When Temptations Come
Notes
Transcript
A lot of you know this but when I was in college I was really involved in prison ministry, where we would go in to the actual living area of the inmates and I would get to spend time with them and sometimes they just needed someone to talk with, other times we would do a Bible study, a lot of times we would be talking with them about God and other times it was just building a relationship with them.
But there was such a wide variety of people in this prison that did a really wide variety of things. There were some people in their for minor things,
There was one point that people who I went to college with were in there for steeling a Ronald Mcdonald statue out of the Mcdonals drive thru. (in case you were thinking about that, you do not want to do it)
But then there were people in this prison that were in their for more serious things.
There were guys who embesseled money, therewere othersin there for assult, others were addicted to drugs and just couldn’t quit and kept finding themselves back in prison over and over again.
And I remember talking with some of these guys and I got to know some of them well and some of them seemed like good guys,
but they would share how they wish they could get on track with where God was calling them, but it seemed like something just always got them off track where they found themselves in a similar place.
Falling into a temptation or an addiction that not only led them away from God, but caused destruction in their lives, their families and created so much pain and brokeness.
And while a lot of us probably have not been in prison the truth is each of us has wrestled with temptation whether it is lust, jealousy, greed, or anything else, there are things in our life that we are tempt us and potentially can lead us away from where God’s will is in our life and bring us to a place that causes destruction
And some of us might have a temptation that we wrestle with everyday of our life.
In fact if you are familiar with AA group they may not drink for years but if you go to an AA meeting they introduce themselves as an alcoholic because they understand that the temptation is still there.
And here is the good news, because wrestling with a temptation is not a sin- in fact in the story we are looking at today Jesus was tempted, but He is still sinless, because He did not fall into the temptation.
And so today what we are going to do is look at this story and see how Jesus is able to resist these temptations that He faces
And my hope for us regardless of what temptations we face we will be a people who are able to recognize how we are being tempted and find ways to resist it.
So we are in Matthew 4:1-11 and if you have been with us we have been in this sermon series called “The Story” and in this series we have been going through the entire Bible looking at the grand story of God from Genesis to Now.
And we have been through the Old Testament and last week we looked at this light of the world that has come who changed the world named Jesus.
And so today as you saw Jesus has begun His ministry, but before He gets to far He completes a 40 day fast where He does not eat and we see Satan come to Him and begin to tempt Him.
And there is so much more that happens and if you want to go deeper I would encourage you to either come to a Wednesday night small group or get the book that goes along with this series
But today we will just be diving into this one event, because Jesus is about to begin His ministry and this happens.
And so once again we are in Matthew 4:1-11 and we will just be starting in verses 1-4. it says this:
Matthew 4:1–4 (NIV)
Jesus Is Tested in the Wilderness
4:1–11pp—Mk 1:12,13; Lk 4:1–13
4 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 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.’”
So Jesus finishes fasting for 40 days and 40 nights, in the wilderness with no food and I have fasted for a day before and have been camping and when I fasted I was pretty hungry, and when I camped I did not sleep the best
and so I am sure you can imagine Jesus has not eaten a thing for 40 days and is hungry and has lived in the wilderness (probably without a blow up matress) and is probably exhausted
And I think it is really important to note that this is the place where Satan comes to Jesus and tries to tempt Him
When He is weak and tired.
And I just need to point out that Satan will try to get us to make mistakes all the time, but often times he will really come after us in our weak spots and vulnerable moments.
He goes after you when you might be alone or when your having a tough period,
When you just got in an argument with a spouse
When you had a tough day and you just need whatever that additction is in your life
because Satan does not fight fair,
I don’t know if any of you have ever watched shark week on discovery channel, but I would watch it all the time growing up.
But they said if you ever are attacked by a shark there are two places you want to punch it, in the gills and its eyes.
Because these are the cheap shots right?
if you hit it hard enough it will swim away.
(You learned all sorts of useful information at church this week).
But you know Satan he will often hit us with cheap shots in the areas we are most vulnerable.
And not only that but as Satan comes to Jesus He says this phrase “if you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread”
You know while Satan obviously is targeting Jesus to turn the stones to bread, before he even does that he tempts Jesus by questioning His identity.
Because he says “if you are the son of God”
You know probably one of the biggest and most destructive area Satan can attack us is in our identity.
Because our identity is the foundation of who we are and if our identity is shaken it makes everything we are built on ready to topple.
Thats why foundation issue in a home are a huge issue, because the rest of the structure can fall apart.
And here is what I want you to get, because last week we talked about this a little, but if you are in a relationship with Jesus, then that means your identity is a child of God, and your life is built on that foundation.
But Satan wants to convince us that our identity is not that,
Because there might be mistakes you make and Satan might be telling you, your identity is not a child of God, but it is a mess up
You might feel like there is nothing special about you and satan wants to give you this identity that you are really unimportant. No one really cares about you
You might feel uncertain about the future, and satan gives you this hopeless identity
But here is the thing because think about if you have a child, because they are your kid right.
