Temptation and Humility: Matthew 4:1-11, Philippians 2:5-8 and James 4:6-10

[0:00] Welcome to Ontario Community Church, where we're dedicated to encouraging, equipping, and engaging lives for Christ. Located in Ontario, Oregon, Pastor Patrick Daly preaches insightful sermons from the Word of God, offering practical applications for modern living.

[0:16] We're delighted to share this sermon with you. All right. Well, good morning, everyone. Let's go ahead and head back to our seats. It is great to be with all of you this morning.

[0:31] We've been singing these songs of praise and worship, and had this time of greeting one another. Really, it's been great to have Ed join us this morning, and it's just great to have all of you here.

[0:45] Today, we're going to be entering into week two of our series, which is titled, A Sacred Journey from Death to Life.

[0:56] And this last week, we went over the idea of what it means to repent. And it's this idea of transformation that comes from the Lord.

[1:07] We talked about what it means to be an ambassador for Christ, and that no matter what happens in this world, the craziness that happens, we have a constant, for it is God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

[1:24] We have so many opportunities to turn to the Lord. There is no greater time than now than to make a decision for Christ, to believe in Him and to be saved.

[1:34] And so today, we're going to go into week two of our sermon series. And the title of the sermon today is Temptation and Humility. And I hope that all of you have, the notes here, it's a two-pager on here, and there's quite a few notes on here, but Lord willing, we'll get through all of it.

[1:56] So our scripture passages that are in your notes will be found in, it's going to be on Matthew chapter four, verses one through 11, which is about the temptation of Christ.

[2:08] And then we're going to go over Philippians chapter two, verses five through eight, which is the humility of Christ. And thirdly, James chapter four, verses six through 10, which is our humility to Christ.

[2:24] But before we go any further, let's open in prayer, and let's ask God to lead and to guide us this morning. As we open the pages of His word, we ask for transformation of the mind and the heart.

[2:39] Let's pray together. And heavenly Father, as we gather today in your holy name, we ask that you give us guidance, that you give us truth, and that you give us wisdom from your word.

[2:53] For Father, the word that you have given to us is but a gift, it is living and active. And we ask that you help teach us about this idea of temptation and humility.

[3:05] We ask that we can come to know your son Jesus, and that we can walk in the footsteps of Christ. We ask that you open our minds to live and to love like you, and our hearts to be softened, to be more Christ-like.

[3:23] We ask that you are with us this morning, where there is healing that is needed. Let there be healing, where there is clarity that is required. Let there be clarity.

[3:34] Be with us this morning. It is in Jesus' name that we pray, and we all say together, amen. Let us turn to our first scripture reading, which is going to be on page 961.

[3:45] It's going to be from Matthew, the Gospel of Matthew, chapter four, verses one through 11.

[4:09] Let's read it together. Feel free to read out loud, or to just follow along. So this is the temptation of Jesus, Matthew chapter four, verses one through 11.

[4:22] Then Jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry.

[4:33] And the tempter came to him and said to him, if you are the son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. But he, but Christ answered, it is written.

[4:46] Man shall not live by bread alone, but by what? But by every word that comes from the mouth of God. And then the devil took him up 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.

[5:08] He will command his angels concerning you. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. What does Jesus say here?

[5:19] Again, it is written, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test. Again, the devil took him up to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.

[5:33] And he said to him, all these things I will give to you, if you will fall down and worship me. What does Jesus say to him?

[5:44] Be gone Satan, for it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.

[5:54] Then the devil left him and behold, angels came and were ministering to him. This is our first scriptural reading.

[6:07] And we see here that God gives us an example of what it means to not fall into temptation, but instead to resist the devil and to follow the teachings of God's word.

[6:22] God does not tempt us to sin, rather he does test us to show the authenticity, and that's very different than what the devil is doing. The devil is tempting Christ to get him to sin.

[6:35] And that's much like how the devil will tempt us to sin. And what you'll see on here, let's put this as the reference verse in James chapter one, verse 13, which scripture says, let no one say when he is tempted, say what?

[6:54] I am being tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. So the devil on the other hand, he tempts us to do wrong, to sin, to miss the mark.

