Lent: We Are Not Helpless Before Temptation

So the passage this morning is not Joshua.

We had been working our way through the book of Joshua, but we're pausing from Joshua for the season of Lent.

So the season of Lent started.

That's this church season, 40 days leading up to Easter.

And so it's a season of us remembering Jesus' life, death, and resurrection.

And so it begins with this passage about Jesus being tempted.

It begins with a passage about what is temptation?

What is that?

So this week, temptation arrived in my home.

It started about two months ago.

I made a commitment.

And then this past Monday, a box arrived at our house.

It was small.

Purple.

Anyone?

Yet?

It was the Samoas.

That's right.

You got it.

A few of you, you know, right?

And maybe you're not a, I don't know.

I wasn't making a big confession.

You know, it wasn't like, you know, here comes the pastor.

Maybe you're a taglong.

I don't know.

Thin mint, are you putting them in the fridge?

Anybody putting them in the fridge?

We know that trick, you know.

The thin mint, the dosy dough.

Um, I don't want to hear about the short bread.

Don't want to.

It's like kind of like it's like broccoli of the cookie line.

It's just not that impressive.

It's not like you're not really eating a cookie, let's be honest.

Um, now the Samoa is a real cookie.

This is the real deal.

This is this is what I go for.

So the Samoas arrive.

One box, right?

Just one box of Samoas.

There's a couple boxes, some other ones, but one box of the Samoas in I have a few, I have a few.

Like right foot.

I'm not talking like an abundance.

Just right away, I grabbed like three or four.

A good, godly freedom eating amount of cookies, right?

No shame, no guilt, nothing.

Just like a good amount of I'm a human being enjoying life.

I'm gonna have a few cookies, and I have those, and then I put them back on the counter, and you know how it works.

We're talking about temptation, by the way.

You know how it works, right?

Because they're sitting there and you walk back to the kitchen, maybe you're leaving, maybe go back in the kitchen to get something else, like an orange, right?

But then the box is there.

The box is there, and the box very clearly uh it says something to you.

What the box says is if you'll have a few more, now you'll really be happy, right?

That's that's what the Girl Scout cookie says to you.

And in my case, it's like nine or ten more, because there's limited supply, so you gotta, you know, you really gotta go for it when you have a chance.

And so uh, you know, I I finished the box off in about a day.

Um, and that's past the like godly freedom amount and into like some shame there, unto the point that one of my children cried because the box was gone.

And I explained to her that it was my that they were my cookies.

That didn't help, but it was true, they were mine, and I bought them.

So we know about temptation, and operationally, this is actually how all temptation works.

I mean, we could go from the Samoa all the way to pornography or food addiction or an affair or uh stealing, or we could go into any, any dysfunctional and sinful behavior, but the operationally it works the same.

If you just have this, if you just have this.

So, Matthew 4, 1 and 2.

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

Now, the devil means that that word actually means liar.

So this is a a person, a force in the world with a personality that is the slanderer, the liar, the condemner.

So he does.

You see it in this passage.

And after fasting 40 days and 40 nights, Jesus was hungry.

So the Spirit of God leads Jesus into the desert, and that's actually uh reassuring in some way because what it means is that God himself leads himself into the wilderness to be tempted, which means he understands us.

He understands what we face all the time.

Verses three and four.

And the tempter came and said to him, If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.

But he answered, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

So point number one is this our souls were created for wholeness and satisfaction in God alone.

Our souls were created for wholeness and satisfaction in God alone.

So the lie is that the next loaf of bread, that'll be the one that'll finally satisfy you.

That'll be the one that'll finally make you whole.

So this past fall I spent the early mornings uh waking up and changed my schedule and spent the early mornings working on a book with my mentor, Scotty Smith.

And so I spent about three months every morning writing for about two and a half hours.

And I tell you that because when it releases in the fall, everybody's gonna be required to buy 25 copies to build up the Masterson Girl wedding fund because we're gonna need a lot of money for three weddings, and so everybody's gonna be required for 25 copies, just let you know.

So I'd wake up every morning and I'd write three months, and the dream was that I would turn in a manuscript to a publisher and an editor that sees manuscripts and sees this all the time, and I would get back from them an email that would say, This is so good.

And guess what?

I got the email.

I have that email.

It's in my deleted folder because I'm not ego, I have enough ego to keep in the inbox, but I have it in the deleted folder, and I I've read it more than once, okay?

I'll go ahead and admit that.

So I have that email of validation.

Now maybe they're just being nice.

I don't know.

They want to keep us motivated to want to sell a book, right?

But hey, I still I have it.

And here's here's here's what I've learned about that.

You know what?

It felt really good for just a little bit.

Felt really good for just a little bit.

