Ep. 044 The Tempter

Welcome to the Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast. We are a Bible-Believing Church located

in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. We are proudly part of the Christian Fellowship

Ministries with 3,000 churches around the world. We are a church focused on world evangelism,

discipleship and church planting. Here we will share recent sermons from P.H.S.A. Church

and other sermons from throughout our fellowship. I am Pastor David Bigford and I will be your

host for this podcast. I thank you for listening today and we hope these messages are a blessing

to you and bring you closer to God.

Hello and welcome back to the Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast. My name is David Bigford.

I'm the pastor here and today's message is entitled The Tempter Body, Mind and Soul.

Our text we are going to be using is Luke 4 verses 1 through 13. If you are following

Luke 4:1–13

along in your Bible you can get there. As you are looking in your Bible to get there

it is something that is kind of on my heart and something that is interesting with everything

going on in the world today. We need to pray for our leaders whether we agree with them

or not. The Bible tells us to pray for those that are our leadership. If you think of the

exiles in Babylon they were praying for their leaders in Babylon and later on under the

Medes and Persians and everything else. But we are experiencing in the West in Canada

and the United States some tumultuous times, Western Europe as well. It is just something

that we need to remember is that we are to be the peacemakers. We are to be those praying

for it. I have been extremely disgusted with a lot of the stuff that I have been hearing

online specifically people wishing ill of leaders on either side of the aisle. Obviously

as a Bible believing Christian we lean a certain way because we do believe in the sanctity

of life and ultimately in the redemption of all people. That is just something that I

just wanted to throw in because we can be tempted to follow along with the wickedness

of the world. I think that fits with this message this morning or afternoon whenever

you are listening to this because we can be tempted in many different ways to do the wrong

thing. We should not be wishing ill of those that we disagree with. We are meant to preach

the gospel of Jesus Christ and to see people redeemed in his name and we are not supposed

to take wrath and vengeance onto others as ourselves. With the recent assassination

attempt on former President Trump and with President Biden deciding to leave the presidential

race as of today when I am recording this, I think it is important that we remember that

we hope for both Trump and Biden to find salvation in Jesus Christ and to live according to the

will of the Father. We all should be striving to do better and be better and we should all

be striving to move closer to Christ. That being said, let's jump into this with Luke

4, 1-13. Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, was led by the Spirit in

the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those

days and when they were ended he was hungry. The devil said to him, If you are the Son

of God, command this stone to become bread. Jesus answered him, It is written, Man shall

not live by bread alone. The devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the

world in a moment of time and said to him, To you I will give all the authority and their

glory for it has been delivered unto me and I give it to whom I will. If you then will

worship me, it will all be yours. And Jesus answered him, It is written, You shall worship

the Lord your God and him only shall you serve. And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on

the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, If you are the Son of God, throw yourself

down from here, for it is written, He will command his angels concerning you to guard

you and on the other hand, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your

foot against a stone. And Jesus answered him, It is said, You shall not put the Lord your

God to test. And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until

an opportune time.

As the Union Pacific Railroad was being constructed, an elaborate trestle bridge was being built

across a large cannon in the west. Wanting to test the bridge, the builder loaded a train

with enough extra cars and equipment to double its normal payload. The train was then driven

to the middle of the bridge where it stayed an entire day. One worker asked, Are you trying

to break this bridge? No, the builder replied, I am trying to prove the bridge won't break.

And the same way the temptations Jesus faced weren't designed to see if he would sin,

but to prove he couldn't. This is something again that we have to really isolate in our

time that we live in today.

We're living in a very precarious time where our leaders are led astray by their own pride

and prejudices, and they are telling us that if only we will worship to them and to their

secular humanistic ways that we will obtain all of what we're looking for. It's very

challenging to navigate the social constructs because especially in the days that we live

now, both parties in the United States and all the parties in Canada are willing to accept

things that are ungodly. And that doesn't mean that we don't have a place to play or

a part to play in the democracies that we live in. Far be it, we have to pick the best

choice out of what the options are. But what it does mean is that we have to be careful

that we don't allow our love for a certain politician or our love for a certain party

or any of these things to delude us into thinking that they are going to be our salvation.

