Spiritual Turnaround

Tonight our series “Out of the wilderness” moves out of the Old Testament into the New Testament with a look at a wilderness situation that is very unique indeed.

Again, the wilderness is a territory that is rough, rocky, dry, lifeless ground. The wilderness is not a place where new life is cultivated very easily.

But as we have seen with Moses, the Israelites, and David, the wilderness is a place of turn around.

As we have stated before, God has a way of turning dry, rocky, lifeless situations around!

In all three of the before mentioned instances, the people (or peoples) mentioned found themselves in the wilderness for various reasons. It was God and God alone who radically turned the situations around bringing honor and glory to His name.

The wilderness is a tough place to be. It is not a place that anyone really ever wants to be, but at times, it is where life has taken us. This could be a result of voluntary or involuntary action. No matter how we get there, understand God has amazing ways of getting us out of there!

Today is a day of turn around. Our message this evening speaks of one of the greatest turn around stories recorded in the Word.

We are going to see a direct confrontation. We are going to see darkness come against light, deception come against truth, and hate come against love. The two most opposing forces in the universe are about to have a conversation that would reveal how the rest of the eternal story is going to play out.

Sin is nasty, and with sin comes nasty consequences. Again, going back to the original sin, we can see the direct result play out right before our eyes.

Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden had but one command. Don’t eat the forbidden fruit or you will surely die. The rest of the Garden was theirs to fully enjoy! The most remarkable reality at this time was their fellowship with God. God created us to be relational.

When Adam was created, God saw that it was not good for Adam to be alone. So what did God do? He created out of Adam, Eve, to help fulfill the relational need within Adam.

God responded amazingly to that need of relationship. But another relational need was made very apparent. The most important relational need that exists within us is our need for the creation to be connected to the creator.

How is this derived? We look at where did the serpent launched his attack. He didn’t go after Adam and Eve’s relationship. He attacked the relationship Adam and Eve had with God.

The moment they disobeyed the Lord’s command their relationship with God would change. Adam and Eve had stepped into the realm of sin, a place where God could not go.

So the result of sin is broken relationship with God. This result is still in play today. The Bible makes clear we’ve all sinned in Romans 3:23 and that the wages of sin is death according to Romans 6:23.

If we’ve all sinned, then we all suffer from a broken relationship with God that will ultimately end up in eternal death. Not a future anyone looks forward to for sure! But this WAS our reality under the curse of sin nonetheless.

If there was ever a situation that was ripe for turn around it would be this! Sin itself is much like a physical wilderness. It leaves us spiritually rocky, dry, and barren. It strips us of life and leaves us for dead. There is and will never be any hope in sin.

God was about to intervene! God was about to turn this terrible “wilderness” situation around. And today, we watch God send a message to the enemy. The enemy may have thought he had won, but such was not the case. God’s message would rock the supposed victory and loose the condemning grip sin had upon the Lord’s creation. God’s message to the enemy was clear: Devil, your days are numbered.

Where is it in scripture that we see this message? Where is it that we see such a tremendous thing take place? Did this message come from the cross? No. It comes before that. It comes… from the wilderness. It comes from an amazing situation where, as I said before, darkness would confront the light and… lose.

How He gets there.

Jesus is now on earth and is preparing to begin His earthly ministry. One of the steps He takes in His preparation is water baptism. Jesus finds John the Baptist in Jordan and request to be baptized. John agrees and we see something important take place in Matthew 3:16-17

Matthew 3:16–17 NIV

16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

Powerful words spoken of the Father! What a powerful moment as Jesus begins His ministry on earth! But if we are not careful, we can miss something extremely important in this picture.

Matthew 3:16 specifies that the Spirit of God descended like a dove and remained on Jesus. And note the form. Note how it is described in Matthew 3:16. The Spirit of God has a bodily form like that of a dove.

Although Jesus was both fully God and fully man while on earth, He would remain dependent upon the Spirit’s power and leading throughout His entire earthly ministry.

in Scripture, we find places where the dove represents peace, where the dove represents purity, and in this case, the dove also represents the power of God’s Spirit now resting upon and working in the life of Jesus.

After being baptized in water… after the foretelling of what Jesus had come to this earth to do… when the dove descended upon Jesus it was as if God was placing a stamp or a seal upon His Son as He declared He was well pleased.

