Have you ever wondered how to get past sin? Have you ever wondered what makes sin so easy to fall into? What about that one thing makes it so desirable? If you have ever wanted to know a way of breaking through a sinful habit in your life, you might do well to listen today. Satan has his ways of working and attacking so as to draw us in and once he has us, he let’s our own pride and desire keep us tied up in the sin we have chosen. Satan uses what we call temptation. The ever widening root of sin comes from the evil desires we have in our own hearts. You must get to the root of the problem. Fighting symptoms can go on endlessly. Only destroying the root of the problem such as the virus itself can actually eliminate the problem. Americans take millions of drugs to alleviate symptoms, especially those of the flu, and never seem to let their bodies rest enough to actually get well. Listen to the words of James: “But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.” We aren’t tempted when something comes along our way for which we have no desire. Case and point, I have no desire and never will for pornography. Why? Because before I became a Christian I was totally addicted to it and Christ took that away. He helped me destroy my desire for it. Since I have no desire, I very rarely feel tempted if ever at all.
I think children may be able to say this easier than myself. A preacher tells a true story about a children’s church camp discussion. “I am reminded of the story of the discussion at church camp for children where one of the counselors was leading a discussion on the purpose God has for all of his creation. They began to find good reasons for the clouds and trees and rocks and rivers and animals and just about everything else in nature. Finally, one of the children asked, “If God has a good purpose for everything, then why did He create poison ivy?” This made the discussion leader gulp and, as he struggled with the question, one of the other children piped up, “The reason God made poison ivy is that He wanted us to know that there are certain things we should keep our cotton-pickin’ hands off of!”” (Jim Kane – www.sermoncentral.com)
I think that child had exactly the right idea. There are many things we should keep our hands off of but many times that isn’t enough to stop us anyway. What gives temptation its power? John Piper says that sin (lust for example) "gets its power by persuading me to believe that I will be happier if I follow it. The power of all temptation is the prospect that it will make me happier." Your desire to see that dirty picture, drink that alcoholic beverage when you know very well you shouldn’t, stare at that pretty woman walking down the street, lie so you don’t get caught, etc. for whatever sin and for whatever reason creates the thought that for some reason you will be happier after you have seen or done it. One man tells a story of shopping with his wife in a mall. They were standing by a kiosk while she was looking at something and a very beautiful young woman walked by in a mini-skirt. His eyes followed her as she walked by and before he could turn around he heard his wife say, “Was it worth the trouble you’re in?” Sin is so easy to fall into because it plays on our desires. Never mind the fact that sin is a death trap. We wouldn’t intentionally shove our leg in a bear trap and yet we will stick our spiritual neck under a guillotine of sin for a single moment of pleasure.
There is hope! One man overcame his desires and obediently followed God to death. Matthew 4 records the temptation of Jesus before his ministry started. Before he ever came to preach and teach us, he himself had to go through the barrage of sins we face each day. Today we will learn from the Master. If you ever truly want to become the best you can in any field known to man, it takes hard work and a good example to follow. We have the best example in the world right here in front of us. Let’s look at the story and temptation of Jesus. Jesus seems so distant sometimes when we read about Him. He is always so perfect. I wonder how this story looked from His eyes. Maybe this letter from Him can help us understand. Let me tell you what it says.
“Let me tell you the story of my temptation. I have finally reached the proper age of manhood, 30 years old according to our Jewish heritage. The time has finally come for Me to fulfill the purpose for coming to earth. I have been supporting my mother through my late father’s carpentry business. Joseph passed not to long ago and that placed the responsibility for my mother on me. She knows that I could not stay and work there forever so she decided she would follow me instead. Father was a good and honest man who loved me very much, even though I wasn’t his actual son. My brothers were willing to take care of mother but many of them are still too young. James has almost reached manhood as well, but mother wanted to know what would happen with me.
I first set out to be recognized by both John the Baptist and God. John has been preaching for quite some time now and has done well as a prophet paving the way for my ministry. He had turned many people back to the Lord. Once I had found John, He baptized me as a sort of recognition and ordination for the mission for which I was sent. This was only the first part of my initiation. God had something a little more difficult in mind. If I were to be the Savior of man, I would have to overcome the downfalls of man. I would have to show myself approved. After I had been baptized by John, I knew what I had to do. God led me out to a place where no person ever traveled. Very little could be found that was actually living. I stayed there for forty days and forty nights doing nothing but meditating on God and speaking to Him. The time seemed almost endless as day and night blurred together and yet with God standing beside me the time gradually and easily slipped away. I spent my time fasting to dedicate myself to God and God alone. Only He could sustain me during this time anyway. As the last day rolled by, I found myself feeling hunger pains and slowly but surely my stomach began to cramp severely.
