Part 17, Jesus' Temptation

...meeting, which will be after the sermon and after the invitation this morning.

If you have found Matthew’s Gospel chapter 4, Matthew’s Gospel chapter 4 in your copy of God’s word, would you stand with me as we honor God and the reading of his word? I’ll be using the Pew Bible that’s in the rack in front of you.

Matthew’s Gospel chapter 4 and verse number one.

And now hear the word of the Lord.

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry.

And then the tempter approached him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

He answered, “It is written, man must not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

And then the devil took him up to the holy city, had him stand 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 give his angels orders concerning you, and they will support you with their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”

Jesus told him, “It is also written, not test the Lord your God.”

Again, the devil took him up to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. And he said to him, “I will give you all these things if you will fall down and worship me.”

Then Jesus told him, “Go away, Satan, for it is written, worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.”

Then the devil left him, and angels came and began to serve him.

May the Lord add his blessing to the reading, the preaching, and your hearing to understand his holy word. May our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ forever be praised. And all of God’s people say, “Amen.”

Amen. And you may be seated.

There are moments in life that seem like spiritual mountaintops.

I’ve been very fortunate over the years to experience some of those spiritual mountaintops with many of you, some of you literally on top of a literal mountain. Powerful worship services, camp decisions, an altar at a revival meeting, a baptismal pool, where everything seems clear and unbeguiled. God feels close. Faith feels strong.

I pray that you’ve all had moments like that, experiences like that. But if you have, you’ve also noticed something else. And then almost immediately after that event, something hits—a temptation, a struggle, a doubt, a crisis.

Folks, that’s not accidental. As a matter of fact, that’s the way that it’s always been.

Think about Jesus here in Matthew 4. Jesus had just stepped out of the waters of the Jordan River, where he’s been there and the heavens opened and the Spirit descended and the Father spoke and said, “This is my beloved Son in whom I’m well pleased.”

And the Gospel of Mark says that immediately after that—immediately after that—excuse me, the Spirit drove him into the wilderness. Drove him not away from God, but drove him into his testing.

This is important, folks, because before Jesus would ever begin his ministry, before Jesus would ever preach, before Jesus would ever heal, before Jesus would ever suffer, before Jesus would ever die on the cross, before he would save, he would stand alone against the greatest enemy of God and of man: the devil, Satan.

Friends, I want you to know that you have a pastor that believes the devil is real.

I believe he’s real because I’ve dealt with him. Amen.

He is still real, and he’s still in the world today.

What this story we’ve read this morning proves to us is that the Messiah, Jesus, had to be proven before he was proclaimed.

And so, as in all of these stories, as we’ve looked at the great stories and the eternal truths, all of these sermons, we begin with number one, with a retelling of the story of the showdown that happened.

The Jordan River is behind Jesus. The voice of heaven is still echoing in his ears. But now Jesus walks out into the wilderness, a place of wild animals, a place of danger, a place of isolation.

A place of death.

And Mark’s Gospel tells us that he was there with the wild beasts.

No shelter, no food, no cell phone coverage, no Wi-Fi, no help.

And for 40 days, the Bible says Jesus fasted. And by the end of that 40 days, his body was failing. Remember that Jesus is not only the Son of God, he is the Son of Man. His muscles are wasting away at this point. His joints are aching. His breathing is labored.

At this point, Jesus, at the end of this fast, was literally physically standing on the knife’s edge of death.

And that is when the devil comes.

Folks, Satan never fights fair. He doesn’t follow the rules. He’s not going to give you a fair fight. Amen. He’s going to wait until you are at your weakest to come to you. Amen.

And the devil comes and says, “If you are the Son of God,” or “Since you are,” in a mocking way, “Since you’re the Son of God, why would you suffer? If you’re really the Son of the Most High God, creator of heaven and of earth, if you’re really the Son of God, who has all power and authority in his hands, why would you suffer? Why would you wait? Why would you trust these ephemeral promises?”

And he comes to him with temptations.

The first temptation is with food, or in the flesh.

This first temptation, he says to him—should be a screen there—he says to him, “Turn these stones into bread.”