How important is a “seal” like this? Consider this. Auto makers are doing this a lot recently. If you buy a used Toyota from a Toyota dealership they encourage you to look for something specific: be sure the car is certified. What does this mean? It means they have gone through the vehicle intensively making sure everything works, and everything runs. They place their stamp of approval on the car. The “maker” says this car has passed its test.

This dove, this stamp “certified” Jesus as pure, undefiled, untouched by sin and empowered by the Spirit. Jesus was truly blameless before God and man!

Now, this is not the point of confrontation I have been alluding to, but it helps sets the stage. Jesus now certified by God Himself, is getting ready to face what might be called the testing of a lifetime. Here is where we will see the turning point. Here is where we will see the confrontation. Matthew 4:1

Matthew 4:1 NIV

1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

The very same Spirit that had descended upon Jesus the previous chapter before, is the same Spirit that would lead Jesus, to the wilderness, to be tempted or tested by the devil.

Jesus willfully followed the leading of the Spirit. Jesus was not made to do this or forced to do this. Jesus submitted to the leading of the Spirit voluntarily. The reason for the Spirit’s leading was clear, to be tempted by the devil.

Tempted in one sense can mean tested or tried; to put one’s faith to a sever proof. Tempted can also mean to entice, solicit, or provoke sin.

In Jesus’ case while in the wilderness, “to be tempted” is to be understood in both ways. The Spirit led Jesus to the wilderness to have His faith tested, and since the agent of said temptation was the devil whose goal was to separate Jesus from His allegiance with God, the enemy was trying to provoke sin.

Just like Adam and Eve. Satan goes for Jesus’ relationship with God. He comes prepared with some tricks up his sleeve, and we witness the confrontation between light and darkness unfold.

This story wouldn’t play out like Adam and Eve, although there are some amazing similarities. Remember, this is a story of turn around. Where Satan hoped for a fall, Jesus would deliver a strong message: Not this time devil. Matthew 4:2-11

Matthew 4:2–11 NIV

2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 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.

The enemy hits Jesus in three areas. After forty days of no food, Jesus is hungry. Satan tries to move on Jesus’ discomfort. Satan goes after what I would call, the body.

Make bread of these stones and satisfy your hunger.

How many times does the enemy try to get at us through our discomfort? How many times has he used this play out of his playbook? Jesus doesn’t go for it. Despite His hunger pains Jesus stays true to the Father. He responds by using scripture, a text that comes from Deuteronomy 8:3.

“Okay, if he’s going use scripture in his fight, I’ll use some in mine” the devil thought. He couldn’t get to Jesus through the body so his next move is to go to His mind. Jump off the temple and God will save you because it says so in Psalm 91:11-12. This test may seem foolish, but how many fall for it! This is like saying “God will protect me even if I blatantly step out of His will on my own!”

Jesus again respond with the Word. He responds with Deuteronomy 6:16. Jesus isn’t giving any part of His mind for the enemy to play in.

So Satan pulls out his final attempt. He goes for Jesus’ heart, His soul, His identity. The devil is getting desperate so he pulls out one final deception. “Worship me, and I’ll give you everything you see.”

Jesus responds in His most assertive way yet. “Away from me” Jesus declares as He again battles the situation with God’s Word using Deuteronomy 6:13.

And with that, the confrontation ends and the message given was clear. YOUR DAYS ARE NUMBERED DEVIL for the Son of God has come to do only what HE CAN DO!

Satan tried to remove the seal of God from Jesus’ life by leading Jesus to sin. Such an action would have disqualified Jesus from doing what He did on the cross at Calvary.

Satan went after his identity… he tried to get Jesus to sin by “proving” He was the Son of God. But Jesus had nothing to prove to the enemy that day… for the proof would fully be revealed the moment His blood crushed sin and effects on the cross.

SATAN FAILED. What happened in the wilderness was a spiritual turning point. The devil realized Jesus was the real deal. The devil realized his influence was coming to an end. The devil realized Jesus is going to… win. There was NOTHING the devil could do about it. As John 1:4-5 reads,

John 1:4–5 NIV

4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

How He Gets us Out of There.

As I stated in the introduction, today is a day of turn around. Today is a day in which we remind the devil his days are numbered, and his influence is over.

For Jesus, His trial, His test came in the area of proving the authenticity of the “seal” God had placed upon Him. He passed the test with flying colors!

