The Temptation of Christ
Sermon Notes
Introduction:
Hey everybody my name’s Louis I’m the lead pastor here at City Awakening, it’s great to gather with you both onsite and online. At this time let’s go ahead and dismiss the children to children’s church. If you didn’t get to check your child in, please see our children’s ministry leaders in the back and they’d be more than happy to assist you with that. We have a couple of celebrations before we get into today’s message, and the 1st celebration is our church officially has office space in downtown Oviedo...Show Pictures...We felt it was time for our staff, our elders, our leaders and teams to have regular meeting space to pray, plan, and prep for continual growth. It’s a sign we’re growing into having more permanence in East Orlando, and we want to continue growing by 70 people within the next 2 years, so we can also have a church building for our Sunday gatherings. You can help us grow by taking the invite cards on your seats and inviting some friends to come to church with you. But those cards aren’t just print on paper, they’re invitations for people to meet our Savior. Last week I had a skeptic say to me “Pastor, I’ve been attending here as a skeptic the past 2 years. But I’m not a skeptic anymore. I accept Jesus as my savior today.” That skeptic who’s now a believer, is living proof that your invitations can lead to transformations. So let’s keep growing as a church, let’s keep seeing more people come to Jesus like this skeptic, by using the cards on your seats to invite, and let’s pray for those we invite.
The 2nd thing we want to celebrate is a few students who have transitioned into middle school, which means they’re transitioning into our middle school student ministry. We want to pray for them in this transition, so let’s celebrate Caleb, Patrick, and Honor as they come forward... We’re proud of each of you, especially for growing in your faith in Jesus, and we want to pray for your continual growth as you transition into student ministry. So as a church let’s unite our hearts in prayer for these students...(Pray for growth in their faith as they face a culture that lacks faith...Pray for our church’s growth)...Let’s praise God for these celebrations he’s given our church.
Today we’re continuing our teaching series called The Story, where we’re going through the biblical narrative from the very beginning in Genesis 1 to the last amen in Revelation 22, and today we’re studying the story where Jesus was tempted in the desert. It’s a story both skeptics and believers can relate with because both skeptics and believers wrestle with temptation. For example some people are tempted to steal from their employer by taking company supplies for personal use, or by being lazy and underperforming since they don’t get paid enough...Some people are tempted by drinking or self-medicating their problems away...Some people are tempted by money, lust, lying, and the list goes on...We all have our poison. We all have things tempting us that we know are poisonous to us and our relationships...But where do these temptations come from?...Who or what’s driving these temptations?...How can we overcome these temptations, especially when our own will power keeps failing us?...Today we’re talking about how Jesus was tempted in the desert, how Jesus overcame those temptations, and how we can overcome those temptations too. So let’s turn to Matthew chapter 4 and get into it. If you open your bible to the middle and keep turning right, you’ll find Matthew there. We’ll be in Matthew 4:1-11. Title of today’s message is The Temptation of Jesus, and here’s the big idea. Temptations will come, but Jesus can help you overcome...Temptations will come, but Jesus can help you overcome...
Context:
Here’s your context. In Matthew ch 3 Jesus gets baptized not because he was sinful, but because he was faithful. He was being faithful to what God the Father wanted John the Baptist to do, which was to baptize people for the repentance of their sins. But John says “Jesus I shouldn’t baptize you, it’s you who should baptize me. I’m the one who’s sinful not you.” But Jesus tells John to baptize him anyways to fulfill all righteousness, to perfectly fulfill all that God theFather was wanting people to do. So Jesus gets baptized, the Holy Spirit descends on Jesus, it’s a very joyful day, and we’ll see 4 things happen next. I’ve broken the text down into 4 things, into these 4 realities: #1 The reality of life, #2 The reality of Satan, #3 The reality of temptation, and #4 The reality of reliance. It’s the reality of life, Satan, temptation, and reliance. Let’s check it out.