It is tempting to put your faith into man, but you have to recognize that our focus needs

to be on the Lord. We have to make sure that we keep God as our reference point and the

Word of God as our measuring stick. And so what's the point of what I'm talking about

here? What do we think this is all about? So I just want to interject with a little bit

of clarity that I received for some of my early morning thoughts. So the idea here is

that we have to add a disclaimer for empathy because repentance, restoration and grace

is what we seek. Grace comes from the Lord through repentance. And as you repent, you

will be restored. So we all battle temptation in our lives. And I don't want anybody to

walk away from this message feeling as if they've, if you've succumbed to temptation

or any of the temptations that the world has to offer that you're written off, but rather

that it is, that it's an example of when you fall, you can be, you can be redeemed through

repentance because of the grace of Jesus Christ. So we look at the entire Bible as one slowing

story from beginning to end with Jesus as our, as our savior, it's necessary and important

to understand that God shows us the way that we can overcome temptation, but there is always

going to be room for grace as long as we're able to humble ourselves, repent and come

back to Christ. So as I was listening to parts of the Republican national convention this

week and I actually look forward to listening to some of the Democrat national convention

stuff because the way America goes, the world is going to go. Whether you like that idea

or not, it is a reality because America has been the arbiter of the world order since

world war two. Now, if you want to give way to somebody else taking that arbiter of the

world order, then you're going to have to look at the other powers that play and that's

going to be China and they have a very different view on your kind of Christianity or your

kind of freedom than America does on their worst day. But that being said, you know,

everything that's happening, like it's, it's interesting cause I was listening to parts

of the Republican national convention and there were parts of it that made me uncomfortable

as they brought in things that don't align with the scripture. But there were other things

that were said that gave me hope that God was still in the midst. And I do believe that

God directs and he holds the heart of the king in his hand. I do believe that. And obviously

we don't live under kings necessarily, but still we, we, uh, we understand that the idea

of leaders are put, are allowed to be in the places they are because of God. So I want

to emphasize that if you failed, cause we've all failed, we all fall short of the glory

of God that we're aspiring to or what we're expiring to is perfection. And that's, that's

the goal is perfection, but it's not believable to ever achieve that perfection, the side

of heaven. So it's important to hold to that standard so that we have something bigger

than ourselves to look for, look towards. And that is the example that we see with Jesus

Christ. If we look at the old Testament, we see kings that we know to have been good kings

because they were, because we're told in the scripture, they were good kings. They followed

the law, they followed the spirit of God, um, that was set before them. But there's

a lot of, you know, there's not a lot of good kings though, but even with the good kings,

there were failings within their life. But what set them apart as being good kings was

their humility and their willingness to turn back to God, to humble themselves and to repent

and to make a declaration to the Lord that I can't do this without you. So I want to

make sure that there is empathy put into this message first, that even though we're going

to look at ways of overcoming temptation, we also want to know that there's always

repentance for failing. There's always going to be a process of restoration. Now you might

not always be able to be restored back to everything and you might've lost because of

failure. We see that scripturally as well, you know, if we look at the story of Moses

and how what he struck the rock rather than speaking to it, that sin that he had committed

prevented him from being able to enter into the promised land with the rest of Israel.

But that didn't take away from his relationship with God entirely. He was still able to meet

with God face to face and be the representative of God to the people of Israel until his death.

