our sports wear in the change room, I saw him strolling in like he owned the place, came to the corner where I was sitting, and at this point I was looking for the exit. He proceeds to change into his gear and as he stood up he just randomly punched the kid beside him, really really hard. Well so much for the targeted attack and the racial profiling. But I did learn a few things from the experience which is related to the scripture story we are looking at today. First I was uninformed, I did not know this person was the school bully, I did not know what a concept of a bully was, so naturally I took on someone I was uninformed of . Second I was unprepared, I was in no mental state to fight, I did not see what the situation entail and thus unprepared for what was about to come. Thirdly I was unarmed, I have no ability to maneuver nor power to overcome him. So with that, let’s take a look at the first fight that Jesus took on and how he fared.
So as the indignant 13 year old, I felt betrayed by the system, injustice was upon me and I felt like this is racial profiling, he targeted me because I am new and I am Asian. Then
- Jesus was fully informed of his identity in God
- Jesus was fully informed of his identity in God
First we see that Jesus just finished his baptism where the Spirit of God descended upon him like a dove and the heavens opened and a voice came from heaven saying “You are my beloved son; with you I am well pleased. “ I don’t know about you but I would feel pretty good about myself right now, I have all that I need to begin my ministry, make a name for myself and let everyone know how great I am. As we see from v1, the Holy Spirit never departed. It says:
First we see that Jesus just finished his baptism where the Spirit of God descended upon him like a dove and the heavens opened and a voice came from heaven saying “You are my beloved son; with you I am well pleased. “ I don’t know about you but I would feel pretty good about myself right now, I have all that I need to begin my ministry, make a name for myself and let everyone know how great I am. As we see from v1, the Holy Spirit never departed. It says:
1 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness
Luke
But notice that the Spirit did not lead him into Jerusalem where he would attract the most attention but into the wilderness, it is later on the devil took Jesus to Jerusalem. The goal of Jesus’ mission was never about Himself but pointing to the Father, as we shall witness in the following responses he was constantly obedient to that calling. Many people draws contrast of this episode with
2 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.
Deutoronomy 8:2
And for good reason, but with the key caveat that Jesus was obedient to the Lord in every way that the Israelites were not.
in v2 it says he was being tempted by the devil for forty days and he ate nothing during those days. Now many would comment on this saying that the forty days represent the forty days of Moses upon Sinai or the forty years of wondering in the wilderness by the children of Israel but I think we should pay attention to the detail that Jesus most likely was continuously harassed and tempted by the devil all throughout these forty days. I don’t know about you but in my life, temptations can easily be won if I know I am only going to be tempted this once. But reality is that the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. So it is critical that we are informed of the duration and the about of endurance we would need for this fight. It is a full twelve round fight, there’s no knockouts 40 seconds into the fight. You are in it for the long haul and it is not easy.
So we see that he became hungry, I don’t know about you but I can become hungry after forty minutes, let alone forty days. Then at his weakest point physically speaking, The devil began his work. He first challenged him in his identity, he was hoping that Jesus would be misinformed about his identity as the Son of God. I think he was hoping that Jesus would use his divine powers for his own ends and not God’s. That Jesus would come and want to establish his own authority, which by the way, he had every right to. But he chose obedience to the Father.
Sometimes brothers and sisters, when we are misinformed, we make poor judgments about our own identity, and the devil loves to attack us in that misinformation and cause us to place our identity on other things that are given by God but not God Himself. We can easily fall into the temptation of securing for ourselves the gifts and abandon the gift giver whom we ought to worship. So how did Jesus answers him? With scripture, “it is written”. It is the unwavering, inerrant, eternal truth of God that ought to informs us of who we are. This is why Jesus simply respond to the devil by saying “Man shall not live by bread alone.” Now it is probably implied to the first century audience who generally would be familiar with Deuteronomy to complete the second half of that verse “but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord”.
Jesus was prepared to submit his will and offer his worship only to the Lord
Jesus was prepared to submit his will and offer his worship only to the Lord
So then the devil tries his second mode of attack, he comes at Jesus with all the kingdoms of the world in a brief moment. What is important here is to notice that one can really be ill prepared for such a situation. I want you to imagine that all of a sudden you were offered a promotion to the CEO of your company, or some other dream job of yours; if you are married, you’ve wanted to have children for the longest time and all of a sudden your wife comes back with the news that she is pregnant and having twins. If you play sports all of a sudden you won the world championship. There are many situations in life where we are easily enticed with a good thing but at the wrong time. The devils words were enticing but ultimately cannot be trusted. For Jesus was fully prepared because he knows who it was that had granted these authority to him in the first place.