The Word:
Matthew 4:1-11, “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness...” The Greek
word for wilderness means desert, and this is the 1st reality. It’s the Reality of Life, which is that hardships and deserts will come. You can be doing everything right like Jesus was, but the reality of life is that hardships and deserts will come. The text says immediately after Jesus enjoyed the refreshing waters of baptism, he faced hardships and drought in the desert. This is important to realize because sometimes when we face hardships and deserts in life, we think it’s because we sinned or did something wrong, and God’s punishing us for it. It’s true that God disciplines us like a loving parent when we sin. He’ll even sometimes allow us to feel the consequences of our sin so we’ll realize sin isn’t good for us. But what we’re learning here is sometimes hardships and deserts will come, even when we aren’t sinning. Jesus was doing everything right, he was perfectly fulfilling all righteousness like it says in Matthew 3, yet he still faced hardships and deserts. The reality of life is that hardships and deserts will come, but that doesn’t mean God doesn’t love you. It can’t mean God doesn’t love you, because Jesus was very loved and cared for by the Holy Spirit, yet he still faced hardships and deserts in life. The reality of life is that hardships and deserts will come, even to those who are loved by God and aren’t sinning.
Again vs. 1, “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted by the devil.” This is the 2ndreality, it’s the Reality of Satan. It’s the reality that Satan exists, which isn’t an obvious reality for everybody. In fact some of you believe Satan’s just a metaphorical figure, a personification of evil. Humans need somebody to blame for evil in the world, so we created Satan as a metaphorical figure to personify evil. But I’ll give you two reasons that isn’t true, and the 1st is a biblical reason. It’s that the bible teaches Satan’s a real being, a real active force of evil in the world. In fact Satan’s mentioned in every New Testament book at least once, he’s mentioned over 250 times in the entire bible, and even Jesus mentions Satan more than once. Jesus says in Luke 22:31, “Peter, Satan asked to sift you as wheat.” He says Satan had to ask permission to sift Peter, which is something a metaphor can’t do because a metaphor isn’t a living being. But Jesus refers to Satan as a real living being, who he had a real conversation with, and he says Satan has real evil intentions to sift Peter and us away from God. So the 1st reason to believe Satan’s real is a biblical reason, and the 2nd is a logical reason. I mean it’s illogical to say “I believe in the possibility of God’s existence, but I don’t believe in the possibility of Satan’s existence.” Why is one possible, but the other isn’t? If you believe in the possibility of God’s existence, you should also believe in the possibility of Satan’s existence. If you believe in the concept of good and evil, you should also believe there’s a living being from which that good and evil is coming from. The bible teaches God’s the one producing good and Satan’s the one producing evil. It teaches God didn’t create evil, he created the possibility of evil by giving us free will. But Satan and humans turn the possibility of evil into actual evil whenever we sin.
City Awakening you need to be aware of the realty of Satan’s existence. You need to be aware that immediately after the voice of heaven, comes the voice of Satan. We see it happen to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3 when Satan shows up to tempt them, and we’re seeing it happen to Jesus in Matthew 4. The difference is Jesus is the perfect Adam who resists Satan in the desert. But it starts with the little word then in vs 1. It says after Jesus experienced the refreshing water of baptism, then comes the hardships in the desert, then comes the voice of Satan. There’s the voice of heaven, then comes the voice of hell. There’s the voice of the Spirit leading Jesus, then comes the voice of Satan tempting Jesus. When you first become a Christian your eyes are opened to the reality that there’s a voice from heaven leading you for good, but there’s also a voice from hell that’s tempting you for evil. Your eyes are opened to the reality that your heart and mind is being led by two supernatural beings. Your heart and mind is either being led by God for good, or it’s being led by Satan for evil. There’s the voice of heaven, then comes the voice of hell.
Again vs. 1, “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted by the devil. 2 After he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 Then the tempter approached him and said, ‘If you are the Son of God...’” This is the 3rd reality, it’s the Reality of Temptation. Satan’s tempting Jesus just like he tempts us, and he tempts us in 3 primary ways.