But again, just as emphatically, you know, we want to make sure that we understand that

there is always a potential for restoration. Even when we succumb to temptation, there's

a chance for restoration. But the goal is to learn how to live through, you know, to

remaining focused on Jesus so that we don't fall to temptation. So let's go ahead and

look at what the point is. We tend to argue with ourselves constantly about what is the

point. Why must we struggle? Why must we face challenges, difficulties, troubles in our

lives? It is a common thought throughout all mankind. It is it is this that you know, sentient

thought that separates us from all of other, you know, God's other creations, animals

and plants, floor and fire. They don't trouble themselves with these kind of concerns. This

is the very root of the human experience. And this is part of my point. Jesus came to

Earth fully human and fully God to endure the hardships of humanity without sin, to

show us that in him we can not only be redeemed, but have an example of the purpose of overcoming

temptation. Not to be weakened by temptation, but to be tested and tempered by it. In metallurgy,

you know, we we understand that if you add carbon to iron or you can make a stronger

metal, you can call it you. You can make steel. Steel is then forged in the fire and tempered

to be hardened, but remains flexible enough to bend when needed and still able to return

to its intended shape without any loss of strength. The really interesting thing is

that there are different ways to temper or anneal steel for different purposes. The trials

we go through as Christians are for a purpose. Some are tempered for strength, hardness or

sharpness. Others are heat treated with flexibility, compassion and empathy. But we're all part

of the body of Christ and still one family knitted together. So keep this in mind as

we progress this morning or evening when again, whenever you're listening to this message,

we're all tempted. We are all challenged and we're all tested. We're also all built

and designed for the for God for God's purpose.

In 2nd Timothy 2 20 through 21, it says, Now in a great house, there are not only vessels

of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for dishonorable use, some for dishonorable.

Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from the dishonorable, he will be a vessel for

honorable use set apart is holy, useful to the master of the house and ready for every

good work. So let's jump in and work through the text. Temptations are not of the Lord.

Temptation has a goal. The goal is to cause sin and condemnation into the person who is

directed. That is why Eve was tempted in the garden. Satan tempts us to sin and therefore

separate ourselves from God. Whereas God tests us to strengthen us and bring us closer to

him.

The first point is the body, physical temptation. The first attempted temptation of the devil

made to Jesus was one that was focused on his physical body. The goal was to draw Jesus'

attention away from God onto his hunger. As we know, he was fasting before his exchange

and Jesus would certainly have been very hungry after 40 days without food. In verse 3, the

devil said to him, If you are the son of God, command this stone to become bread. And Jesus

answered him, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone. This temptation was a

material temptation and can be looked at as the lust for material things. Think of it

this way. You could be hungry for food, drink, money, or the newest toy. The ability to gain

all the stuff you could ever want. All you have to do is kneel to the powers of be. This

is what a lot of current culture is fighting about. Bend to our worldview and everything

is yours. A lot of our entertainment that comes out of Hollywood today says bend to

our worldview. You are bigoted and hateful if you don't bend to our worldview. But if

you will bend your knee to this new world order, then you will have everything that

you've hoped for and more. In Ephesians 6, 16-17 it says, In all the circumstances, take

up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil

one and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of

God. In Deuteronomy 8, 3 it says, And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna

which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man

does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of

the Lord. So this is very hard for us to understand in our day and age. We are supposed to live

by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. That means we are supposed to be

sustained by the word or the Bible and we are supposed to be stained through the Bible.

This is why we fast and why when you fast you are supposed to maintain a happy countenance

not like the Sadducees and Pharisees, the religious people of the time. The verse from

Deuteronomy that Jesus cited was to highlight our dependence on God. Today many of us depend

only on ourselves or the government to provide us what we need to live. We are to be content

with God and with what he gives us, knowing in faith that he will take care of us just

as he does the birds in the field.

So here are some things to consider. What feels right is not always right according

to God. Beating the material desires can separate you from God and your dependence on him. I

spoke with a friend about our dependence on God. Now the rest of the world likes to think

that Christians see themselves as better than everyone else, but the reality is that we

just know that we are not better. We are saying no, we need God in our life. We need Christ.

We need Jesus to take the burden of this life off of our shoulders. We quite literally are

admitting that we do need God's help.

