Luke The Orderly Account of Truth - Overcoming Temptation - Luke 4:1-13

God, we just thank you for today. We thank you for this time

together. God. We pray that remove all distractions from our heads so that

we can focus wholly on you. God. We pray that our hearts are

open to receive what you have to teach us from your word today. God,

as you have an important message for us. God, we pray that

we have ears to hear it and that we have the courage to step out

and apply it into our lives. And so God, we just thank you

that we get this chance to celebrate You and be grateful for the birth of

Jesus, our Savior. And so God, we thank you for all this

in Jesus name. Everybody said, Amen, you guys ready, Okay,

I'm gonna start. June's ready. I have a big question for you to

start. What sin do you struggle with the most? What's your secret sin?

The kids are just giving all the answers out. There's no shame.

I love it. This is great. I'm pretty sure. Rule number one

if you want to build tension in public speaking in a room is to bring

up a super awkward topic. And I'm talking about sin. What's your biggest

sin? I mean, take it easy, Greg, it is Christmas Eve.

Right, But I think that it's a gift for us to be made

conscious of our sin. If I had cancer, I would wanted to know,

and someone else knew, I'd want them to tell me. Right,

I think it's a gift to say that something's wrong. So it's a gift

to be made conscious of our sin. And I know this is a little

bit of a heavy topic for Christmas Eve, but just bear with me.

It gets amazing. So you got your greatest temptation of mind, the thing

that you struggle to overcome. And if you're having a hard time, think

of something, I want you to remember what it says in the beginning of

First John. This is chapter one, verses eight through ten. If we

claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not

in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to

forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we

have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar, and his

word is not in us. Everybody is sinned, all have sinned and fall

short of the glory of God. And if you say, just like this

verse says, if you say that you don't have sin. You're not only

lying to yourself, but you're actually calling God a liar, not something I

usually generally recommend. So I'll ask again what you have that in mind?

What's your greatest temptation to sin? What is the sin that you tend to

struggle with the most or you just can't seem to overcome, And just to

kind of like help bring a definition to the sin is anytime we miss the

mark on God's commands. I know this is like super heavy, so I

promise that's going to get lighter. It's Christmas Eve, which bear with me.

Sin is anytime we miss the mark on God's commands. There are sins

of commission right when you commit sin, so you're told this is something you

should not or ought not do, and we do it anyway. That's committing

a sin. And then there's also sins of o mission where we omit or

we don't do something we are clearly commanded to do. And when the Lord

saves us, he gives us this new desire to please him. He replaces

our heart of stone, gives us a heart of flesh, and we have

this desire in us to please him, to do what he has commanded us

to do. And this desire that God places in us should awaken this hatred

of sin. So when you do something, you're like, okay, God,

I know God doesn't want me to do this, and we do it

and we're like, I hate that I just did that. Right, there's

this new hatred of sin that is in us. But I don't have to

tell you. If you've been walking with the Lord for a little bit,

that you'll notice there's a really there's a really simple but frustrating reality that we

face that the moment we put faith in Jesus, we're made a new creation.

The temptation to sin didn't disappear, did it. No, it didn't

disappear. That's the frustrating reality we live in. God calls us to be

holy because He is holy, that's what he says. He has called us

to perfection. Yet we live in a life that is wrought with temptation?

Why why is that? And Galatians five tells us that they're this war that's

going on inside of us. This is all a big setup to kind of

what we're talking about today, So stay with me. But Galatians five tells

us about this war that's inside. It's between our old what our old flesh

wants, and what the spirit of God actually desires. So let's look at

Glatians five. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit, and

that capital s spirit is referring to God's spirit, the Holy Spirit and the

Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They're in conflict with each other,

so that you are not to do whatever you want. You see that internal

conflict there. There's this conflict between the two, and surely we can all

empathize with this feeling. We can understand that. I actually want to look

at Roman seven, because Paul talks about this as well. I do not

understand what I do for what I want. This is okay, listen very

carefully because this gets super confusing if you read it too fast. I do

not understand what I do for what I want to do, do not do

for what I uh, but what I hate I do, and if I

do what I do not want to do. I agree that the law is

good as it is. It is no longer I myself who do it.

But it is sin living in me, for I know that good itself does

not dwell in me, that is in my sinful nature. For I have

the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.

For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil

I do not want to do. This I keep on doing now I do.

Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is

no longer I who do it. But it is sin living in me that

does it. Did that make sense? It's a little confusing. There's stuff

in us that we hate that we know is not good, and we do

it. What's that about? Like, there's this conflict inside. This is

the thing that we can empathize with because this is part of our daily walk.

We want to please God. We want to do what is good,

what is right, what He has commanded us to do, but for some

reason, we just really suck at doing it. So today's message, I'm

finally here. This is the title of the message, Overcoming Temptation. Overcoming

Temptation, Today we're actually going to look at when Jesus was tempted by Satan

and how he overcame the temptation to sin. So, if you have your

Bibles, open them up to Luke chapter four. And if you don't have

a Bible. We have some on the back table there. There's only three

there right now, but we have more, so please grab one. And

that's our gift to you if you don't own a Bible. So we've been

in a series going verse by verse through the Gospel of Luke. Do you

have that sermon slide or the title slide, the Luke one. It's in

there somewhere anyway. The title of the series is Luke the Orderly Account of

Truth. We are, yeah, there it is. Thank you, Stephanie.

I pulled a fast one, honor. That's not her fault. That's

all my fault. I did not do this in order. Luke the Orderly

Account of Truth. We're going verse by verse through the whole book of Luke.

And Luke investigated and wrote an orderly account so that Theophalos, the one

he's writing to, would have certainty or know the exact truth about the things

that had been taught or the things that had been fulfilled among the people there.

But this account isn't only for Theophilos. We get to know the truth

about who Jesus is and what he taught as well from reading Luke's account.

And last week we got to talk through Jesus getting baptized and God giving him

what I called the ultimate endorsement. God himself confirmed that Jesus is his son.

But what happens immediately after that is Satan comes to attempt Jesus. So

let's read through our text for the day it's going to be Luke chapter four,

verses one through thirteen. Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left

the Jordan and was led by the spirit into the wilderness, where for forty

days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days,

and at the end of them he was hungry. The devil said to him,

if you are the son of God, tell this stone to become bred.

Jesus answered, it is written, man shall not live on bread alone.

The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an

instant all the kingdoms of the world, and he said to him, I

will give you all their authority and splendor. It has been given to me,

and I can give it to anyone I want. If you worship me,

it will all be yours. Jesus answered, it is written, worship

the lords your God and serve him only. The devil led him to Jerusalem

and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. If you are

the son of God, he said, throw yourself down from here, for

it is written he will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully.

They will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your

foot against the stone. Jesus answered, it is said, do not put

the Lord your God to the test. When the devil had finished all this

tempting, he left him until an opportune time. So reading this, it

shouldn't be a surprise that we are tempted, because Jesus himself was tempted.

He was tempted by Satan, so it shouldn't surprise when we're tempted. And

we see that Satan tempted Jesus in three different ways, but they all have

a common theme, and we're going to get to that common theme in just

a moment. But I want to break down this text. Let's go back

to that first of the first two verses. Jesus, full of the Holy

Spirit, left the Jordan was led by the spirit into the wilderness, where

for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during these

days, and at the end of them. He was hungry, so surprised.

Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit. That's the first thing we should

notice in this. Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit in his humanity.

He was filled with the Holy Spirit in the same way that we are when

we put faith in Jesus for salvation. He was filled with the Holy Spirit.

And as he was following the leading of the Holy Spirit, Scripture tells

us here that he was led into the wilderness. And just as kind of

like a side note, I wanted to point out here is God, the

Holy spirits at work in the hearts of believers right now today. He's at

work in the hearts of believers. And you may have heard people say that

they were led by the spirit to do something or say something, or maybe

you yourself have felt a big like I don't know, just feeling really compelled

to do something from the Holy Spirit, like he's just pushing you to do

something. You personally even may have felt that. But how do we know

if it's actually the Holy Spirit, Like, how do we know if it's

actually God? The Holy Spirit is the one who's compelling us to do something.

Well, one of the jobs the Holy Spirit is to lead us into

all truth, so he will always lead us into all truth. That means

if you feel the Holy Spirit telling you to do something, it will always

you'll know it's him if it's in alignment with what God the Father has,

what God the Father's commanded, or what he's revealed his scripture, So he

will never be contradictory to what's already been revealed in scripture to us. So

that's one test if you want to know. And if it's like I say,

if it's a gray area, like you're like, I don't see God

telling me not to do that, try it out and see what happens.