A good thing can easily consume us when we want it for our own gain. So the question then becomes who do you worship, is it money? Career advancement? Recognition and validation from peers? Your health? Your family? Whatever it is that you worship, you will serve and be enslaved to. So Jesus answered again with the Word of God, “You shall worship the Lord you God, and him only shall you serve”
Illustration: The story about financial security
Illustration: The story about financial security
The time when I felt called by the Lord to full time ministry
Worried about my financial future
Wanting to work a few more years to save up more money
Laid off, had to rethink my priorities and realized that I worshiped financial security more than I worshiped God.
We often think the world has more to offer us than God can, so we are unprepared when something comes that we have been striving for, seeking, wanting, longing and when the opportunity presents itself, we jump on it without a second thought as to whether we should pray and ask God first. Or we pray about it and only for our prayer to be a formality, Lord, this is the one you should bless, so bless it so we can move on. This temptation is especially poignant because of its similarity to the temptation at the garden of Eden, it is the refusal to let God be God. You shall worship the Lord you God, and him only shall you serve
: Jesus was armed with an understanding of Scripture that is greater than that of the devil
: Jesus was armed with an understanding of Scripture that is greater than that of the devil
So now the devil is mad, he brings out his big gun, pull out all the stop, giving his best shot, his final move. So you like to use scripture huh? Let me show you scripture then. For this third temptation, he had the audacity to quote scripture. He leads Jesus to Jerusalem, the city which he is to enter as the anointed one of God, he set him on the pinnacle of the temple, which is supposed to be his royal throne. He then challenges Jesus by saying
luke 4:10-11
10 for it is written, “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’ 11 and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ”
This is a direct quotation from
11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.
I believe the devil here is challenging the truthfulness of God’s promise, which is the authority of scripture itself. Though he does begin by saying “if you are the son of God” the real temptation here is to get Jesus to needlessly put God’s promise to the test and thus causing him to invalid the scripture he loves to quote from so much. It is not so much that God’s promise will fail if he had jumped off the ledge but rather his action would invalid the scriptures by testing the Lord’s promise. Thus Jesus responds with the correct hermeneutical response to that misuse of scripture by saying “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test” Which is a direct quotation from .
16 “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah.
In this instance, we see the pinnacle of Jesus’ understanding of scripture and it is greater than the adversary.
Illustration: How to prevent and survive a home invasion
Illustration: How to prevent and survive a home invasion
Or How to survive an active shooter
So we can see from the above that in times of crisis, you need the proper weapons of warfare and Ephesians 6:17 tell us
17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
The word of God is the best weaponry for spiritual warfare and I think this is why the devil does not want us to read, understand and use scripture in our lives. Jesus has set his mind and will in obedience to the Father and thus he effectively used scripture to counteract the attacks of the enemy and achieved victory not because of his divine nature, which he refuses to demonstrate in all three temptations, but by the power of the word of God. By no means did he bring a knife to a gun fight, in fact, he brought a machine gun to a fist fight. Each attack on him from the devil failed so spectacularly it is not even fair.
So in v13 it says that the devil has completed every temptation and departed from him until an opportune moment. The next time he enters into the fray in the Luke Gospel is in 22:3 where he enter Judas Iscariot for the betrayal of Jesus. Then ultimately on the cross, Jesus conquered sin and death, announced the good news for man kind and effectively ended the war with the devil. And it is through his blood and sacrifice, it is through the power of his resurrection, that we too can join him in winning the battles that rages in our lives.
Conclusion
Conclusion
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:31
So let us follow the example that Jesus has set before us, be informed of our identity in God, be prepared to submit our will to God and arm ourselves with the Word of God and be more than conquerors through him who loved us.
So let us follow the example that Jesus has set before us, be informed of our identity in God, be prepared to submit our will to God and arm ourselves with the Word of God and be more than conquerors through him who loved us.
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
be more than conquerors through him who loved us..