Lead by the Spirit - still tempted
Scripture: Matthew 4:1-17
As we start our message this morning, I want you to look at Matthew 3, verse 2. “John said, ‘Change your hearts and lives because the kingdom of heaven is near.’” Jesus’ first message as he began his preaching ministry was the same. Look at chapter 4, verse 17. “From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Change your hearts and lives, because the kingdom of heaven is near.”
Now that message, summed up in one word, is REPENT! Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near! Repentance is a change of hearts and lives. It’s a call to holiness. We’re not talking about the kind of repentance as in just being sorry for a sin we’ve committed, or determining to engage in some kind of self-reform. You know - pull yourself up by the boot-straps and do better kind of thing. That’s not the kind of repentance that is the foundation for the message this morning. Repentance that is talked about in scripture, is the kind of repentance - the change of heart and mind - that leads to a holy life. It’s a supernatural change. Did you know that the Christian religion - Christians, followers of Christ, is the only religion that claims a supernatural transformation of our lives. That something happens within us supernaturally, when we commit to Christ and accept Jesus as our Savior, that we cannot, ourselves, make happen. And if we, as Christians, are claiming a supernatural transformation of our lives, then it must manifest itself, not only in the public arena, where we are being watched and criticized, but it must also display itself in our private lives as well.
Well - that was an aside. We’re talking about repentance. When I was back in Broken Bow and I was visiting the jail one Thursday afternoon, I had one of the inmates ask me - He said, “You mean all a guy has to do is say “I’m sorry” and he’ll be forgiven and get into heaven? That doesn’t seem right.” It’s not right. Scripture tells us, not everyone who says, “Lord, Lord” will get into the kingdom of heaven. Without repentance, in the truest sense of the word, there is not salvation. You can pray what we call “the sinner’s prayer” ‘til you’re blue in the face, if you don’t have a repentant heart, you don’t have salvation.
Now with that understanding of repentance, let’s look at the core of the message for today. Temptations.
A grandpa asked his little grandson one day, “Jimmy, why don’t you ever eat your gravy?” Jimmy furrowed his brow and said, “Grandpa, the problem with gravy is you just don’t know what’s underneath of it.”
It’s the same way with temptation. Most of the things we are tempted with are like gravy - it looks good when you look at it - but you just never know what going to be under it.
Let’s look at temptation - the temptations of Jesus. If you look at Matthew chapters 3 and 4 together, you will see an interesting progression. John comes and preaches repentance. He denies that he is the Messiah. Jesus comes and asks John to baptize him. John resists but Jesus tells John to just go along with it because it is God’s will. So John baptizes Jesus - he gets confirmation in the form of the Spirit descending like a dove, that Jesus is indeed the Messiah, that same Spirit leads Jesus into the desert to be tempted OF THE DEVIL, and then Jesus begins his public ministry preaching - repentance.
Jesus set us a perfect example. We think of following in Jesus footsteps - we think of him as our example for living - but do we think of Jesus setting us an example in terms of salvation and holiness. He was already holy - he was already perfect - he had no sin. But look at these chapters. Jesus heard the message. He approached John to be baptized. He was tempted. He overcame temptation. He became a witness. That sounds like a good example to me!!
Why was it so important that Jesus be tempted? Because his next step was to preach about the Kingdom of God. And he was not only going to preach that the kingdom was coming, but he would preach that HE was the King of that kingdom. So Christ must not only be victor over Satan, but over the pull of human nature. We must never forget that Jesus was fully human. He felt the pull of human nature just like we do. And that “pull” for all of us, basically falls into three categories.
1. Jesus’ first temptation was directed toward his physical needs. Jesus had fasted for 40 days and he was hungry. “Medical science has shown that after 30 to 40 days of fasting, hunger, which disappears the second or third day, returns. All the body’s stored resources have been used, and the return of hunger is a sign that the body must have food again.”