As long as it's not a sinful thing to do, as long as not

against God's revealed, will try it out. You will only get to experience

obedience to the Lord and the blessing that comes with that. Does that make

sense? Okay, back on track. In our text, Jesus was led

by the Holy Spirit out into the wilderness, and here he spent forty days

fasting. That means forty days without eating anything. I can't I can barely

go forty minutes without eating anything. I just constantly need to be eating.

So after forty days of not eating, Jesus was hungry, which makes complete

sense and totally tracks. He was hungry. And I don't know about you,

but I'm not at my best when I'm hungry. When i haven't eaten,

I'm not generally at my best. My decision making powers are at an

all time low. And my wife can definitely attest to that. Eat here's

a snickers. That's the mantras. Have any of you guys been like a

counselor at a summer camp before? So okay for those who have, you

guys, remember halt. Okay, I'm gonna explain it to it. I'm

gonna explain it to everybody. Whenever someone whether it's a camp or it could

be a counselor, it could be even a staff member, when they start

getting twisted or like there was like conflict arising, something was coming up and

it wasn't getting good, we were all told to halt. And halt was

an acronym that stood for hungry, anxious, lonely, or tired. So

we're supposed to stop. When we started people started fighting or getting frustrated,

we'd stop and say, okay, am I feeling hungry? Anxious? Lonely,

or tired, because none of us are at our best when we're experiencing

those things. None of us are Just think about it, last time you

were super hungry, just give me food. You turn to the hulk a

little bit right, Or you're tired, which means I have zero patience for

anything. Or I'm anxious and concerned and nervous and worried about something that's not

my best decision making power. That's not where I'm thinking the clearest, or

what about me? You're lonely, it's not the best time to make decisions.

So we're told to stop or to halt and ask am I feeling hungry,

anxious, lonely, or tired? And after forty days alone in the

wilderness, Jesus was hungry. There's our age right now for a anxious I

don't think Jesus was anxious because God tells him to be anxious for nothing,

so he probably wasn't anxious. But he was alone in the wilderness, so

he was lonely. And I don't sleep while when I'm hungry and lonely,

so I'm sure he was probably tired. Right, So Jesus is not at

his best. What's my point. My point is that that's when Satan chose

to attempt him was when he was at his worst or his weakest in his

humanity. That's when Satan tried to attempt Jesus or to catch him slipping.

That's what I wrote my notes. That's the best time to attack, right

when you're at your worst. This is when Satan chose to attack Jesus.

So when do you think Satan's going to try to attack you? When do

you think he's going to try to attempt to you when you're at your best

or when you're at your worst, your worst. That makes perfect sense.

He's not going to try to attack you and tempt you when your defenses are

at their best. The enemy will attack when he thinks he will be most

successful when you are most susceptible or most vulnerable, when you're at your weakest

or your worst. But here is I call it a sad truth. I

think the mass majority of the time he doesn't even have to try to attack

because we do his job for him. And why do I think that,

Well, we're going to go to James Chapter one, verses thirteenth or fifteen.

When tempted, no one should say God is tempting me. For God

cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone. And verse fourteen

is the key here. But each person is tempted when they are dragged away

by their own evil desire and enticed. Then after desire has conceived, it

gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full grown, gives

birth to death. That goes back to this war that's going on inside of

us that we were talking about a little bit ago. Most of the time,

it's our own evil desires that entice us and tempt us to sin.

It's just the wickedness of our own sinful heart. And the end result of

sin is death because sin always matures into death. Sin always matures into death.

So how do you stop sin from maturing? Can you go back one

slide? I think we go back to this dragged why dragged away by their

own evil desires and enticed. We go back to that. If that's the

first part, first part of the equation, the first part of the progression,

we should go back to there. It starts in the heart. We

should stop dwelling on the desire. I say, don't stew you guys know

when you like you're just kind of in a sad mood, and then you

just immediately just go to your Spotify playlist and you pull up sad songs and

hit play. You just like to live in that space. Stop it.

Don't do that. Like that's part of us dwelling on the things that are

not good. Right. I'm not saying it's bad to listen to sad songs.

Sometimes it's great. I like it. But I'm just saying, don't

get so far in your feels. Don't get too far in your feels.