Just like if your boss told you, your spouse told you, that friend you wanted to be friends with so badly told you, you are so amazing.

And it feels really good for a little bit.

And what I realized after I read that email seven times, you know, privately, reassuring myself that I am a good person and I have some talent in this world, you know, after reading that, I realized all the goodness already came.

Because it happened really early in the morning when it was quiet.

And it happened with the Holy Spirit inside of my heart, and a depth of my being by which nothing that I work on or produce, if it's great or it's not great, it sells or doesn't sell, you like the sermon, you don't like the sermon, none of that, none of that can actually touch the depth of my soul that actually needs and longs for wholeness and satisfaction that can only be found in God alone.

And yet, and yet, yet, yet, we all know how tempting it is to try to turn stones into bread.

Because that next loaf of bread in this world, that would be the one.

And this is the temptation about what I call, it's not a it's not a succinct term here, the burden of self-soul nourishment.

The burden of self-soul nourishment, the temptation for you to nourish your own soul by your own self and what you produce or manufacture or curate or gather in this world.

And the good news is by the grace of God, you're relieved of that exhausting way of life.

I'm relieved of that exhausting way of life.

And your soul can only be satisfied in God alone, the most free and available reality in this world.

God's love for you and Jesus.

Matthew 4, verses 5 through 7.

Matthew 4:5–7

Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, He will command his angels concerning you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.

Jesus said to him, Again it's written, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test.

So point number two is this.

That's a dangerous place for you and I.

This is the temptation and the burden of self-importance and self-righteousness.

Right?

Constantly having to make yourself seem important and come off as important or righteous, you know, more righteous than the next person.

It's so exhausting, so judgmental as well.

But in the gospel, you are declared by the grace of God in Jesus, where your sin is put on him and your and his righteousness given to you.

So any of your righteousness standing before God, your belovedness that is forever and secure, all of that is given by the grace of God in Christ alone, and therefore you are free of that kind of self-importance and self-righteous living.

The exhaustion of all of that.

And so we can understand ourselves as fully worthy, fully sinful, and fully redeemed.

And this equips us with humility of the self and as well as security of the self.

Verses 8 through 11.

Again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kings of the world and their glory, and he said to him, All these I will give you if you will fall down and worship me.

Then Jesus said to him, Be gone, Satan, for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.

Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

So point number three is this our souls were created to be the created, not the creator.

Our souls were created to be the created, not the creator.

So at our house, when we sit down in the evening to watch TV, I hoard the remote control, and I don't want to cause family and marital conflict this morning because I know we can do that when we talk about the remote control of the television.

But I take the remote control.

I just do that.

I love to be in control.

I have a hard time letting somebody else hold that remote control, and so I hold it, and we're on YouTube TV.

I don't know how you're watching TV these days, but we're on YouTube TV, and so you know the commercial hits, and you can fast forward it, but we have the Apple remote.

Is anybody using the Apple TV remote?

And it is so tiny, and you lose that thing.

It's very frustrating, that little remote.

Um, and so it's tiny, and the fast-forward is up on that little touch, it's like a one inch by one inch.

You're supposed to get your big old thumb up there and be able to scroll it over.

And so the same thing happens all the time.

Mind you, I'm in a room with four ladies, three little ones, one that I married and produced the other three, and so when the show begins again, and I and I have overlaps, I've shot over, you know, dad, stop! It's a horrible moment, you know, like the world has ended.

Now, now imagine how much easier it'd be just to hand the remote over to my oldest daughter, or maybe my youngest daughter probably operated it better than me, right?

Like just somebody else in the room.

Uh imagine if I just surrendered the remote control over.

Imagine how free I would be of all this remote control shaming and verbal abuse that I'm taking on every day.

I'd be such a free individual.

I just can't.

I love control.

And so do you in some way.

This temptation here about all these kingdoms.

Oh, you can have all these kingdoms.

It's about control.

It's the burden to have everything planned out and under control.

Because if you have it under control, see how the temptation works?

If you have a few more of these samoas, if you have everything under control, then you'll be whole, then you'll be satisfied.

And has it ever worked?

Of course not.

That's why it's temptation.

And as a child of God, of the sovereign loving God, we get to live in wisdom and make decisions and plans on wisdom and also release that kind of concern that can burden us over to God so that today, today we can live non-anxious and present and joyful.

Because you and I don't have to rule over all the kingdoms of the world.

We don't have to rule over all the kingdoms in our own worlds.

All right, two last things about temptation, two points to make directly about temptation.

Point number one is this we may be imperfect, but we are not helpless before temptation.

We may be imperfect, but we are not helpless before temptation.

1 Corinthians 10, 12 through 13.

12 and 13.

Therefore, let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.

God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability.

But with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it.

