Into The Wilderness
Into the Wilderness • Sermon • Submitted
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Jesus is Tempted in the Wilderness
Jesus is Tempted in the Wilderness
Scripture: Matthew 4:1-11
Welcome, everyone!
We are so excited you joined us this weekend.
We are starting a new teaching series called Into the Wilderness.
We are going to spend three weeks looking at stories of people in the Bible who went into the wilderness.
The wilderness can be defined as a position of disfavor or an uncultivated region.
The wilderness stories we’ll go over will help us as we navigate our own “wilderness” experiences and help us break through those seasons of life.
We are going to talk about temptation, running away, being tested, and how God reveals Himself to us in the middle of our struggles.
So, for the next three weeks, welcome to the wilderness.
[Author Note: This is a real-life wilderness story I used about a guy named Ricky MeGee. His story can be found here: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/apr/14/australia.samjones]
In late January of 2006, a man named Ricky MeGee was left in the Australian outback after three men stole his car and dragged him to the middle of the desert.
MeGee woke up to Dingos scratching at his head and he was confused at what had happened.
This began his 70-day journey to make it out of the wilderness.
He survived with a gourmet diet of frogs, lizards, leeches, and cockroaches.
Yes, the most delicious food you could imagine.
He was eventually found by some farmhands in the area. If you are wondering the toll this journey had on his body, MeGee was a literal walking skeleton and deeply tanned by the extreme desert sun.
MeGee somehow survived this wilderness journey for 70 days before making it out alive.
How many of you think you think you could last a week? I’m at two days max.
MeGee has said that he made it through by keeping a positive attitude and persevering even though things seemed grim.
Tonight, we are going to talk about how we can persevere and get past the wilderness experience of temptation.
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written,
“ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”
Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,
“ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’
and
“ ‘On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ”
Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,
“ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God
and him only shall you serve.’ ”
Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.
For a little background on this Scripture, Jesus had just been baptized by his cousin, John the Baptist.
After Jesus was baptized, God’s Spirit came down on Him, and God spoke, saying that Jesus was His beloved Son who brought Him great joy.
After this scene, we get to the beginning of Matthew 4, which is what we just read.
Jesus went to the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
Temptation is a desire to do something, especially something wrong or unwise.
Have you ever been tempted before?
We all have, right?
I could even answer for all of us by saying we have all given into what we have been tempted to do.
If you are wrestling and trying to make weight, it is tempting to go eat all the pizza you can.
That would be a very unwise decision, because you are trying to make weight.
If you don’t make weight, then you can’t wrestle.
Temptations are all around us; to take drugs, to go drinking, to have sex, to fight that person who is giving us problems, and the list goes on.
When we fall into these temptations, we aren’t honoring God, but instead we are doing something unwise and something wrong.
When we give into temptations and sin, we inflict harm either on ourselves or others.
Temptation stinks, but Jesus showed us in this story how we can battle the wilderness experience of temptation.
We break through temptation by fasting.
Has anyone ever heard the word “fasting” before?
Fasting is where you give up something, specifically food, to seek God for a specific reason.
This is why in verse 2, Matthew wrote that Jesus was very hungry after He had fasted for 40 days.
Some reasons you may fast are to prepare for ministry, to seek God’s wisdom, to show grief, to seek deliverance or protection, to repent, to gain victory, or to simply worship God.
In this story, Jesus fasted to prepare for His ministry.
He needed time to get away and prepare for what God called Him to do.
One way God prepared Him was by allowing the devil to tempt Him.
Fasting allows us to focus on our Heavenly Father.
We sacrifice our meals or something we truly care about so that we can seek His Face.
For you, in your temptation, you may need to fast so that Jesus can reveal to you how to overcome that temptation you are enduring.
Fasting is not easy, but it is worth it.
When you show God you want to get over something that is harming you, fasting is a way to go outside of your regular habits to show Him you want to fight back against the harmful sin or habit that you have.
This may mean you give up your phone for a week.
You may decide to give up social media for a month.
You may even decide to fast from food for a day.
If you do, let your parents know and ask them first.
Fasting allows us as Christ followers to draw near to Jesus and seek His discernment.
He will help you break through your temptation when you show you truly want to work at it and that you want to fight back.
We break through temptation by leaning on God’s Word.
Jesus was tempted three times in Matthew 4.
First, He was tempted to make bread out of stones.
Next, the devil tempted Jesus to jump off a cliff and prove He was the Son of God.
If He was, then the devil said angels would save Him from hitting the ground.
The last way the devil tempted Jesus was by taking Him to a high mountain where he told Jesus He could have the entire kingdom, if Jesus would kneel and worship him.
In all three of these temptations, Jesus responded to the devil using Scripture.
In the first temptation with the bread, Jesus replied to the devil with Deuteronomy 8:3, which says,
Deuteronomy 8:3b (ESV)
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 fought this temptation by scripturally telling off the devil.
He let the devil know that we survive not just by what we consume, but also by God’s Word.
In the next temptation Jesus went through, the devil tempted Jesus to jump off a cliff and prove He was God’s son.
The devil even quoted Scripture.
The devil quoted Psalm 91:11-12.
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.
Jesus fought back with Deuteronomy 6:16.
“You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah.
Jesus used this verse to rebuke the devil and let him know He wasn’t going to fall into his trap of testing God.
The last thing the devil tried to do was get Jesus to worship him by offering Jesus all the kingdoms of the entire world.
Jesus persevered and kept quoting Scripture.
This time He quoted again from Deuteronomy 6.
It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear.
So, once again and for the last time, Jesus rebuked the devil by letting him know who the Boss is.
How did Jesus win?
By quoting Scripture.
We need to take this to heart and apply it to our lives.
If Jesus used Scripture to fight off temptation in His life, then that’s probably a good sign that we should, too.
Whenever you stumble upon temptation and you don’t know how to combat it, search for a memory verse that will help you.
Some of the verses that Jesus quoted might help you out.
Scripture is strong and mighty.
It is God’s Holy Word and it is a perfect way to break through temptation.
Use it and apply it.
Allow Scripture to truly influence your life and quote it often in times of distress.
We can’t break through the wilderness of temptation without using Scripture to influence our decisions.
We break through temptation by calling on God.
Jesus fasted at the beginning of Matthew 4 to call on God.
Jesus did this to get prepared for all He would endure.
He did it so He would learn to avoid the temptations that came His way and keep going when He wanted to give up during His ministry.
So when we want to avoid temptation, we need to seek Jesus.
He will show you how to avoid whatever temptation you’re facing.
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
Paul wrote clearly in this verse that God will always show us a way out when we seek Him through our temptation.
It’s hard to endure temptation.
But when we call on Jesus, He will show us how to avoid giving in.
When you see the way out, take it.
You’ll never regret choosing to avoid a big mistake, but you will regret it when you give in to temptation.
Unfortunately, because we’re humans, it will happen.
When it happens, Jesus is there to forgive us and to show us that we can always improve and avoid it the next time.
Jesus loves you and protects you by showing you the way out of the wilderness of temptation.
Seek to follow Him to where He is taking you.
For you, that may mean that tonight you need to accept Him into your life for the very first time.
You may decide it’s time for you to get baptized.
Maybe you’re just struggling hard with temptations and you need to talk with one of the adult leaders.
We’re here for you.
We want to point you in the direction Jesus wants to take you.
Whenever we endure the wilderness of temptation, know that we can break through it by fasting, by remembering Scripture, and by calling on God.