Right, we should stop dwelling on or feeding these, in this case,

evil desires. Stop feeding them. What you feed will grow, whether it's

good or it's bad. What you feed will grow. But it all starts

in the heart and moves out from there. And that's why, if we

keep reading it further. In Glatians five, it says that those this isn't

on the screen, Stephanie, but those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified

the flesh with its passions and desires. I don't know anyone other than Jesus

who let himself get crucified. So you think your flesh is gonna lay down

and let you, No, you hold your flesh down and you put it

to death. You say, the old me is dead and gone. Stay

dead. You have to crucify your flesh with its sinful desires. We stop

feeding that dead us, We stop keeping it alive. We take those thoughts

in our head that lead towards temptation and sin, and we remove them and

replace them with the things of God, the good things of God. If

you feed the desires, they will grow, and they will mature if they

turn into sin, and what a sin turn in when it's fully grown death,

It turns into death. So we stop feeding the evil desires. But

even though we oftentimes are the cause of our own temptation to sin, even

though like it's kind of our fault, sometimes I don't want us to be

a naive. There is a real adversary. There is an enemy out there.

That's what our text is talking about today. And just like the snake

that he is, he waits for the most opportune time to strike. So

let's keep a looking ahead. In our text. We'll go to verse three.

The devil said to him, if you are the son of God,

tell this stone to become bread. Jesus answered his written man shall not live

on bread alone. So waiting until Jesus is nice and weak in his humanity,

Satan tempts him with food, with bread, but that's not really what

Satan is tempting Jesus with wasn't. So this is where we're gonna be like,

Okay, we read what the text says, and sometimes we just miss

what's blatantly there. So he seems like he's tempting him with bread, but

what he's really tempting him with is something far greater. Think about it.

Jesus literally just got baptized. We read this last week. He got baptized.

God opens up the heavens and speaks. What did he say? He

said, you are my son, whom I love. With you, I

am well pleased. And when Satan finally opens his mouth, what does he

say. He's not tempting him with bread? If you are the son of

God. If you are the son of God. Jesus or God just got

done saying to him you are my son, and Satan says if you are

the son of God. He immediately questions what God said immediately. His temptation

from Satan isn't about food. It's a temptation to not believe and trust in

what God the Father said. That's what the temptation is. Just look at

the other two things that Satan temps Jesus with Leus. Go to verse five

through eight. The devil led him up to a high place and showed him

in an instant all the kingdoms of the world, and he said to him,

I will give you all their authority and splendor. It has been given

to me, and I can give it to anyone I want. If you

worship me, it will all be yours. Jesus answered, it has written,

worshiped the Lord, your God, and serve him only. Satan temps

Jesus with power and authority, which, for the record, Satan is a

liar. That's why he's called the deceiver, because that's not his authority to

give. If Jesus is the son of God, Jesus already has the authority,

and all of that is already his. So what's he questioning? Are

you really the son of God? That's what he's tempting Jesus to believe.

Jesus has the authority. It's all his. All of creation is created through

him, for from him, and through him, and for him are all

things to him? Be the glory forever. Amen. That's Roman's eleventh thirty

six. It'saul already his. But again, this is not a temptation for

power. It's a temptation to not believe God. And then look at the

third temptation. In verse nine. The devil led him to Jerusalem and had

him stand on the highest point of the temple. If you are the son

of God, he said, throw yourself down from here, for it is

written he will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully. They will

lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against

the stone. Jesus answered, it is said, do not put the lords

your God to the test. Just jump Jesus, God said he'd protect you.

At first glance, or at first listen. It seems like the devil

might be onto something. You're like, wait a minute, because God did

say that. That's something God said. He's telling Jesus. Didn't God say

he'd protect you. Didn't he say he would protect you? But what's he

really getting at. He's trying to sow seats of doubt that what God said

isn't true. Maybe you should just test it out in Jesus for the Son

of God, he'll do it. Maybe you should test that out, which

is a temptation to not believe God the Father and what he literally had just

said. But Jesus is no punk. He didn't fall into the trap.

He knew. But before we talk about how Jesus responded, I want to

talk about this common theme that we see in all of Satan's temptations, and

I think it all boils down to the same thing, and it'll probably sound

really familiar, and it's the simple question did God really say? Did God

really say? Satan's playbook has not changed. It's the same thing. He's

been doing it since the beginning in the garden with Adam and Eve. So

we're gonna go all the way to the beginning of your Bible to Genesis three.

Now, the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the

Lord God had made. He said to the woman, what did he say?

Did God really say you must not eat from any in the garden?

