Jesus Victory Over Temptation

Good Morning. How long can you play around with temptations without consequences? Kind of like asking how far over edge of the cliff can I safely lean. Sadly, this year has seen stories about church pastors who have fallen off that cliff and not only destroyed their marriages, but their churches, which puts a black eye on Christ’s Church. You can’t play around with temptation like it’s a toy.

Obviously, aside from Jesus, we all fail. This morning, Matthew’s Gospel lesson brings us Jesus’ temptation and shows how He handles it. Jesus was as fully human as any of us, his temptations were real. And he did truly have to resist these temptations to win our salvation.

Temptation is “an enticement or invitation to sin, with the promise of greater good or pleasure from not following God’s plan, but the way we want to go.” Most temptations look good, but good things can be tempting in a bad way. What does Genesis 3 say?

Adam and Eve ate forbidden fruit in the garden. Why? 3 descriptors. It was “good for food...pleasing to eye...desirable for gaining wisdom.” None of those things are bad. So why was it a sin? It hadn’t been given to them, yet.

Many times, sin is taking something good before God gives it to you, or in the wrong way.

Back to our lesson today. There are three points that Satan Tempts Jesus. All three could be considered good things, but out of time, or taken wrongly. Our enemy often seeks to confuse by offering up Beautiful temptations which would be good,…if used in the right way at the right time and in the right place.

That’s how he began tempting Jesus in the wilderness. 1st Temptation.

After a long fast the wilderness, Jesus was hungry. The temptation was subtle. You might not even recognize it as a lust of the flesh, it is just hunger. But Jesus does.

Hungry, why not turn stones into bread? Why would it possibly be wrong if you were able to do it??? That’s the question. Jesus doesn’t say, “I can’t do that, that’s impossible!” He must have been able to if it was a temptation, and he was hungry. But He recognized the tempter’s voice, it put him on alert. He had listened carefully to his Father’s voice throughout his time in the wilderness, and he knew the difference between the two voices.

Jesus’ answer is the clue. Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. A passage in Deuteronomy about how God fed Israel with manna, and they had to wait and depend on God. Israel had been lead into the Desert, just like Jesus, to learn to trust God’s Provision.

Satan failed, Strike One, but he was far from done. He took Jesus to the temple. Standing at the highest point he SUGGESTED, using Scripture, that he could throw himself over the edge and angels would break his fall. Imagine the impression that would make on the audience in and around the temple. He would be hailed at once as the Messiah, everyone would follow him. The next 3 years of touring and gaining an audience, MOOT! It’s the easy button for Ministry.

Everyone would follow him, and there would be no backbiting from the temple leaders because they saw him first and hailed him as Messiah. Start with the scholars, rather than a bunch of fisherman! What an upgrade! They literally saw the messiah float down from heaven, how could they deny him.

Signs are a common temptation then and now. God, show us a sign.

Show us you are listening, and then we will follow. The devil tempts us with the idea that if God doesn’t answer, he’s not listening, or just not there.

While many are brought to God being jump started by a lightning strike, that can often fade away as well.

An obedience forged in patient waiting,

and faithfulness in the daily grind,

when things are tough;

that’s lasting faith.

Jesus is again tempted with something good, and again answers from what he has learned from Scripture, Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God

Strike Two. It pleases God to test us to build up our faith, like he did with Abraham and many others. It becomes sin when we decide that we want to test God, to see if he is watching and listening.

Finally, in one panoramic view, Satan showed Jesus the kingdoms of the world and all their splendor. It’s a view we can barely imagine. Satan said, “I’ll give you ALL these kingdoms, if you bow down and worship me!”

Everything nation of the world was displayed for Jesus to see. This was the world he came to save. All this would be run by Jesus if he would just bow down to Satan in an act of worship. And No Cross!!