#1 Doubting God’s Word = Satan tries tempting us by getting us to doubt God’s Word, to doubt what God says. In Matthew 3:17 God the Father makes a declaration about Jesus saying “This is my beloved Son,” but then comes the voice of Satan saying “If you are the Son of God.” That little word if is meant to cause doubt in Jesus’ mind. That little word if is meant to cause doubt over what God the Father’s already declared over him. If Satan tried doing that to Jesus he’ll try doing that to you. He’ll try getting you to question God’s declarations. He'll put question marks where God’s already put exclamation marks in your life. God says he loves you, but Satan says “If God really loves you, he wouldn’t allow you to face hardships in the desert...If God really loves you, he wouldn’t allow you to struggle with temptation...” That little word if is meant to cause you to question God’s declarations. It’s meant to cause you to doubt God’s Word.
Again vs. 3, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.’” There’s the 2nd primary way Satan temps us. The 1st is by doubting God’s Word, and the 2nd is...
#2 Flesh Cravings = Satan tries tempting us with flesh cravings. Remember Jesus has been in the desert fasting for 40 days, and so he’s hungry. If it was me I’d be hangry. But Jesus is hungry, which is exactly why Satan tempts Jesus with bread, with food, with a fleshing craving. Flesh cravings are the cravings our body naturally seeks like hunger, thirst, and sex. Your body is hungry, so you crave something to eat. Your body is thirsty, so you crave something to drink. Your body is racing with hormones, so you crave sexual intimacy. It’s all natural flesh cravings the Lord gives us to enjoy. So they aren’t bad things, but they become bad things when we turn them into god things. They become bad things when we crave them more than God, which is Satan’s desire. His desire is to tempt you to turn things like food into gluttony, drinking into drunkenness, sex into sexual obsession. He’s like “You had a hard day, so go ahead and have a drink. It feels good doesn’t it?...Go ahead, have another. You deserve it.” There’s nothing wrong with having a drink, but Satan wants you to turn it into drunkenness. When it comes to sex he’s like “Go ahead click on that sight. Go ahead keep flirting with that person who isn’t your spouse. It feels good to have somebody flirt with me. It feels good to be noticed.” There’s nothing wrong with having sexual desires, but he wants you to turn those desires into sexual obsessions that objectifies people and destroys relationships. The Lord’s given us natural flesh cravings to enjoy, but Satan wants us to turn them into god things, into things we crave more than God. He’s trying to tempt Jesus with a flesh craving, with hunger, with bread, and here’s how Jesus responds.
Vs. 4, Jesus answered, ‘It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Jesus responds to this flesh craving temptation by quoting scripture from Deuteronomy, relating with a time when Israel was wandering in the desert. He’s saying what’s more important than our flesh cravings, what’s more important than even bread, is learning to be sustained and satisfied by the Lord who can provide the manna, who can provide the bread in the desert. He’s saying your flesh cravings are good and enjoyable, but they can’t sustain and satisfy you. Satan wants you to think your flesh cravings will sustain and satisfy you, but we know based on experience that isn’t true. When you eat, you get hungry again. When you drink, you get thirsty again. When you have sexual pleasure, you want sexual pleasure again. Our souls can only be sustained and satisfied by the Lord. We don’t live on bread alone.
Vs. 5, “Then the devil took him to the holy city, had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: He will give his angels orders concerning you, and they will support you with their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’ 7 Jesus told him, ‘It is also written: Do not test the Lord your God.’” So Satan tempts Jesus with another if statement, and this time he uses scripture to do it. He misuses the scripture by using it out of context, but Jesus doesn’t flinch. Instead he fights against Satan’s if statement with scripture once again. I’ll say more about this later.
Vs. 8, “Again the devil took Jesus to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 And he said to him, ‘I will give you all these things if you will fall down and worship me.’” This is the 3rdprimary way Satan tempts us, it’s through...
#3 Eye Cravings = Satan tries tempting us with eye cravings. He tells Jesus to look at all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor, which is an eye craving. Eye cravings are external cravings that are outside our flesh. It’s things we crave by sight like money, power, or fame. We see people with a nice car and house, so we crave a nice car and house. We see people enjoying positions of power and freedoms that come with positions of power, so we crave positions of power. We see people enjoying fame, so we crave fame. It’s all eye cravings that aren’t bad, but what makes them bad is when we turn them into god things like our flesh cravings. Satan wants to tempt you turn things like money into greed, power into oppression, fame into arrogance. He promises to give Jesus and us a kingdom with splendor, but it’s a kingdom without lasting pleasure. Some of the wealthiest people I know, are also some of the most miserable people I know. They thought money, power, fame, their eye cravings would buy them joy, but there’s still a joy void in their heart that only God can fill. Jesus fights against these eye cravings with scripture.