The woman said to the serpent, we may eat fruit from the trees in

the garden. But God did say you must not eat fruit from the tree

that is in the middle of the garden. And you must not touch it

what she's already misquoting God. If you really read a little bit earlier in

what God actually said, or you will die. You will certainly not die,

the serpent said to the woman, for God knows that when you eat

from it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like be like

God, knowing good and evil. When the woman saw that the fruit of

the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable

for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some

to her husband, who is with her. Don't just blame Eve. Adam

was there too, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of

them were opened, and they realized they were naked, so they sewed fig

leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Satan asked Eve the question did God

really say? Sowing these little seeds of doubt about what God said? And

then he falls it up with a bold faced lie because he's a deceiver.

He's just a liar. Satan wants you to not believe what God said,

because if you don't believe God, then you won't trust him. You won't

trust God. And it's when we don't trust God that we try to do

his role in our own lives. We try to take matters into our own

hands and play god. And I hate to break it to you, but

we make really crummy gods. We're just not good at it. We never

were supposed to be. You, guys, see how this is. We're

talking about overcoming temptation. Keep that in your mind as we're talking through all

of this. We're talking about how to overcome temptation. The first atom we

just read he failed the tests when tempted by Satan, and we know what

that did for all of humanity. And he even failed when he had all

of his needs met. He had a full bellyon a great life, That's

what I say. But our text today we see that Jesus was at his

weakest point, physically starving, tired, and alone, but he passed the

test of temptation. He made it, He did it, and praise him

for that. Jesus is called the second atom, or the final atom,

or the better atom. It's an archetype, so a single person who is

a representative of a lot of other people, just like the first atom was.

But unlike the first atom, Jesus had victory. Let's look at Romans

five. Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, Atom,

and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people

because all sin. To be sure, sin was in the world before the

law. And this is like a little he's like a side note time.

To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given.

But sin is not charged against anyone's account where there is no law. Nevertheless,

death reigned from the time of Atom to the time of Moses, and

even over those who did not sin by breaking command, as did Adam,

who is a pattern of the one to come. So now we're getting into

this. Okay, there's going to be this better Atom coming. But the

gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass

of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that

came by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ overflowed the many. Nor

can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man's sin.

The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses

and brought justification. For if by the trespass of one man. Death reigned

through that one man. How much more will those who receive God's abundant provision

of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign and life through the one man

Jesus Christ. Consequently, just as trespass resulted, just as one trespass resulted

in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and

life for all people. For just as through the disobedience of this is the

part. All of that was a lot and would take a lot to preach

today, which you don't have time for. Focus in here on verse nineteen.

For just as through the disobedience of the one man, the many were

made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man, the many

will be made righteous. The one man that brought sin Atom the one man

that brought righteousness Jesus two archetypes, one individual person representing a lot of other

people. It was through the first Atom who failed the temptation, that sin

entered the world. But is through Jesus victory that justification, forgiveness and righteousness

were brought into the world. He is the better atom. He is the

better atom, and is through belief in him that we receive forgiveness for all

of our sins, past, present, in future. Thank you Jesus,

and are made righteous in God's sight just through belief in him. There is

no other way to receive the free gift of salvation than believing in the name

of Jesus christis Lord. There's no other way. You confess with your mouth

of Jesus's Lord, because that's what people who actually believe something do. They

say it out loud. And you believe in your heart that God raised him

from the dead, that you really believe that Jesus is alive on the throne

in heaven and waiting to come back to Earth for the second time. But

you really believe that. And Jesus had to be sinless. He had to

be sinless in order for his death on the cross to be the perfect sacrifice

for sin. If he failed the tests of temptation in the wilderness, he's

not perfect and he has sin. That means his sacrifice would not have satisfied

the debt we owe. It wouldn't be a spotless, blameless sacrifice. So

I say it again, Praise Jesus. He had victory over the temptation to

sin, And now I want to look back at the text and look at

how Jesus responded to Satan and how he was able to overcome the temptation,

because this is how we're going to see the parts that we need to put

in play to help us have some success. And we know that Satan was

not really tempting Jesus with food, power and protection. He was tempting him

to not believe in what God said as truth. So can we put all

three yes, perfect, I want to put all three of them up together

so we can see him at the same time. In Verse four, Jesus

answered, it is written man shall not live on bread alone. That's his

first response to the first temptation. Second response in verse eight, Jesus answered,

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

And in verse twelve his response to the third temptation. Jesus answered, it

is said, do not put the Lord your God to the test. So

how did Jesus respond to the temptation? He responded what God said. He

literally responded with God's word. He responded with what God had already said.