So Satan challenges Jesus to turn the stones into bread. You can imagine all the stones in the desert. So Satan is setting the image of a feast before Jesus - when he’s hungry - when he’s weak. Satan isn’t going to temp you with food right after you’ve had a big meal. He isn’t going to tempt you with infidelity if you’re a newlywed. He isn’t going to tempt you with some attention-getting prank if you’re feeling loved and cared for. He’s going to tempt you when you’re weak.
Now for Jesus to turn the stones into bread would be a minor miracle for him. Satan knew that. But look how Jesus responds. He says, “MAN shall not live by bread alone.” What’s significant is that Jesus did NOT respond to Satan as the Son of God - he responded as a man. MAN shall not live by bread alone. I don’t think it’s pushing it too far this morning to say that Jesus is deliberately setting us an example here in his response to Satan, as he responds from the human perspective.
What does Jesus mean - and Deuteronomy - by “Man does not live by bread alone.” Was he saying that there’s got to be more than just bread? Was he saying he’d better have a little meat and potatoes to go with the bread - NO!! Of course not. The point of Christ’s response is that we are physical beings - BUT we are more than animals.
Our spiritual nature is to control our physical nature.
Our spiritual nature is to control our physical nature.
Very important for every Christian to understand this. God’s will - our spiritual man - the one God gives us when we repent and accept him - the spiritual being within us, is to control our physical needs and urges.
Now we don’t live in that kind of society. We live in a society that says, “I want it all and I want it now.” If you want sex, have sex.” If you want a big Mac, have a big Mac. If you want money, do what you have to do to get it. If you want to eat, eat. If you want to drink, drink. If you want to sleep, sleep. If you want to play, play. And so it goes. After all, it’s ONLY NATURAL to want these things.
Folks - yes, it’s natural. But now listen to me. That natural man is NOT the spiritual man – not since the Garden of Eden - an it won’t be this side of heaven.
The whole nature/nurture debate over homosexuality. It’s a moot point. It’s not about nature/nurture. It’s about God’s will. It’s about the spiritual and the supernatural - not the natural. Yes, it’s natural to satisfy all your urges - if you’re an animal. But we’re not animals - we’re more than that. It’s not natural for MAN to be driven by physical hungers. We were made spiritual beings and what IS right and natural of us is to be driven by the living word of God, NOT our natural desires. Amen??!!! And that is why satisfying our physical urges and hungers will never satisfy - because “man does not live by bread alone.” God made us to be more than that - thankfully.
2. The second temptation Jesus faces was an attack against his mind. Satan was looking for any kernel of doubt that might exist in Christ’s human heart. Satan said, “IF you are the Son of God.” And then once the seed of doubt is planted, he provides Christ with a way to find out - to prove it. It’s like a Devil’s Dare. IF ..... You really are this, THEN .... do this? And Satan is thinking to himself, “And then I’ll get you.”
You remember, doubt was what plagued Thomas. And doubt plagues a lot of us. What REALLY comes after death? What is REALLY the right religion? Is God REALLY with me in this situation? Does God REALLY want what is best for me? Does God REALLY exist? Does He REALLY love me? And then the big one - am I REALLY saved?
How many of you here this morning would be willing to raise your hand to say, “I KNOW - I KNOW beyond the shadow of a doubt - beyond even an inkling of a doubt - that when I die - even if it’s right at this very moment - I’m 100% certain I’m going to heaven?”
(Based on faith - faith is the substance of our hope)
Hebrews 11 says FAITH is the substance of things hoped for - the evidence of things not seen. So it is by faith that we believe. It is by faith that we are “certain.” And if the devil can do ANYTHING to sabotage that faith, with even an inkling of a doubt, then he’ll capitalize on that and he’ll use any crap of doubt he can find to influence our faith negatively.
That’s why our RELATIONSHIP with Christ is so important. It has to be a daily thing. Think about someone you know really well - someone you have a great relationship with. Now imagine someone you also know coming up to you and telling you something negative about that person. Something that COULD be true but you really don’t want to believe it. What are you most likely to do? You see if it’s something really shocking, that probably won’t shake our faith. But if it’s subtle. If it’s something that could possible be true, then maybe it can plant a seed of doubt in our minds about that person and we’ll begin to question them, and our relationship with them just a little bit more. That’s how Satan works with us. IF God really loved you, he wouldn’t let you go through this.
