We Are To Stand Against Temptation As Jesus Did

IT DOESN’T COST A THING: There are so many things in life that don’t cost a thing. The wind blowing through your hair on a warm spring April day. The sounds of the ocean, as the waves dance and play. The laughter of a child, those are heaven sent. See there are so many things and it doesn’t cost a cent. The lullaby you can hear if you listen to the birds sing, The shimmer of the stars, on a crisp cool evening. The whisper of the trees, when the wind blows through its leaves. Can you see it? Can you feel it? Unbelievably, it doesn’t cost a thing! We all take for granted what was given for free we seek true meaning or purpose in our lives. We see and feel our pain but neglect to see and feel one thing. The best things in life are free! It doesn’t cost a thing!

We are to stand against temptation as Jesus did Luke 4:8

Do you find like I do that when I am mentally or physically spent it is easier for temptation to appear as something that would not be wrong? The Bible says that the Word of God is the “Sword of the Spirit.” It is God’s Word that keeps us pure and even when we are spent mentally and physically as we get into God’s Word and his Word gets into us we are able to overcome temptation. In the Prayer the Lord Jesus gave us He said, “And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil (one).” Jesus did not want us to be lead into temptation and He wanted us to be protected from the evil one.

I have used information from the book "Faith Under Fire" by Steven Lawson as a backgrond forthis message. I have added my own illustrations.

A note of history tells us back in 1940, May 26 the allied troops 330,000 made a dangerous withdrawal across the English Channel and the British celebrated as though they had won the war. Winston Churchill made a speech on June 4 that “Wars are not won by evacuations.” He told them they needed to fight and said, “We shall never surrender!” On June 18 Hitler invaded by air and Churchill said, “Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization.” A victory in war does not belong to the fearful. Nor does it belong to the weak. It does not belong to the indifferent. We can only win by facing the enemy head on with fearless courage. We need to fight with enduring, stubborn determination. We see that Jesus did this in His battle in the wilderness with the Devil. He never gave up; He never bowed under and showed persistence. Jesus did not evacuate. Martin Luther stood before the council that want him to take back what he had said and he said, “My conscious is captive to the Word of God, here I stand, I cannot do otherwise.

If we choose to overcome temptation we must have uncompromising determination to stand against anything the Devil throws at us. JAM 4:7 “So humble yourselves before God. Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you.” 1 PT 5:9 “Be firm in the faith and resist him.”

Are you hearing the words “Resist, Stand firm, Fight back, hold your ground, never retreat, attack.” “Jesus answered and said to him.” From these words we have our first point in overcoming temptation.

1. we are to stand firm against Him without delay.

When Satan came after Christ, Jesus resisted him immediately. He did not hesitate or take time to think about it or to reason with him. He answered him with powerful words. He did not ignore the Devil. He did not debate with him. He did not reason with him. He did not go to a counseling session with him. He did not call on others to give a word of advice. He said, “It is written.” We are to resist and stop the Devil as soon as he makes a move on us. If your family was asleep at night and you heard a bugler trying to break in would you just pull the covers over your head and hope he would go away? You would get up and make sure all the doors were locked. You would check to see that all the windows were shut. You would turn on the lights and call the police. You would do all that you could to resist him from coming in. When the Devil comes we must also take action. If we do not take action the temptation will not go away.

1. We can just say no. Do your children understand that word? My son at one time came home from a friend’s house and was crying saying he was sorry. He was walking with a limp. I asked what had happened and he said he had fallen out of the friend’s tree house. I was concerned about his hurt ankle but he said, “You told me I should not go to my friends and play in his tree house and I am sorry, Dad.” Though he was hurting he was more concerned that he had done something I had told him not to do. We need to say no to wrong things and hold our ground. When a salesman is pressuring us to buy we need to say NO! When the telemarketer keeps telling us this is a good deal we need to say NO! When we get that great ad in the mail for a terrific object we need to say NO!