Vs. 10, “Then Jesus told him, ‘Go away, Satan! For it is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’11 Then the devil left him...” Jesus continually fights against Satan’s temptations with scripture saying “It is written, it is written, it is written.” Temptation isn’t sin, it’s giving into temptation that’s sin. We sin when we give in. But Jesus never gives in, despite how relentless Satan was. Satan was relentless in trying to wear Jesus down like he’s relentless in trying to wear us down. But it’s only sin when we give in. The biggest way Satan was trying to wear Jesus down, was by trying to stop Jesus from going to the cross. When he says “Turn these stones into bread,” he’s really saying “Jesus don’t go to the cross in weakness, instead go and conquer in power. Use your divine power to turn these stones into bread.” When he says “I’ll give you all the kingdoms of the world,” he’s really saying “Jesus don’t go the cross and take a crown of thorns. You can have a crown without the thorns...If God the Father really loves you, he’d give you a crown without the cross. So take the crown, take these kingdoms, without the cross.” Satan’s biggest temptation was trying to stop Jesus from going to the cross, and his biggest temptation with us is trying to stop us from relying on the cross. He’s trying to get us to think we can handle life in the desert and temptation without Jesus. But the reality is there’s some deserts and temptations that continually break us, which leads to the 4th reality.
The 4th reality is the Reality of Reliance. It’s the reality that you can’t defeat Satan and temptation relying on your own will power. If you could you would’ve done it already, but you can’t which is why you need to rely on a power that’s greater than your will power. Jesus teaches you need to rely on the power of God’s Word like he did. He continually preached the truth of scripture against the lies of Satan. Jesus says in John 8:44, “Satan does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him...He is a liar and the father of lies.” Jesus teaches us that the only way to defeat Satan’s lies is with the truth of scripture. The only way to defeat any lie is with the truth! You have to rely on the truth of scripture, but you also have to rely on the power of Jesus and his substitutionary love on the cross. Remember Satan wants you to reject or forget the declarations Jesus already made for you on the cross. He wants you to reject or forget God’s love, forgiveness, and acceptance Jesus already declared for you on the cross. The good news of the gospel is we don’t have to wonder if we’re loved, because Jesus already declared his love. We don’t have to wonder if we’re loved, because Jesus already proved his love by dying for our sins on the cross. Romans 5:8, “God proves his love for us, in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” If he didn’t love you he wouldn’t have died for you, but he died for you because he loves you. So don’t let Satan put question marks, where Jesus has already put an exclamation mark. Instead rely on the truth of scripture, and the love Jesus poured out on the cross. That’s where the power comes from. The power to overcome the realities of the desert, Satan, and temptation comes from relying on scripture, and relying on the love of Jesus.
The Big Idea:
The big idea of the message is temptations will come, but Jesus can help you overcome!.. Temptations will come, but Jesus can help you overcome, since he’s already overcome Satan, temptation, even the sting of death with the power of his resurrection. We don’t have that kind of power, but Jesus does. Jesus has the power to help us overcome whatever temptation’s wrecking our lives, our marriages, our families, our relationships. But we have to rely on him in the moment oftemptation. We have to rely on the scriptures and our relationship with him, instead of our own will power which has proven to continually fail us...Are you facing hardships in the desert?...Are you struggling with Satan and temptation?...Are you relying on your own wisdom and power, or are you relying on the wisdom of scripture and the power of Jesus?...The more you rely on the wisdom of scripture and the power of Jesus in the moment of hardship and temptation, the more you’ll overcome your hardship and temptation. It’s the reality of life, the reality of Satan, the reality of temptation, the reality of reliance. Jesus has the power to do what your will power has failed to do, and he has a love that can help pick you up when you do fail. Let’s pray.