The pleasure that comes from giving into temptation is always a short-lived one. It's a quick

hit. For example, I'm saving because I want to get a new iPhone. I could get the iPhone

on payments or I can save up the money to get the iPhone, but I have to understand that

saving the money is going to be a better way to do it because I can get an iPhone that's

like refurbished or after the 16 comes out, I'll pay less for it and I'll still have the

phone I want. Or I could take payments for it now. But why would I take payments? Because

the idea of that is I'm going to get this short-lived hit that's going to last a very,

very short period of time and now I have to make these small payments for two years or

more for a phone that I could have saved hundreds of dollars off of and I would just wait and

be patient.

So we're tempted to spend it and just be done and get it because we want it now. But we

have to learn to control ourselves. So this brings me to my next point, which is the mind,

your thought life. And this leads into it, right, with that silly analogy about the phone.

You have to learn how to judge the thoughts that come through your head. The next attempt

at battle was for the mind of Jesus. I can give you the world and all authority. All

you have to do is bow to me. This is a song that we hear today with leaders from every

corner of the earth. I'm your guy. I'm your girl. I can get you what you want. Same money,

power, prestige, authority. All that is required is that you acknowledge me as your overseer,

your Lord. Here's the passage from Luke again. And the devil took him up. Verse five and

showed him all the kingdoms of the world in the moment of time and said to him, to you,

I will give all authority and their glory for it has been delivered unto me. I give

it to whom I will. If you then will worship me, I will, it will be all yours. And Jesus

answered him, it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.

So I find it interesting that in the same message that has been used throughout history

by, you know, petty and tin pot dictators, you know, or like Nebuchadnezzar, Caesar,

Kim Jong-un, all these demand that their vassals to bow down to them as gods. Nero persecuted

the Christians heavily because they would not partake in his worship. We know that in

the end times the devil was will bestow power to the Antichrist. Revelation 13 to it says,

and the beast that I saw was like a leopard. Its feet were like a bear and its mouth was

like a lion's mouth. And to it, the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority.

But we also know that this is a short lived authority and that one, the, that only leads

to destruction. And Deuteronomy six, 13 through 14 is the Lord your God, you shall fear him,

you shall serve. And by his name, you shall swear. You shall not go after other gods,

the gods of the peoples who are around you. So as we look at society today and the political

realm, they are all trying to grab power, right? And this is the idea of trying to buy

in or to take, you know, take away your life in the sense that, you know, getting a little

off topic here in a way, but the political realm today is constantly trying to tell you

to bow. Why do you think that every idea that they come up with is a flag? Why is it that

every protest that happens is some new flag, but the flag that you're supposed to be afraid

of is the flag that is of your country. When, when the Canadian protests were happening

in Ottawa by the truck drivers, they had Canadian flags and we were being told that the Canadian

flag was being used to harass and terrorize people, their national flag and the States,

you were there, you're constantly being told that the American flag is a symbol of hate

and divisiveness and to have the American flag present is, is somehow a negative. It'll

be interesting to see as the Democrat national convention comes up in a month, are they going

to look like what the RNC had with, are they going to have the American flags presented

or are they going to have other flags presented because they put other flags on our police

cars now in Canada, the United States, they put other flags when they're protesting against,

you know, Israel, they put other flags everywhere at these college campuses, at our crosswalks,

all of these other things that they want us to bow down to. It's a very interesting thing

that they're trying to get us to just kneel, kneel, just submit to it. But we have nothing

to fear if we're living in the, with our, you know, if we're living for the Lord. So

this brings me to my, my third point, which is the soul and the pride of life. In chapter

four of Matthew, you can see another account of this story, but I like that a Luke second,

you know, Luke has it where the second and third temptations are switched in placement.