But what about us? We’ve failed! We have sin in our lives. Our relationship with God was broken because of our disobedience. I want to be clear: The focus of this sermon is not so much the testing of Jesus that we saw take place in the wilderness, but the message Jesus sent in the passing of the test: YOU ARE DONE DEVIL. Your days are numbered.

We have failed. We have messed up. But because of Jesus we now have opportunity to send that same message to the enemy: YOU ARE DONE DEVIL! We have found victory over you in Jesus!

This message does not come from our successes of failures, but from Jesus’s victory on the cross! It is only through Jesus that we find this victory! It is only through Jesus that we find freedom from sin!

You see, because Jesus was the ultimate symbol of purity, because Jesus was undefiled, blameless before God and man, His life became the ULTIMATE sacrifice, the all-sufficient payment of sin. His blood is our new covering, our atonement for all of our wrong doings.

Through His death we find everlasting life! Through His resurrection we find undeniable victory!

In Christ, we experience the ultimate turn around. We go from darkness to light, from judgement to grace, from death to life, and from old to new!

But something must take place before we experience ANY of that. We compared sin to the wilderness. Sin takes us to a spiritual place that is dry, rocky, and lifeless. If we keep on the sin path it will only lead us deeper into this spiritual wilderness.

What is required is a word we use often, but I fear is greatly misunderstood. That word is repentance. The very meaning of turn around.

Repentance is more than apologizing. Repentance is saying “forgive me of my sin and help me to leave that life of sin.” It’s turning from sin, leaving sin behind, walking away from sin.

Before Jesus had come to John the Baptist (who was ministering in the wilderness by the way) John’s message to all who would hear was quite simple. Matthew 3:2

Matthew 3:2 NIV

2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

Repent… turn away from, turn around. Tell the devil what’s up. Tell him that he’s done in your life. Tell him he no longer has influence over you. Tell him sin no longer reigns in your body.

Repent and receive what the Lord has in store. Repent and receive life, forgiveness, mercy, grace, deliverance, redemption, comfort, hope, peace, and freedom. Repent and allow the Lord to lead you from the wilderness. Allow Him to lead you from a place of lifelessness, to a place full of life, or life more abundantly as John 10:10 (KJV) declares!

And I want to show you one more thing that I find truly amazing! Did you know that after a person gives their life to the Lord, God places a seal upon them?

Ephesians 1:13-14 reads

Ephesians 1:13–14 NIV

13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

When you came to know Jesus as Lord and Savior, not only were you redeemed by the blood, but you were sealed by the Holy Spirit… marked by God Himself indicating that you know belong to Him! That relationship the devil worked so hard to destroy has been restored! The wilderness of sin we once found ourselves is left far behind. In fact, in Christ, our sin has been removed from us as far as the east is from the west!

Closing

If you’re here today and you find yourself in a spiritual wilderness I want your full attention right here, right now.

You don’t have to stay where you are! Jesus has come to help take you from that place of struggle and barrenness. Jesus has come to set you free!

The key is in realizing your need for Jesus. We can’t do this on our own!

That is why we must turn from sin and turn to Jesus. That is why we repent. Only Jesus can bring dead things back to life!

The enemy will do everything he can to bring a separation between you and God.

He wants to divide you from the presence of God. He wants to get you entangled in sin. For the enemy knows how sin can affect every part of who we are and who God created us to be.

But when we say no to the devil and yes to Jesus, we come out of that sin wilderness and into the arms of our Savior. Our heart is no longer filled with dread and shame but is now filled and sealed with God’s Holy Spirit.

So tonight, I want to first pray for relationships that the enemy set out to destroy.

God, through His Son, desires to FULLY restore your relationship, your fellowship with Him! God wants to renew you and restore you! But you must be willing to say yes to God! If that is what you would like to do tonight, I invite you to pray with me.

Secondly, we want to pray for turn around.

You realize there is sin in your life that needs to be dealt with. You realize it is leading you deeper into a wilderness, further from the presence of Jesus. It is time to repent. It is time to tell the enemy, “You are done devil.”

Listen friends, today is a day of turn around. Today is a day we leave sin behind us and embrace the love of God before us. Leave it at the alters, nail it to the cross, and turn from that which would lead you deeper into the wilderness. Let’s pray.