FAITH comes by hearing. And hearing comes by the WORD. And we are, of all people, most blessed, because most of us have at least one copy of the Word in our possession. And we need to cherish that Word. We need to cling to it. Bring it with us at all times. We had a saying when I was in school and just growing in my Christian walk.
The Bible says it. I believe it. That settles it.
Does it settle it for you? Is your faith in the word, and your connection with the Word, strong enough and solid enough that you can cling to it, like Jesus did, when you are facing temptation?
3. The third temptation Jesus faced from Satan was also pretty subtle. Satan said, “All this I will give you.” Now first of all - that’s a lie. It wasn’t Satan’s to give. So you might ask how would the One who owns it all anyway, be tempted at all by the lie to own something that was already his. I don’t think it was ownership that Satan was bargaining with here. Lawrence Richards says in his commentary, “I suspect that Satan’s appeal was to Jesus’ compassion.” I agree. Think of all the heartache that could have been avoided if Jesus had taken rulership of his kingdom right there and then. Think of all th good that could have been done if Jesus had struck up a bargain with Satan and Satan bowed out of worldly dictatorship and Jesus had ruled for the last 2000 years. Wouldn’t that have been a good thing? Well, yes, as far as you and I are concerned - maybe. But even something good could not keep Jesus from obedience to the will of God. Even when that will would lead him to the cross. You see, even the opportunity to do good can be one of Satan’s traps. I admit, I’m far more tempted by the opportunity to do good, than to do evil.
We need to remember that we are to follow Jesus’ example. Don’t jump at every opportunity to do good. Pray about it. Find out if it is God’s will for your life. It may be a trap of Satan to do good in this situation, which will keep you from doing God’s will in another situation - because you’ll be overtaxed and overextended.
When I started my message this morning, I said that Jesus set us the perfect example. He heard the call for repentance from John. We hear the call for repentance from Jesus. Jesus believed in who He was and who the Father expected him to be and he was baptized according to the father’s will. We believe in who Jesus was and is and are baptized according to the father’s will. Jesus was tempted. We are tempted. Jesus overcame the temptation by the Word of the Lord. We overcome temptation by the Word of the Lord. Jesus began his public ministry. We become a public witness to the Lord Jesus Christ.
It’s a simple message. It’s not hard. But it is absolutely impossible without all of the steps. You can repent and believe. But you will never have a public ministry if you don’t overcome temptation by the Word of the Lord.
You will be tempted. You will be tempted physically - whether it’s food, sex, shelter, toys, clothing, pain, money, heartache. Whatever the physical temptation might be, you can, with confidence, tell the evil one, “Man does not live by bread alone.”
You will be tempted psychologically. You will be bombarded with “if-then” statements all the time. If God really loved you.... If God was really going to use you.... If God really wanted you to do that.... And if you’re not standing on the rock of ages. If you’re not firmly rooted and grounded in His Word, your faith will be shaken and you will waver. And when you’re wavering, it’s hard to read his Word. When that seed of doubt is already there, it’s that much more difficult to stand on the Word. You have to build when the sun is shining and the spiritual weather is good, not when the winds of doubt start to blow. By then your foundation has to be sure and certain.
And you will be tempted to do good. If he can’t get you any other way, Satan is going to come in and get you involved in something that’s truly good - maybe even worthwhile - but it’s not God’s will for your life. Learn to say “yes” ONLY to those things that are God’s will for your life.
Revelation 12:11 says: They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, (that’s already been done for us) the word of their testimony (you have to have a test before you can have a testimony), and they loved not their lives - even unto death ( except a seed falls into the ground and dies, it cannot produce a harvest.)
Next week, we’re going to receive nine people into the membership of our church. They will join us, in following Jesus’ example - they will be tempted - they already all have been - and they will be again, especially because the devil doesn’t like what they are doing in following in the footsteps of Christ, but they will overcome. And they will be a witness, with us to the glory of God in this town and community. Amen? Amen.
# 504 - Just a Closer Walk with Thee.