The reason I prefer Luke's order is simple. The first two temptations were struggles for

power by Satan. He was attempting to persuade Jesus by provoking him to use his power or

by flaunting his power, command these rocks into bread. I can give you all authority,

but the third temptation is slightly different. It's now that the devil strives to manipulate

the words of God and twist it to get Jesus to falter. So how often will someone try to

persuade us to give into material lusts? And when that works, they might say, I have the

authority to do it. It's okay. I permit you to do this or that. So I've experienced both

of these things in my life. Long ago when I was in the military, it was very common to

have guys try and get, you know, get you to drink or to get you to swear. After all, you

are not, you know, one of us. If you don't drink or you don't party or you don't go after

women. So I can honestly say that I have had guys who outrank me, try to order me to break

faith and partake in whatever they were doing. They would literally say like, I'm your staff

and seal. You have to do this with, you know, with us and you have to make a stand because

they don't have true authority. They're using their authority unjustly. And similarly, we

see this with the temptation story in verse nine, it says, and he took him to Jerusalem

and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, if you are the son of God,

throw yourself down from here for it is written, he will command his angels concerning you

to guard you and on their hands, they will bear you up. Lest you strike your foot against

the stone. And Jesus answered him and said, you shall not put the Lord your God to a test.

And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.

So the devil this time was attempting to use scripture to get his way. And we get this

in our lives. There's no surprise here, right? In Psalm 91, 11 through 12, it says, for he

will command his angels concerning you to guard you and all your ways and on their hands,

they will bear you up. Lest you strike your foot against the stone. So it's important

as a Christian to remember the devil knows the Bible better than you do. This is why

we pray, why we read the Bible and stay within the body of Christ and why you should have

a pastor. If you're listening to this online and you don't have a pastor, you need to get

a pastor. If you live in Sam and our come to church in person, we'd love to have you.

If you're somewhere else, you need, you know, reach out the contact information, show notes.

I'll get you connected with a look with a pastor in your local area. More than likely,

we have 3,700 churches now worldwide. But the reason why you need a pastor, why you need

headship is you need someone to speak into your life so that if you start going the wrong

way or following something that you know, following the temptation that's put in front

of you, someone can speak into your life. This is why you have brothers and sisters

in the faith and the church body. The devil in the world is going to try to use snippets

from the Bible to twist your understanding. That's what happens. Why there's so many

different Colts out there that use the Bible. They're designed to get you to stumble and

fall without you even knowing it, to get you to question and challenge the Bible until

you separate yourself from the will of God. How did Jesus deal with this temptation? Well,

in verse 16, Deuteronomy 6, 16, he says, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test

as you tested him at Massap. So when the devil tried to fail or tried and failed to use the

word of God to get Jesus to fall, he fled the scene. And this is true in our lives also.

When others try to use the Bible to get under our skin, it's important to know the Bible

enough to shut them down. So here's an example that I used to have, or I used to have to

deal with all the time. So drinking, well, Jesus turned water into wine, mic drop, right?

It's over. There's no comeback because Jesus turned water into wine. But in Galatians 5,

19 through 21, it says the acts of the sinful nature obvious drunkenness, orgies and the

like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom

of God. Ephesians 5, 18 says, do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. So the

issue is authority. Who are you going to give authority to in your life? We are called to

give Jesus and through him, God, all authority in our lives. That is why, you know, Jesus

was saying, do not test the Lord. God has all authority and we're not meant to test

that authority simply because someone other than God came by and challenged us to do it.

So closing, let's look at five takeaways from the lesson today. No one is exempt from

temptation. That's number one. God does not tempt us, but he will allow us to be tested.

Think of it as like as a hiking analogy. You will never gain strength if you only train

on the flattest, easiest terrain. No, you have to go up. You have to think of it as

testing a strength training and temptation is the voice that tells you it's too hard

and just to quit. When you're going up that hill, you've got to grind it out. You got

to continue to build that strength. And when that starts getting too easy, either you find

a steeper hill or you throw some extra weight in your pack so that you can continue to get

stronger. But that small little voice that you hear telling you to quit, that's temptation.

That's the voice that's telling you it's better to be idle than to be moving forward

for God. So number two, temptation is not the same as sin. We all face temptation, but

that's not sin. The sin is when you accept the temptation, when you hold on or hold it

in your heart and act upon it. The action is where sin is committed. If you're even

if it's an idle thought, it's an idle thought, you can judge it and it's done. But if you

sit there even, you know, fantasize about that thought, then it becomes an act of sin.