I knew Satan was coming. I knew the evil tempter would come to tempt me. When do you suppose he showed up? As my stomach was cramping and the only thing my mind could think of was food, he showed his ugly face. The evil one could have come at any times and yet he came when I was in a weakened and vulnerable state. He couldn’t resist the temptation to try and attack me when he thought he could actually win. He desired power you know. He wanted to have power of me like he has power over anyone who sins. He wanted to steal God’s power for his own. He first tried to tempt me at the point where I was most vulnerable, my stomach. He told me “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” Satan must have not realized that I had already thought of doing that or maybe he used it because I had already thought of feeding myself. I had the power and it would have been so easy to use my power to get what I wanted. He played on my desire. He pushed me to go for instant gratification rather than for obedience and long term benefits. He pushed me to go for what would give me pleasure and make me happy at that moment. Instead I chose to wait and keep myself focused on God by quoting him. I told that evil serpent that “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” Yes, I could have instantly received what my body wanted so badly at that moment but I knew that God had more for me than just a piece of bread. Obeying Him and being completely dedicated to Him was more important than just a piece of bread.
Satan soon gave up on this tactic. He knew he would get nowhere with me once I had set my heart on God and not on instant gratification. I don’t need it immediately and the more I wait the more I find that I didn’t really it as badly as I originally thought. Soon that evil serpent asked me to follow Him the pinnacle of the temple. Soon I found myself standing at the very top and he began his next tactic. “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, So that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’” He wasn’t actually questioning my deity, that would be just plain foolish of him. No, he said since you are the Son of God. He acknowledged my deity and questioned my willingness to trust God and leave my life in His hands. He even used God’s word and twisted it to His own purpose to confuse me. Didn’t God promise to protect me from being hurt? Of course he wouldn’t let me die before I fulfilled my purpose here. So why not, I could test to see if God would save me. That’s what Satan wanted me to think and do. I could not do it. Just because God said he would save me doesn’t mean I should try to force His hand.
“On the other hand, it is written, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” Deuteronomy 6:16 corrects the devils misguided questioning of God. He tested God once before you know. That is how he got himself cast out of heaven. He decided he would take the power of heaven; He wanted to be like God himself. Now he was tempting me to push myself on God as he had so many years ago. I had already chosen to subjugate myself under God for my time on earth. I gave up some of my deity to come to earth as a human and allow myself to be tempted. I had already chosen to accept this duty to save man. I would not force God to give me back my power, attending angels, or any other Godhood attribute. I would not test God. Just as I would not give in to the “instant-gratification” ideals, so I will also not give in to pushing my agendas on God. My agendas are not as important as His will for my life. I will live for Him, and not for what I can get out of Him!
Satan thought he would be smart by using scripture against me but I guess he didn’t know that I know a little scripture myself. It didn’t take a whole lot to break his argument. When will he learn that he isn’t God? I guess he couldn’t quit once he had gotten to two temptations. He was running out of ways to tempt me. His last resort was everything he had control over. He would give me anything. He led me to the peak of a large mountain and pointed out and listed all the various kingdoms, their riches, their people, their history, etc. “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.” I could have the entire world handed to me on a silver platter. I would only need to make a small compromise. If I would do this for 10 seconds, I could have the entire world given to me. How many people get the opportunity to own the world? Most people give in to temptation for a few dollars or even a few hundred dollars but I could own the entire world. All I had to do was worship Satan and He would give me his kingdom. However, this would also mean betraying God. Compromising my moral values and integrity would betray God the Father. I would not give in to betrayal of God just to get a bunch of stuff. Materialism was not acceptable. I had enough of that old serpent and told him exactly what he didn’t want to hear. “God, Satan! For it is written, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.” Of course, when he heard me say this, he ran with his tail tucked beneath his legs. He knew he had lost the war. My devotion to God would not be moved just because he tried to play on my desires.