Satan tempts him with bread. Jesus says, don't worry, man shall not

live on bread alone, which is a quote from Deuteronomy eighty three. Satan

temps Jesus with power, which is not even his the give. I think

is really important to point out, Well, if he'll just worship him,

and Jesus responds with, worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.

That's a quote from Deuteronomy six thirteen, we bow only to God.

And lastly, Satan tempts Jesus with protection. But this one's a little bit

different because I think Satan catches on that Jesus is responding with scripture, He's

responding with God's word, so he uses scripture to try to trap Jesus.

Satan quotes Psalm ninety one, eleven, and twelve saying that Jesus jumps God's

angels will catch him. And how did Jesus respond to that? Quotes Deuteronomy

sixteen. Do not put the Lord here God to the test. Anytime you

see hold on, I want to make sure I'm not a liar. Pretty

much, every time you see it say it is written, that is quoting

somewhere else in the Bible. So if you're reading through scripture and it says

it is written, there's probably a little number of tiny little number next to

that verse, and you go look in your margins for your reference bible,

and it will point you back to what verse they're quoting. And also it

is said, sometimes that's just quotes of the day, but oftentimes a scripture.

And in this time Jesus is responding to that last temptation with Deuteronomy six

sixteen, we don't test the Lord. So Jesus overcame the temptation attempts by

knowing God's word. By knowing God's word, is it really that simple?

Yes, yes it is. It is that simple. And don't tune out

because everyone's like, asu, as the pastor says, read your Bible,

they're like, yay, yeah, we get a Christians read their Bible,

But what what am I supposed to do? Read your bible? Like you

really need to read you about Plus most people who push back on a little

bit don't actually read their bible. Because you will absolutely see fruit. If

you daily read God's word, you will absolutely see fruit. He promises it,

and anecdotally I see fruit. There used to be anytime I'm gonna tell

him myself, anytime I started losing like a little bit of patience at home,

and I just kind of like a little rough around the edges of My

wife had a phrase. She'd say to me, you're just kind of being

mean, and that's what she'd say, and I'd be like, oh,

And then we would ask the question like, well, have you been reading

your Bible? And almost every time when I was asked the question, You're

just kind of be like, well, you're just kind of being mean.

When she say that, I hadn't been reading my Bible. It's the weirdest

thing. But praise God for that, because he'll give us those things that

keep push us on the right to push us on the right track. It

is that simple. And the reason we know it's that simple is because we

just saw Jesus do it. We literally just read Jesus use God's word to

help him overcome temptation. Is literally one of the most critical things for us

to understand when it comes to overcoming temptation. I will have some practical tips

for us later, very soon, but they all come from scripture. They're

all rooted in first understanding and knowing God's word. We have to know it.

But just as Jesus showed us, it's not just about knowing what God's

word says. It's actually about understanding it. We need to understand God's word,

and one of the best ways to do that is to first start reading

it, and then you reread it, and then you read it again.

You just keep reading it. Satan knews scripture too, he quoted it,

but Jesus understood it. He understood that what Satan was saying was not the

proper understanding of that verse. The meaning of Scripture matters. That's why we

study it. The context matters. We must know what it means. Scripture

has one meaning. It's what God meant it to mean. Its applications are

endless, but it means one thing when we read it. If we don't

seek out the meaning to understand what it is, we're gonna do what Satan

did, which he took God's word out of context and applied it to the

wrong situation in the wrong way. Don't be like Satan. Be like Jesus.

I just thought of that, that was in my notes. But if

we start taking scripture out of context, we'll start holding onto promises that God

never made, or what I think is even worse, we'll tell others to

hold on to promises that God never made, which is a very personal frustration

of mine. I'm gonna try not to get in my flesh about it,

but just think if I tell someone God promises you that you're gonna be healthy

for the rest of your life and rich, and they're not healthy and rich

for the rest of their life, choose my words wisely? Are they mad

at me or God? They're not mad at me. They're mad at God

because I told him. God promised them to do something. So what could

that do to their walk? I don't ever want to be the person who

puts a wedge between someone and God. Like we got to know what it

means. Satan takes it out of context. We can't take it out of

context, know the meaning. Satan's main tactic is what did God really say?

That's his main tactic. He's trying to get you to doubt and not

trust what God says. So if this is his tactic, I have a

really important question for all of us, how can you combat did God really

say? If you don't know what God really said? How can you combat

did God really say? If you don't know what God really said? Knowing

what God said is literally the most important thing in this fight and struggle against

temptati, we have to know what God really said. It's how we even

know what sin is. It's how we know what the consequences of sin are.

