Luke 4:1-13; Rom. 10:8-13; 1 Pet. 5:5,8-9; Jn 14:6; Heb. 10:25; 11:6; Eccl. 4:12; Micah 6:8
It’s been said, “I wouldn’t be tempted ... if temptation .... wasn’t so tempting.”
Oscar Wilde described it this way, “I can resist anything.... except temptation,”
which brings me to today’s Scripture from Luke 4:
READ LUKE 4:1-13
There’s a story about a boy in a grocery store which illustrates the nature of temptation quite nicely. It seems the boy was standing near an open box of peanut butter cookies when the grocer approached him. “Now then, young man,” said the grocer, “What are you up to?” “Nothing,” replied the boy.
“Well it looks to me like you were trying to take a cookie,” the grocer pointed to the open box. “Oh you’re so wrong, mister!..... I’m trying not to!”
Now that’s temptation!! I’m trying not to! Maybe you’ve heard someone say, “The Devil made me do it!” Granted, it began as a joke, but some may think it’s a convenient defense. But there’s just one problem; the Devil cannot make us do anything. He can tempt us but not force us. On the other hand, it may feel different when your faith and your desires disagree.
Lucifer’s primary goal and strategy is to make them disagree. Primarily, he wants us to disagree about Jesus. A minister once pointed out that, “All the warnings in the New Testament concerning conflicts with Satan are addressed only to believers. Why? Because he doesn’t want us to believe God.”
In John 14:6, Jesus says, “No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you really do know Him and have seen Him.” Jesus also said, “All that belongs to the Father is mine.” (Jn 16:15) The relationship between the Father and the Son is inseparable. The connection between them runs both ways, and our enemy will do anything to keep us from believing that Truth.
Lucifer is committed to doing whatever’s necessary to make us ineffective – in our personal lives and in our personal ministries. By doubting the Father or the Son, we doubt both. That makes us . . . ineffective.
James 1:13 says, “When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.” “Dragged away” from what? He’s dragged away from faith in God.
When we give into temptations, we reveal a lack of faith that God can protect us from temptation.
Notice that I said, “protect us from temptation” and not “keep us from being tempted.” In this world, temptations are everywhere. Some are huge; some are small, but none of them are from God – “for God does not tempt anyone.” The strategy behind temptation is to make us ineffective witnesses for Christ. If we’re ineffective, we hurt others and especially the church!
The enemy knows full well that he was defeated at the Cross, but he’s fully committed to taking as many of us with him as he can. He doesn’t fight fair. He fights a spiritual war, and that’s the real battlefield . . . the spiritual realm.
1 Peter 5:8-9, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith. . . .”
Unfortunately, far too many people have the wrong idea concerning the word “Resist”. Somewhere along the way, “resisting Satan” was changed to “ignore Satan” or better yet for Satan, just don’t believe that he exists at all!
You know the expression, “Keep your friends close – and your enemies closer.” The logic of those words lies in the reality that you should never underestimate the damage the enemy can do when you don’t know what he’s doing. By denying the existence of real evil, you empower it. When you define temptation as nothing more than a “natural urge” or an “innocent mistake”, you fail to see the true damage it can do – emotionally and spiritually.
Where did we ever get the idea that the best approach to dealing with Satan is to dismiss and ignore him as nothing more than a fantasy or theological myth? Maybe when we made our sciences into gods? The problem is that “Passive Neglect” is a poor tactic to use against any adversary.
Standing against the enemy’s attacks is not a task to be taken lightly. Our enemy is a cunning and relentless adversary. His mastery of evil enables him to fashion lewd temptations or fling fiery darts with amazing accuracy. He may not have the power to read your mind, but then, he doesn’t have to. He already knows your basic nature, and all he has to do is appeal to it.
Job, Joshua, Daniel, David and the apostle Paul were men who had real and convincing experiences that proved that they were not immune to the wiles of a very real Tempter. If these great saints of the Bible were vulnerable, what makes anyone think they can be the exception?
The greatest example of Satan’s audacity was his attempt to deceive the son of God in the wilderness. If he’s brazen enough to get in the face of Christ, why should we expect him to steer clear of us?
The writer of Hebrews lays before us this truth: “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weakness, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.”
Your real battle is to be true to the purpose for which you were created. To win this battle takes the power of God which was given to you in the Holy Spirit. The enemy doesn’t want you to recognize – let alone USE – the gifts the Holy Spirit gives you to win. He wants you to stay in bondage and in defeat.
Christians are called to be the spiritually commissioned and empowered army of God; demonstrating the power of God by living victorious, fruitful, and godly lives. There are powers of darkness in this world that are seeking to neutralize the followers of Christ – at all cost.