Finally I would be able to eat and rest from being tested. I hope mother has been fine on her own. My father may be gone but the Heavenly Father knew and care for both myself and her. You’ve heard the story or my temptation. I’ve been through most if not all of the temptations you face and on a much grander scale so that you could see that it can be done. Whether it was “instant-gratification” and fulfilling my desires for my own purposes or trying to push my agenda on God, all temptation can be conquered. As I wait at the Father’s side in heaven, remember that one, we can conquer any sin and any temptation together and that I am always just a prayer away.” -- Jesus
That gave the story found in Matthew 4 a very different tone. Jesus had to tempted not to prove that he could conquer sin but to show us that it is possible to beat Satan and temptation at their own game. Each of the temptations recorded seem to come up against us daily. “Instant-gratification” seems to be the most prominent. We want different things and we want them now. Not tomorrow, not in even five minutes, we want it now. No offense, but most worthless debt such as a large portion of credit card debt comes from buying when you shouldn’t. Oh, that’s a good price on that thing that we don’t need but I just want, I’ll just pick it up on credit. My mother has built a mountain of credit card debt by doing stuff like this. You don’t need it. Cut up the cards and throw them away. Once you have them paid off, never get one again. Maybe that isn’t your temptation. Maybe it’s eating certain things. Maybe you need to stop. Put the cookie down. If you have a weight problem due to over eating, then put the junk food down. If you have a thyroid problem, that is different. You don’t NEED that food and you don’t NEED that super special priced item at Wal-Mart. Jesus resisted food after he hadn’t eaten for well over a month. Once you feel hungry after fasting for that long, you will die if you do not eat. Yet God sustained him. You need God more than you need those things. Maybe you are like me and like to have entertainment. When I get bored, I am not fun to be around because I want something to do right now and do not want to wait. No, we don’t have any TV channels. If we did, I would probably watch way too much. This list could go on forever of the things we want right now instead of dedicating our time and lives to God! Jesus dedicated himself to God and quoted his scriptures.
The second temptation Jesus faced was placing his own agenda before God’s. God has a plan and purpose I believe for both each of us individually and an overarching plan in which we all fit. We often place our purposes before God. Instead of praying or reading His word, we choose to sleep in another 15 minutes or watch that next TV show for 30 minutes more. We want to do our thing first and then come to church and if God uses us a little bit, then ok that’s fine. As long as we get in our agenda, we are fine with God doing something. Jesus put his agenda second behind God’s. He wouldn’t test God to see if God would follow along with His plans. Who are we dedicated to… God or ourselves? Is life about me or about God? If we are honest with ourselves, me included, we will all say… me. I am more dedicated to me than the God who created, loved, gave up His Son, and saved my sin destroyed soul. What a loving God!
Lastly, Jesus conquers the willingness we have to compromise to get what we desire. The temptation that says, it won’t hurt anyone or anything to do it just once. It won’t hurt to drink just one beer, no one will care. Your wife won’t care if you look at just a couple of pornographic pictures. You will be fine, every guy wants to look but some just don’t. You don’t have to give that much to the church, you can always go pick up that sale item with the extra money. You really have a lot of problems, its okay to get down on yourself for it. God is probably unhappy with you too. You can tell that person off, they deserve it. You don’t need other people and Christians to help you live a Christian life. You can do it just fine on your own. You don’t need to go to church to be a Christian. Is that enough of Satan’s twisted lies where we compromise? There are many more ways in which Satan tricks us into compromising our faith. When we compromise, we betray God!
One man conquered all the sin that we could ever face. He conquered temptation. He can live inside you and me if only we ask Him too. When he moves in, he will begin cleaning house and its going to hurt but he only does it to save us. I will tell you today Jesus triumped over temptation. How did he do it? He quoted the truth. Here is your lesson for the day. TRUTH TRUMPS TEMPTATION! Jesus did it. You can too. In Jesus Christ, we have hope to conquer our failures. “You probably heard about the guy who was trying to lose weight, but came to the office one day with two dozen donuts.
His co-workers asked him why he got donuts if he’s trying to diet, and he answered, "Well, as I came to the corner where the donut shop was, I told God that if He wanted me to buy some donuts to have a parking spot open right in front of the donut shop. And on the eighth time around the block, there it was!¨...” Don’t push your luck. You wouldn’t shove your leg in a bear trap on purpose. Remember the little boy from camp; he said God created poison-ivy so that we would know that there are some things we should keep our “cotton-pickin’” hands off of. There are many but you should know your own. Look to the man who conquered temptation. He quoted scripture to protect himself. You now know how to defeat temptation. We defeat temptation by knowing God’s word and dedicating ourselves to Him. How dedicated are you? Truth Trumps Temptation. Know the truth and the truth will set you free from sin!