And they make mistakes (Liam turned 3 and entered the threenager stage) -he makes mistakes
But your kids will make mistakes
They might have times where something happens at school and things seem uncertain
They might have a time where they don’t feel special
But guess what because they are your child they will make mistakes but regardless you will love them more than almost anything
There might be times things seem uncertain to them, but you will not abandon them
They might have those times where they feel like they are not special
But as a parent you think they are the most special person in the world.
And we have a God who views you that way. Please do not loose sight on your identity because it is really powerful.
Your identity is a child of God.
And you will notice Jesus responds to each temptation with scripture and in this case He tells Satan man shall not live on bread alone, but on the word of God.
basically He says I do not need to give into this temptation, because my life source is not from my food or circumstance but from God.
And Look at the next part in verses 5-7. It says this:
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.’”
So Jesus is taken to the highest point of the temple and Satan tells Him why don’t you jump and the angels will catch you
I mean if you are God isn’t that what will happen?!
And I always get to this and think why doesn’t Jesus just do it.
Show Satan who is boss, but whats interesting is Jesus actually says it is written not to put God to the test.
And its important for us to know that at this time there was a belief that the Messiah was going to make this grand entrance at the temple where he would lower down from the temple and angels would get Him
And this was not a belief supported by scripture (or at least correctly), but it was one of those things that the people at this time most likely thought would be cool and so they began to believe it.
And so while at first this temptation does not seem like a big deal and some would say it would glorify God, but here is the issue it is more motivated human heart then the heart of God.
And so Jesus says I I am not going to put my God to the test, because this is not motivated by something that will glorify God, but its to glorify this belief that the people have.
INSERT ILLUSTRATION
And look at this last temptation, in Matthew 4:8-11
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.
So Satan now moves Jesus to a high mountain and shows Him all the kingdoms of the world and He tells Jesus if you bow down and worship me I will give you all of this
Your not going to be hungry anymore
You do not have to worry about the cross
But you will be living “the life”
And There are two things we need to understand here because First off Satan is promising this huge reward for bowing to him, but really the truth is what Satan is wanting to give away does not even belong to him.
But he is telling Jesus to bow to him and Jesus gets it all.
And here is the truth because sin promises one thing and leads us to another.
Its kind of like awhile ago there was a diet pill created that was meant to help people loose weight, And it was marketed as very effective but not to long after it was released it came out that its side effects were extreamly harmful and it was taken off the market only a short period after being released.
But you know really that what sin does. It promises one thing, but delivers something completely different.
We need to remember this when we see that temptaion and it might promise releif or temporary happiness, but the truth is it delivers somthing very different.
And look at this because Jesus has been quoting scripture this entire time, but before he responds this way, He resonds by saying it is written worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only, but He also says “ away from me!”
Jesus does not want to be anywhere near the temptation because he recognizes that if something is close by its easy to access, but if its far you cant reach it.
And really I wonder what would happen if we approached sin this way. If there was somthing that tempted us and instead of moving closer, we said get that away from me.
Flushing the pills
Smashing the phone
And this seems radical right? But If we believe God has big plans for each of you, how could we not do anything we could to make sure Satan does not impact those plans.
I want to end on a story (And I believe I told this awhile ago) but it was about this legend of this adventurer a few hundred years ago
And the story goes that he took a large fleet of boats to explore different lands and new areas
And they finally discovered this new land and they came to the area and the lead captain told everyone it is time to go explore
But instead all the men said no. They did not want to leave the comfort of their ships, where they were familiar with, where they new very well, where they had supplies.
And so when the lead captain heard this he commanded all the other captains to light the ships on fire so the men had no choice but to leave and go on this amazing adventure.
Itss extreme right? but Heres the thing I really believe God is calling you on an amzing adventure, but their are things to often that stop us
Whether it is just being somewhere comfortable and we are not willing to take next steps in our walk with God
Whether its an addiction that we are stuck in
Whether its our greed
I mean what would it look like this morning to burn the ships?
To say away from me. I am only worshiping God and will not have room for anything else.
And maybe this morning you are saying I want to, but I can’t doit alone.
I cant do this by myself
Here is the good news. God is not calling you to do that.
God created others to walk with you through this adventure.
And maybe its someone in this room, maybe its someone else, but the truth is one of the best ways we can resist temptation is through community with other Christ followers
And as we close we are going to do somthing called communion
And communion is a way that we remember the grace Jesus has given us in our lives, but it is also a way that remember it together.
In fact in the early church this was somthing they did frequently and it was a way they not only remembered but it was a way they lived life together despite their differences
Despite some being rich and others poor
Despite being Jewor Gentile
Despite speaking different languages
The Grace that God gave them binded them together.
Where they remembered that last meal Jesus had with His disciples and what exactly it represented.
And so as we close we will be receiving it differently because we are around tables.
This was how the early church recieved communion
It was not staring at the back of someones head like we usually do, but it was in community.
Because the blood of Christ cleanses us and changes us, but God has given us people to live life with and push us closer to Him.
Will You pray with me?