So like when Jesus is talking about adultery, and if you've thought of adultery in your

mind, that's not an idle thought that passes through your mind. That's when you capture

that thought and you sit and you hold it and you fantasize about it. Then that becomes

the sin. Number three, respond to temptation with God's word. So using the word to repel

temptation, but when that's not enough fleeing temptation, like the story of Joseph and Potiphar's

wife. And so he even in that story went to jail as we know. But the reality is, is that

again with that thought, you judge it. And then if you're judging it and it's still

a present in your mind, then what can you do? Well, you're going to use the word of

God to speak against it. And when that's not even enough, because you're in a bad area,

you found yourself in an area where you shouldn't be, you need to flee it. Even if that means

your clothes being ripped off your back, even if that means that after the fact, you're

going to end up getting in trouble unjustly. You still have a responsibility to flee that

temptation, to use God's word and to flee that temptation. And number four, resist the

devil in the power of the spirit. So this comes down to, you know, my three favorite

things, prayer and reading the word and remaining in fellowship with your brothers and sisters

in Christ, go to church. If you're not in church, if you're not being preached to in

person with a pastor that can watch over you and friends that can speak into your life,

then you're, then you're leaving yourself in a precarious situation where you're going

to be an easy target for the devil. You're going to be the lone sheep out on your own.

And you know, the devil goes around like a roaring lion seeking who he can devour and

who better to devour than the Christian thinks he's all nice and safe off in the woods by

himself. And the number five, pursue the will of God with all your heart, mind and soul.

Pursue God, pursue him in your thoughts, your words and your actions. This came down, that

comes down to an idea of focus. What are you going to focus on? Are you going to make sure

that you're focusing on Jesus with your heart, your mind and your soul? So this is the crux

of the, of the entire message. This is the reality is that oftentimes temptation will

win out. The tempter will win out because you're not focused on it on your savior. You're

focused on something else. With that, with that, if I could have every head bowed, every

eye closed just really quickly. If this message has impacted you, if this has spoken to you

and you recognize that maybe you are unfocused, you're a Christian, you're saved, but maybe

you're unfocused and you need to get your heart right. You need to tell God and make

a commitment. I am going to serve you with all my heart, my mind and my soul. I'm going

to refocus my life to be on you and I'm going to go forward in Jesus name. Maybe that's

you and I want you to signify that with an uplifted hand. Even if I can't see you, God

can see you and we're going to pray in just a second. But I also want to, you know, send

out an invitation that if you're not saved, but this message has impacted you, then you

need to give your life to Jesus Christ and today is the best time to do it. So you need

to recognize that that you are a sinner, but yet Jesus has something much better in mind

for you than what you have in mind for your own self. So if that's you, I want you also

to signify that uplifted hand because that is a critical thing for you to put your hand

up so that God knows that you're serious. So with that, let's go ahead and pray. I'm

going to first pray for an invitation. This is a sinner's prayer. So if you rose your

hand because you want to get saved, repeat this after me. Dear Lord God, I know that

I'm a sinner, but I know that your son, Jesus died on the cross for me and I repent of my

sin and accept him as my Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. So with that prayer, if

you rose your hand and you accepted that invitation for Christ, then you've been saved. And I

want you to reach out and tell me you prayed that prayer. Tell other people you prayed

that prayer and then find a church and get locked in. But if you rose your hand because

you're convicted, maybe you, you walked away. Maybe you're not on as you're as fire for

God as you used to be. I want to pray a different prayer real quick. Just saying dear Lord God,

I know of all the miraculous things and all that you've done in my life, all the blessings

you've done in my life. I want to give you praise and I want to make a commitment to

you that I will serve you fully with my heart, mind and soul. I will no longer allow the

rest of the world to dictate how much time I give to God. I will give God the first fruits

of my life and I thank you Lord Jesus for your grace of your, your, your grace and your

mercy and Jesus name. Amen. So with that, I want to thank everybody for listening to

me this long. I want to thank you for subscribing to the podcast, for liking it, sharing it.

I really do hope we can get this message out to more people and I just thank you again

and I can't wait for you to come back next time. God bless.