The devil comes to him and says, “You’re hungry. If you’re the Son of God, eat. Wouldn’t be anything for you to turn these stones into bread. Feed yourself.”

Here’s what the devil is really tempting him with. He is saying to Jesus, “Meet your needs your way.”

And that’s what the devil still says today. Amen.

Meet your needs your way. Take control. Do it your way.

I wonder if he was singing the old song, “I Did It My Way.”

Ultimately, folks, this is a temptation of the flesh.

But Jesus answers him, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God.”

Jesus, in this temptation, refuses to live by his appetite.

Folks, there’s a lesson here that everybody here needs to hear because every one of us has appetite that needs to be controlled. Amen. Every one of us have appetites.

And I’m not talking about just the food appetite—and yes, that one, too—but appetites of the flesh that need to be brought under the Holy Spirit’s control.

Jesus refuses to live being controlled by his fleshly appetites, but instead by obedience to God.

The second temptation was folly.

Satan takes him up on top of the temple and he says, “Throw yourself down. God will send his angels.”

This was actually a popular belief back then among the rabbis, a rabbinic teaching of the era that said when the Messiah comes, he will appear in dramatic fashion at the temple and everybody will know. It’ll be this great big spectacle.

Well, they weren’t getting that from the Bible. They were getting that from their traditions.

And so the devil says to Jesus up on top of the temple, “Prove yourself. Put on a performance.”

A performance.

That’s something that I tell our worship team on Wednesday night when we’re rehearsing. We’re practicing so many times. I said, “Look, we’re rehearsing. We’re practicing. We’re working hard so that we’ll be able to lead worship.”

And folks, this is not a performance. We don’t stand up here to entertain you.

[clears throat]

The devil tempted Jesus to put on a performance.

Satan even quotes scriptures. Do you know Satan can quote scriptures? Folks, the devil probably knows scriptures better than you do.

But Jesus answers him, “You shall not put the Lord thy God to the test.”

Folks, he wanted Jesus to force God’s hand. But forcing God’s hand is not faith.

Forcing God’s hand is rebellion dressed in religion.

Temptation number three. The third temptation was to fumble.

Satan carries him up on top of a mountain and shows him all the kingdoms of the world and says, “All this I will give you if you will just bow down and worship me.”

Do y’all believe the devil will tell you a lie?

He is the father of lies, isn’t he? He speaks lies, maybe sometimes mixed with just enough truth to get you to believe it.

It wasn’t his to give.

Psalm 24 says, “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it. For he founded it upon the waters and established it upon the seas. Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Only he who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted his soul unto another. Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, O ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory will come in.”

It wasn’t the devil’s to give.

And so, friends, so many times the devil will offer you what isn’t his to give, and the devil will offer you what you already have.

So the devil is tempting Jesus to have a crown without the cross. The devil is tempting Jesus to have a kingdom without suffering. He’s tempting him to have glory without obedience.

This is Satan’s oldest trick: to seek after God’s blessing without God’s plan.

So many people want God’s blessing. Amen. I want God’s blessing.

Folks, we have God’s blessing by following God’s plan.

And so, he tempts Jesus to have it all without the nails, without the thorns, without the cross, without the tomb.

But Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan. It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”

And the devil flees.

Luke’s Gospel tells us the devil left him for a more opportune time. The war was not over, but that battle was won, and the angels came, and Jesus was still standing, and the Savior was proven.

Great story.

We retell the story. But number two, we remember the eternal truths.

That’s my fault, Cynthy. I don’t know where that other part is.

Truth number one: spiritual victory is often followed by spiritual warfare.

Baptism came before the battle. He had just been baptized, had just heard from heaven. The Holy Spirit had just come down from heaven.

Oswald Chambers, the great author of My Utmost for His Highest, said that spiritual crises prove the quality of our faith. If your faith has never been tested, your faith isn’t very strong because it takes the crisis to prove your faith.

And the spiritual breakthrough is oftentimes, many times, almost every time, the entree into spiritual testing.

Spiritual breakthrough leads to spiritual testing.

Number two: temptation comes at our weakest place.

Jesus was starving. Satan always attacks us at our weakest link.

