Today we are going to begin to look at the Temptation of Jesus Christ.
In Oscar Wilde's play “Lady Windemere's Fan” Lord Darlington says “I can resist anything but temptation”. It is said rather flippantly in the play, but for us it is a good starting point. Should we try to resist temptations, or should we just give in to them? That is the proposal in another of Oscar Wilde's plays - “The Picture of Dorian Grey”, where Lord Henry says “The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself, with desire for what its monstrous laws have made monstrous and unlawful.”. It is quite a contrast to the response that Jesus had when He was tempted.
There are so many truths that we can learn from the encounter of Jesus Christ with Satan.
Today I want to give an introduction to this section of Scripture.
Mark 1:1-15 (KJV) 1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; 2 As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. 3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 4 John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. 5 And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.
6 And John was clothed with camel's hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey; 7 And preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose. 8 I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.
9 And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. 10 And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him: 11 And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. 12 And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness.
13 And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him. 14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
Today in our introduction we will look at
The timing of the temptation
Mark 1:12-13 (KJV)12 And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness. 13 And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him.
I want to begin by looking at the time of the Temptation.
This is a big day for Jesus.
Jesus, is around 30 years old. Before this day in His life, not much is known of him.
Now, what we looked at, before we took some time over the last few weeks to look at the Reforms of Josiah is the Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist.
A large part of the purpose of the Baptism of Jesus was that it was signaling the beginning of His public ministry.
The Baptism is what told the world, this Jesus is God's Son. And Mark records, immediately the Holy Spirit drives Him into the wilderness for this time of testing and tempting.
Matthew and Luke concentrate more on three particular temptations and serve as templates on how we too can overcome temptation by using God’s Word against Satan. Mark sticks to the main thrust of his gospel, which is to prove that Jesus is the Son of God who has authority over sickness, the elements, life and death itself, and most of all, Satan and his demonic forces.
For you and I, the story of the Holy Spirit descending like a dove and the voice of God the Father proclaiming that this is my son in whom I am well pleased, for you and I we too often cannot see the immediate significance of that moment.
We see it and we really don't think too much about it.
But I want us to try and think about how it would have been to be there and to be an Israelite, a Jew.
One that has been waiting on the Messiah for centuries. To be a part of God's peculiar nation that has not heard the voice of God, from prophet, from priest, from King in 400 years.
And then out of nowhere John the Baptist begins his ministry, begins to proclaim
Mark 1:2-8 (KJV) 2 As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. 3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 4 John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. 5 And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 And John was clothed with camel's hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey; 7 And preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.
8 I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.
So, now they are hearing the voice of a prophet, John the Baptist and this prophet is declaring that Jesus, the Messiah,
the one that the prophets of old,
the ones that the Kings of old,
the Psalmist of old had been proclaiming.
The Son of God is coming and he is coming soon.
So John was preaching this message, drawing bigger and bigger crowds, until one day. Jesus comes.
John 1:29-36 (KJV) 29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
So this new prophet is declaring that Jesus He is the one.
And so we have the baptism.
And you have to know that now this crowd is watching with great enthusiasma and anticipation. What is He going to do, how is he going to prove himself to everyone that He is who John the Baptist says he is.
It is at that moment, in that crowd that the Holy Spirit descends like a dove.
Now, understand that Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all four describe the Holy Spirit descending like a dove.
Now we have all seen the Hollywood reinactments of this event, and all that I have seen actually show a dove. But that is not what the Bible says happened.
Turn with me, read closely in Luke.
Luke 3:21-22 (KJV) 21 Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, 22 And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.
In a bodily shape like a dove.
I think everyone present saw the same thing and what they saw was the Holy Spirit, not a dove, it was in the shape of a dove, it had an appearance that was close to a dove and the only way they could describe it to someone that did not see it was a dove, but understand, it was not a possessed dove.
It was the Holy Spirit, in bodily form, and I believe with my heart, that everyone there somehow, new what it was.
I think it was one of those moments, you just had to be there!
So the crowd is seeing this amazing moment when the Holy Spirit appears.
And then all of a sudden, could you imagine hearing the very voice of God!
All of a sudden you are seeing this wonder that is like nothing you have ever seen before and then this voice comes and both of them affirm what John the Baptist had bee preaching, Jesus Christ is the Son of God!