It's how we know that we can have freedom from sin. It's where

we get encouragement to not give up the fight. It's how we know that

there's a time in the future that sin won't exist. The way we can

fight against Satan making us question God and what he has promised is by knowing

what God actually promises. But why is this the way that Satan chose to

tempt us? Why is this the way he does it? And it goes

back to something that I said a little while ago. If we don't trust

what God says, then we'll start to take matters into our own hands.

And I truly believe that at the root of all of our sin problem is

pride. It's really us saying that I can meet my needs better than you

can God. Why else would someone If I don't have something and someone else's

God and I'm coveting, I don't trust God to meet my needs, so

I take I don't Let's take Luss for example, I don't trust that God

is meeting all my needs through my spouse, so I go elsewhere to meet

those needs. God gave me a way to meet my needs lying I don't

trust in the truth that God of what is this ever, the situation is,

or what He's given us? So I lie because I don't like the

outcome, because I don't trust the Lord to meet my needs. I'm like

God, what you're saying is, God, I can meet my needs better

than you can. And if that is what we're saying, what does that

actually imply? That implies that we ourselves want to be God, that we

want to be the gods of the universe, that we think we should be

the one who makes all the decisions, not Him. That's what that's implying.

And I can't think of a more idolatrous mindset at all effort. That's

putting ourselves on the throne, that's putting ourselves at the center of the universe.

We need to know that God is a good God, and he makes

promises to his children that He's given us everything we need. He's given us

everything we need. We need to trust him and what he says, and

that what he says is good, it is right we lack nothing, no

matter what Satan says, or no matter what our own flesh says. He

has given us everything we need. And I do want to point out it's

not like God doesn't understand. Look at Hebrews four. For we do not

have a high priest referring to Jesus, who is unable to empathize with our

weaknesses. But we have one who has been tempted in every way just as

we are, yet did not sin. Jesus walked the earth. He knows

he was tempted in all the same way. He experienced all the same things

we experience, but he passed the test every time. That's the big difference.

Jesus can empathize with us because he walked through it. He knows what

it feels like to be tempted. And we know this because God just told

us in his word that Jesus walked the earth was tempted by Satan. We

need to know and understand scripture. God understands our struggle, but He's also

made us some really amazing promises. So if wherever you're at in this journey

of like I don't know, you're overcoming temptation. If you're starting to feel

a little bit on the hopeless side or frustrated. Then I want you to

get ready, except it's a little bit of a challenge, and then a

bunch of encouragement. I think God has given us everything we need to overcome.

The temptation is all found as a word, and so let's look at

first Corinthians ten, verse thirteen. No temptation has overtaken you except what is

common to mankind. And God is faithful. He will not let you be

tempted beyond what you can bear. Pause. A lot of people think that

verse says God won't give you more than you can handle. A favor said

that Bible verse to you. That's not in the Bible. They're probably misunderstanding

and referencing this verse here that God is faithful, He will not let you

be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He

will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. That one

verse says a lot. There's a lot in there that you are experiencing something

that's common to man. Okay, so temptation is not uncommon. It's not

some unique thing that has no solution. Not only that, but God won't

let us be tempted beyond what we can bear. He won't let us tempted

beyond this. So it's not too much for you. And I think sometimes

to hear that, or we need to hear that, because that's a freeing

thought. It's not too much for you. And not only that, to

sweeten the deal even further, every time we're attempted, he gives us a

way out of the temptation. He gives us a way out. Those some

pretty amazing truths related to overcoming temptation if you ask me, But if the

temptation is common, not too much for me to bear, and he gave

me a way out, what does that say when I fail? And this

is the bit of the challenge, piece does that say when I fail?

As Christians were no longer slaves to sin, so based on all this,

this means I had the option to not sin, and I still choose the

sin. Remember what Paul said in Roman seven, I don't understand why I

keep choosing to sin. It's the flesh that's in us that we still need

to put to death daily. We need to put that flesh to death daily.

It's the evil desires in us. That we need to starve and not

nurture into maturity. So stop making the conscious choice to sin, make the

conscious choice to refrain, to resist, to keep in step with the spirit.

As Galatians puts it, we choose to walk obedience to the Lord,

and we choose to resist sin. Look at Hebrews twelve. In your struggle

against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

Did you know that verses in the Bible. That's a good one.