This is the whole reason for the many attacks against Christians – especially against those Believers who are responding to God’s call; those who are brave enough to take a stand of faith in God’s Word. There are Things we can do to be prepared for battle in the spiritual realm.
First, we must cultivate humility and obedience.
Scripture presents humility as a divine requirement and an endearing characteristic for all Christians. The prophet Micah, in 6:8, shares this truth, “The Lord has already told you what is good, and this is what he requires: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”
Pride was the reason for Lucifer’s fall. This is why Peter warns us that God abhors pride and desires humility. If we want to resist temptation, we need to make sure that we’re not “putting up a barrier” with God due to pride. The most common barrier today – even among Christians – is our attitude that “God has made us intelligent enough to succeed on our own. We don’t need a ‘Ghost’ or ‘spiritual gifts’ in order to succeed.” That’s PRIDE.
Humility comes from acknowledging that the real battle is spiritual, and we need spiritual power in order to win. Humility and wisdom come from admitting that the spiritual war is real, and we cannot win without the power of the Holy Spirit.
Humility must also be combined ....with obedience. The prophet Samuel declared that, “To obey is better than sacrifice.” Why? For one simple reason: With sacrifice, we decide what God will get. But with obedience, God decides, and we obey. “To obey is better than sacrifice.”
The second protection for the spiritual battle... is our spiritual armor accompanied by spiritual accountability.
It’s astonishing how many confessing Christians live their lives without wearing their spiritual armor, and then they wonder why things keep going wrong. The most common reason seems to be ....simple carelessness.
People just don’t think about putting on their spiritual armor. Yet Paul is clear: • Spiritual armor is not an optional accessory. Those who choose to dismiss it – do so at their own peril.
In Ephesians 6:14-18, Paul spells out “the armor of God”: “Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep praying for all the saints.”
Paul summed it up in four simple words: “I die every day!” (Repeat) Rather than visualizing literal helmets, breastplates and shields, simply dedicate your first conscious thoughts each morning to the will of God. Spiritual armor becomes a lifestyle when we choose to consciously walk in the presence of God . . . daily! But Spiritual Armor also requires Spiritual Accountability.
One of the unhealthiest habits of a Christian is trying to live as a spiritual Lone Ranger. Those who adopt this mentality are missing the point of the church.
We are baptized INTO the Body of Christ for a reason. As members of the Body, we have spiritual power that we can never have alone. “A three fold cord is not easily broken” said Solomon (Eccl. 4:12).
Spiritual accountability with each other helps each of us to establish guard-rails – safety lines – in case we stumble. The Scriptures state this clearly in Hebrews 10:25, “And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other....” . . . . Be humble; put on the Armor of God; and be accountable to one another.
Thirdly: a faithful prayer life must be a part of the battle plan.
Nothing of eternal significance is ever accomplished apart from prayer. I’m convinced that all – or nearly all of our failures – are prayer failures. It’s been said that “Seven days without prayer makes one weak.” That’s spelled:
“W. E. A. K.” Generic praying has its place, but real prayer is Battlefield Prayer, and it says: “. . . not my will, but Thy will be done.”
The final protection is to take godly risks. Many Christians overlook this because they think of “Risk” as something to avoid. But when it comes to taking “godly risks”, the real danger is often in the realm of just maintaining the status quo; not rocking-the-boat; being politically correct.
If we are to succeed on the spiritual battlefield, we must learn to walk in Faith.
And for the Christian, faith is not spelled "F-A-I-T-H". It’s spelled "R-I-S-K.” “If there’s no risk involved, then it really doesn’t require faith.” (Repeat).
Hebrews 11:6: “without faith it is impossible to please God.” A risk-free life ... is a life without victory. A risk-free life means a lifelong surrender to mediocrity – which, in a way, is the worst of all possible deaths.
Satan and his army are a real-and-present danger – whether you believe it or not. And the sooner you believe it, the sooner you’ll be engaged spiritually on the most serious battlefield of your life. Are you willing to proclaim – like Joshua... “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord?”
PLEASE JOIN WITH ME IN PRAYER:
Heavenly father, prepare me, prepare us for the battle that lies ahead; Kindle in us the fire of your love; a fire for the saints and for the lost. Strengthen us and give us a heart to step out in faith, to step out and risk all of who we are .... To yield totally to your will; to step out and risk all for the gospel. Heavenly father not mine but thy will be done. Amen!
(I received much insight from a sermon by J. Jeffrey Smeade titled “Spiritual Protection For The Battlefield”; SermonCentral.com. I commend it to you.)