Let’s be honest with a thought experiment just for a moment. Everybody all over this congregation: what is your weakest link?

Put it in your mind. Think of it. You know what your weakest link is. Let’s be honest. You know what your weakest link is. Amen.

If you don’t, you need to identify what your weakest link is. Whether it is pride or whether it’s the flesh or whatever it is, you know what your weakest link is.

Nod your head like this when you’ve identified what your personal weakest link is. Nod your head.

Got it?

Okay. So, we have identified that is where the devil is going to tempt you—at your weakest link. Amen. Follow with me.

Let’s just use logic. I’m a logical person.

Does the devil ever tempt you with something that’s good, with something that you need, with something that’s going to be to your benefit?

No.

The devil hates your guts.

Whatever the devil is tempting you with, if you logically say—just put it in place—if it was a person, if it was a human being, if it was a human being who has tricked you, who has deceived you, if it was a human being who’s in your life that has stabbed you in the back 73 times, who has gotten you in trouble 142 times, if it’s somebody in your life, a human being who has let you down and tricked you, deceived you again and again and again—you know, like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football. Every single time, the football gets pulled.

If you know that it’s a temptation from the devil, and you know the devil hates your guts, and you know the devil only wants to destroy you, for he comes to kill and destroy and steal, then logically you should say, “It’s pretty stupid for me to do what I know the devil wants me to do.”

Identify what your weakest place is because, folks, listen to me:

Weakness does not excuse sin.

Weakness does not excuse sin, but weakness also does not prevent you from finding the victory.

The greatest victories in your life are not in the things that you are the strongest at. The greatest victories are at the things where you are weakest.

When you win a great victory, not in something you’re strong and good at, but when you win a great victory in a place where you’re weak, that’s the greatest victory because everybody said you couldn’t do it, and you did it.

That was a great victory. Amen.

You can win the greatest victory even at the place of your greatest weakness.

Truth number three: God’s word is the weapon.

Jesus defeated Satan, not with miracles.

Look out here in the wilderness in Matthew and Mark and Luke, and then a little blurb in John, as we are told about the temptation of Jesus and we see how Jesus overcame the devil.

Jesus did not call down lightning and thunder upon the devil to beat him. Jesus did not cause the earth to open up and swallow the rocks down upon him to beat him.

Look, Jesus did not use anything that you and I don’t also have to beat the devil.

He beat him with scripture.

And you can beat the devil the same way. You can beat the devil the same way Jesus did. Amen.

God’s word is the weapon.

Again and again and again, Jesus says, “It is written. It is written. It is written.”

And even when the devil tries to twist scripture, Jesus has the truth and says, “It is written.”

Folks, what the Bible says was supreme for Jesus, and it must be for us as well.

Truth number four: the greatest temptation is to take the easy way.

I’m going to say it two more times so I get three times altogether. Studies have proven if you hear something three times, you’re more likely to remember it.

The greatest temptation is to take the easy way.

The greatest temptation is to take the easy way.

Satan offered Jesus the world without the cross, the glory without the obedience. But folks, God’s glory only comes through God’s plan.

And so we remember these truths.

And then number three, we respond with faith.

Responding with faith, very simply: know your weakness. Watch out for the devil and resist him.

The Bible says, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”

Number three, know the word.

Number four, trust God’s plan, folks.

Because Jesus didn’t just face temptation. He faced temptation for us so that we can see that we too can have the victory over the devil.

Jesus stood where Adam fell.

Jesus resisted where we have failed.

Jesus won so that we could be forgiven.

Hebrews 4:15 tells us, “We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weakness.”

No, not one. No, not one.

Jesus knows all about our struggles. He will guide till the day is done. There’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus.

No, not one. No, not one.

Heavenly Father, we pray this morning that everyone here today in the sound of my voice has heard your word and will now receive it and respond with faith.

Heavenly Father, I pray this morning that the decisions that need to be made will be made here today. Whether kneeling at this altar or joining this church, receiving believer’s baptism, surrendering to ministry or missions, whatever it may be, let people come.

We pray in Jesus’ name, and all of God’s people say, "Amen".