That's telling me we still got some more resist in us. Are you bleeding

yet? No, Then keep resisting, keep resisting sin. Sin brings death,

death to everything it touches. So resist the sin, and God gives

us another amazing promise that I want to look at in James four, and

if I can have the band come up, that'd be amazing. James four

verse seven, Submit yourselves then to God, resist the devil, and he

will flee from you. What's he going to do? Flee? Submit yourselves

then to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

God promises that if we resist the devil, he will flee from us.

That's an amazing promise. That means that this struggle isn't forever. Sometimes it

feels a little hopeless because you're like, I can't see the other side of

the tunnel. I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel.

But we read stuff like this and I don't care if you can see it

or not. It's there. You resist the devil, and he will flee

from you. And what did the last verse for our texts today say,

let's go to Luke four thirteen. When the devil had finished all this tempting,

he what say loud? He left him until an opportune time. Jesus

resisted the devil, and the devil left. When we resist satany flees from

us, he probably will come back, just like he did with Jesus in

Luke twenty two, which we'll get to whenever we get to the twenty second

chapter of Luke. He will probably come back. But that just means you're

ready for him. That means you're ready. You know his tactic, you

know how he works, you know the answer, so you're ready when he

comes back. So do you see why it's so important to know and understand

God's word? You see that everything we've talked about Today's mounain scripture all the

commands, all the challenges, all the encouragements, all the promises. The

way we overcome temptation in our lives is by first knowing and understanding scripture,

then from there to put it into practice. When God says something, do

it. He says, I'm gonna quote a bunch of verses here. We

don't have time to go into him, but I'm just gonna quote him and

kind of move through him. He says, to set my mind on things

above, not the temporal things of this earth. He says, to renew

your mind, so don't dwell on the evil desires of our hearts, the

ones that tempt and entice us. Dwell on the good things, because what

you feed will grow. He also says, trust in the Lord, and

lean not on my own understanding. So we should believe Him when he speaks,

Believe God when he speaks, and trust in his promises. Trust that

he knows what's right and what's best, not what I think is right and

best. Who's God, me or him? It ain't me. I don't

want that job. He knows what's best. He also says, spur one

another on to love and good works, and to carry one another's burdens,

so I shouldn't be facing my temptation and sin alone. You need to find

someone that you can have a real conversation about your sin with someone who can

check on you, hold you accountable. But there's a huge key in this.

You have to be honest. Everybody needs Everybody doesn't got to know everything,

but somebody's got to know everything. Don't do that alone. We saw

Satan attack Jesus when he was at as I put quote unquote weakness because he's

not really weak. But that's when Satan chose to attack. So let's make

healthy life decisions. This is real, practical. Don't put yourself in a

vulnerable situation. Don't waltz into life being hungry, anxious, lonely and tired.

Halt and solve the problem. Take a nap, eat a snickers,

go some fellowship with the brother. Remember that God promises to take care of

you. Be anxious for nothing. And also on the topic of vulnerable situations,

just set healthy boundaries if you are If you're an alcoholic or you struggle

with drinking too much, don't go to the bar. Set healthy boundaries.

Be in safe places. Don't put yourself, don't willingly put yourself in vulnerable

places. And we just went through like a bunch of very practical wisdom very

quickly. I probably should have numbered them and put him on the screen so

you could write them or something, but you just have to watch the video,

I guess or something. But at the root of all of that wisdom,

especially the practical stuff, is something very spiritual. It's all rooted in

knowing and understanding God's word. That's how we overcome temptation. That's how we

saw Jesus have over Satan tempting him. We know and understand God's word,

then we actually do what it says. I can't overstate how simple this is,

and I keep for some reason the picture of the tunnel keeps coming to

my mind, like maybe we're not done talking about that. There is a

light at the end of the tunnel, and we've been given everything we need.

We don't preach a ton of felt needs around here, but this is

something like God put it on a tee for us. This is amazing.

If you want to be freed and walk in the freedom that God calls and

commands us to walk into, He's given us the way to do it.

It's all found in his word. To read, reread, and read it

again. Talk about with your friends, study it every single day. If

you waited from Sunday to Sunday to eat real food, your flesh would die,

your body would try it. That's not good health advice, not good

health advice. Don't try it's not good. Trust me, it'd be terrible

seven days before you eat again. How do you think your spirit's doing if

you wait from Sunday to Sunday to hear someone say something from the Bible.

No, you need to consume your spiritual food. This is where overcoming temptation

is found, knowing and understanding God's word and then doing what it says.

Amen. Can you guys stand your feet for me