So a couple things, it's interesting, these just two verses kind of open this idea of temptation up for us how we make our way through it.

Admitting that you don't hold power actually helps you be empowered by the Holy Spirit to make it through temptation.

See, because it's by admitting, finally, that we are powerless, it's in those cracks that the Holy Spirit begins to show up in our hearts and our lives to move us toward the godliness and the holiness that we are called to live in.

Galatians 5, 16 and 17 explains this.

But I say, walk by the Spirit.

So the same author wrote 1 Corinthians, Paul.

He's explaining this idea of walking in the Spirit, but I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

For the desires of the flesh are against the spirit, the desires of the spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

You've felt this, haven't you?

That there is a war inside of you.

Flesh and spirit.

Lies and truth.

So by means of application this week, I was beginning to ask some heart questions, asking the Holy Spirit to convict and reveal some things inside of me, and when I offer these out to you by means of application.

So here are a few questions for the heart, for your heart that you can prayerfully use this week.

Abba Father, God, how might I live in a slower pace of grace?

And so I say that and begin with that question and say, perhaps if we're just a little bit slower, we begin to be aware of some lies that are operating in our hearts that we're not even aware of because we're just moving so quickly.

That leads us to the second question.

Abba Father, what is an influential lie in my heart that no longer needs to be there?

Like time's up.

And we just ask God for a conviction by the Holy Spirit, not condemnation, conviction without shame to move us toward godliness and wholeness in Him, satisfaction in Him.

Third question.

Ah, but Father, what does it mean for me to walk in the truth today?

Now that's a wide open question.

You could get a lot of journaling out of that question right there.

What does it mean for me to walk in the truth today?

Point number two about temptation.

Last point of the sermon.

Temptation is always a conditional statement.

Temptation is always a conditional statement.

The gospel is a promise.

See, did you know that?

Notice that in the passage?

I didn't notice it for a while, and then I heard this great sermon by a priest Paul Walker, who's at Christ Church, Charlottesville, and I love listening to his.

He has these like the best 16-minute sermons you can imagine.

He gets so much in 16 minutes, I'm still impressed with.

And I listen to this, and I'm gonna read this long quote.

This quote's so good, I should have just read it and didn't even have to preach.

I mean, I'll be honest.

That's how good this quote is.

So hang with me.

I think it'll just just open up our awareness to this passage and to temptation.

Who doesn't know the power of this devilish temptation?

What is it for you?

Money, sex, and power are the usual suspects.

I'm not immune to that triune.

But a few years ago I preached a sermon saying, if we just had crown molding in our living room, I would be a happy, fulfilled homeowner in person.

Well, wouldn't you know it?

We put crown molding in the living room.

And gosh darn it, it looks really good and it made me happy for a month or two.

Now, if we could just figure out a way to put it in a master bathroom, adjoining our bedroom, I'd be really happy.

Some of the more searing conditional sentences are if you were lovable, then you would be loved.

Or if you had worth, then you would show your worth.

If you were a better parent, your children would be happy and successful.

The list goes on and on and on.

If the sentence structure of Satan is conditional, then the grammar of God is declarative.

Jesus responds to each of the devil's temptations with a declarative statement from Scripture.

It is written.

He says three times over.

One doesn't live by bread alone, worship God alone only, don't put God to the test.

To each of the devil's slippery slopes, Jesus answers back with a solid rock.

So I don't know your mistakes, I don't know your temptations.

But I know you are like me, and we need a power.

We need a love from beyond ourselves that is not based on our merit, is not based on what we deserve.

And this is the good news, the declarative statement of the gospel that is not conditioned upon what we do or have done or will do is declared over us.

That's what the cross is.

That our forgiveness and righteousness is sealed in Jesus' work for us, and we are forever his beloved.

I close with Psalm 133 through 7.

If you or Lord should mark iniquities, O Lord, who can stand?

But with you there's forgiveness, that you may be feared.

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope.

My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.

O Israel, hope in the Lord.

For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.

Let's pray together.

God, thank you for your grace to us that even when we fall in temptation and we've given over ourselves so many times, your grace, your promise is always deeper, for it is declared over us, not conditioned upon our behavior or motive or thinking.

And in that we rest, it's in that we wait on you in your word and in your word alone.

I thank you that you have not left us helpless in our powerlessness, but that you give your very Spirit the Holy Spirit to live inside of us, to convict us free of condemnation, and to empower us to walk in godliness.

Reveal your goodness and your grace to us that in mistakes and temptations and in our successes, God, that you are good and you are gracious and you are for us and that our wholeness and our satisfaction, our forgiveness, absolution, and righteousness, all of it is in you and in you alone.

In Jesus and in Jesus alone.

We pray.

Amen.