Now I believe, that just like with the Holy Spirit, after God spoke, everyone knew.
I don't think anyone had to ask their buddies, what did he say?
What was that commercial that used to come on all the time, when E F Hutton speaks, everybody listens.
Well, when God speaks, everyone hears.
All of a sudden God is present in Israel!
He is here!
Now, yes he has been here for 30 years, but he was intentionally quite, His time was not yet right.
Now, He is stepping on the stage.
We so often disconnect parts of scripture that I think would help us if we were to think about it in some different ways sometimes.
How is it that in the Gospels, just a few verses or chapters after this even, do we have Jesus going and calling his disciples and leaving everything.
When we understand the significance of the Holy Spirit descending, God the Father proclaiming and all the witnessing and then Jesus disappears into the wilderness for 40 days. While He is gone the nation of Israel begins to buzz with the news that the Messiah is here!
And so by the time He is calling His disciples they all, I would imagine, at least know the rumor, the Messiah is here!
And as soon as the world knows that He is God's Son, Mark says immediately, he goes into this time of testing.
Now, for the next several weeks we will be examining the details of this time of tempting and testing of Jesus.
But for right now I want us to understandt the timing, immediately.
The devil doesn't wait. He is johny on the spot, as they say!
We are not given the details of Jesus childhood and young adult days and you know what, I don't think the devil was either.
It is clear that from the birth the devil knew he was now here, but I think God supernaturally shielded - you know, like how he handle the wise men – Jesus so that the devil could not herass him until it was his time.
But as soon as it was time, the devil was ready.
Think back in Genises. When God created the world and placed Adam and Eve in the Garden.
Chapters 1 and 2 give us the story of creation and various details and immediately, in chapter 3 the devil himself makes an appearance.
Let me ask you, think back to the time when you became a Christian, when you realized you were a sinner and you needed a Savior.
Do you remember, I don't know about you but I remember as a child thinking, I know the Bible says we are all sinners but I am going to be better than most.
Yea, it didn't take me too long to figure out that I am worst than most.
I also remember, how bad I felt when I would sin.
There is an enemy and he wants you and me to fall and he wants us to fall quickly and often.
Now when you here this part of the message you might want to despair, but I will give you a little glimpse into the rest of the story, the devil is real but so is God!
Understand, the devil is for you and I and enemy and an opposing force, but to God the devil us just a whupped pup!
Today in our introduction we will look at
The timing of the temptation
Those present in the temptation
Now I want to take a moment to look at those present at the Temptation of Jesus.
When you first think about this you might get the impression that it is Jesus and the Devil and they are all alone in this epic battle, but the truth is, its a stacked deck.
Jesus did not go through His temptation alone!
You will not go through your temptation alone!
First, the Holy Spirit was with Him!
Matthew 4:1 (KJV) 1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
Mark 1:10 (KJV) 10 And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him:
Luke 4:1 (KJV) 1 And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,
As I have said so many times before one reason that Jesus came was to be an example, it was not the only reason, but it is a part of his ministry.
Here He is showing us how we are to face temptation. With the Help of the Holy Spirit. We will talk more about this aspect of it in the weeks to come.
So we have Jesus, the Holy Spirit and there is more.
Matthew 4:11 (KJV) 11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
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Mark 1:13 (KJV) 13 And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him.
Now, someone might read this and say well Jesus had something that we don't have.
I would say, wait just one minute.
I will take just one minute and answer this like this, I have had people ask me, do we all have guardian angels.
The truth is that that is an old Jewish tale that has been handed down that at birth you are assigned and angel that goes with you everywhere you go and is your personal guardian angel, we do not have any description of anything like that in the Bible.
But what we do have is the truth that there are angels and that they often help us.
Daniel 6:22 (KJV) 22 My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt.
Matthew 18:10 (KJV) 10 Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.
Acts 8:26 (KJV) 26 And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.
Now there are numerous other verses that mention and speak of angels. Angels are real and they are here to help.
Now, what I want to leave you with this morning, as we begin our look into the Temptation of Jesus Christ.
Greater than an angel, we have the Holy Spirit and the promise from God's word that he will never leave us.
I want to encourage you this week, you will be tempted.
It is a fact of life.
I would remind you, if you are a child of God you will not go into that temptation alone! He is with you!