[7:09] Let's go to that next reference verse, which is from a couple of verses after James chapter one, verse 14 and 15. Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire, then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

[7:31] So it's talking about what happens when you fall into temptation, you sin. And if you look on your notes, you'll see here that there is a chart on here, which shows, I've titled it Temptation and Truth, which is showing the difference between what specifically is the devil doing here, and how is Christ responding to it?

[7:53] Well, you see that the devil is saying, turn the stones to bread, which is the focus on the physical and not the spiritual.

[8:03] Now, if you can imagine fasting, for those of us who have fasted before, we get hungry, right? And certainly we wanna have a bite to eat. It's a time of spiritual discipline.

[8:16] And the devil here is tempting the Lord into, again, focus on the physical. And Christ's response is to focus on the physical and the spiritual.

[8:28] And in your notes, you'll see that Christ is quoting Deuteronomy 8.3, and we also know in John chapter six, verse 35, that Christ is the bread of life.

[8:41] So we get nourishment from the word of God, right? Man does not live by bread alone. Does that mean never eat bread? Well, we need to take care of our physical needs, right?

[8:51] But we also need to take care of our spiritual needs. And you also see the second one, which is testing God. Now, what's very interesting, I want to go to the Psalm slide, if you can go to that one, Psalm 91, verses 11 through 12.

[9:08] What's very interesting to note is that Satan quotes scripture. Some of you may or may not know that the devil can read and the devil will misconstrue, right?

[9:18] Or twist scripture. But you know what's so interesting about this is the fact that the devil, he omits the italicized line here. So for he will command his angels concerning you to what?

[9:34] To guard you in all of your ways. On their hands, they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. You know what's very interesting about that? Well, why did the devil remove that part?

[9:47] Because in trusting in God, the Lord will guard you, right? Will guard you in all of your ways. And this is, he removes that from scripture by saying, if you just throw yourself down, if you jump off of this ledge, the angels, well, that's completely out of context here.

[10:09] The Psalm 91 is speaking about how it's a very powerful Psalm that shows that God will protect those that will follow him. But in all of this, there is still accountability and there is still responsibility of the believer.

[10:26] And so I just found that to be very interesting that the devil himself just omits an entire line of scripture. And when we think of today, unfortunately, there are people who will omit certain parts, sentences, or maybe even they'll overlook certain things of scripture.

[10:43] So that's something to take note. Going back to that chart, we have the third temptation, which is worshiping the devil for kingdoms and glory, which you find a lot of people who think of how Christ asks the question, what good is it for a man or for someone to gain the entire world but to lose his soul?

[11:03] And this is the same concept here. If you worship the devil for kingdoms and glory, for power, for glory, for fame, for riches, seek first the kingdom of God.

[11:15] And we see that Christ is responding from Deuteronomy 613, which is to worship the Lord and to focus on him. We don't worship the devil for, we don't worship the devil.

[11:28] And we don't sell our soul for kingdoms or glory. And so it's the question that we have to think about when we look at this chart here, when we think about how Christ was tempted here on the earth that goes to show us the human condition in which we live in.

[11:44] If Christ gets tempted by the devil, so are we. Let's be honest here. We will be tempted. And it's the question of how we will respond to that temptation.

[11:57] Again, the first temptation had to do with focusing on the physical and not the spiritual. The second one had to do with a misquoting or a misrepresentation or as some would call it, misinformation of scripture.

[12:12] And we know that when we're reading the word of God, we need to look at the context as well as the connections. And in looking at the context and the connections in scripture, you find consistency.

[12:25] You find clarity that exists with scripture. And so we had that third one. We had that Psalm 91.

[12:35] You know, in Psalm 119, I wanna put that one up. How do we respond with temptation? Well, certainly we place our trust in the Lord.

[12:47] But in Psalm 119, I love this, is how can a young man keep his way pure? How? By guarding it according to your word. It is through knowing the word of God.

[12:58] It is through reading. It is through hearing the word of God being taught and preached in churches. Coming to know who the Lord is and growing in that faith.

[13:08] It is not having stagnant faith, but having a constant growing process. Because God wants to mold us into the men and women that we are supposed to be.

[13:21] Certainly there is a learning process. Are we still learning the word of God? Do we find that when we read scripture the fifth time, that it might be different than when you read it the first time?

[13:34] Or maybe when you read the Bible as a 13 year old? Is it different than when you read it as a 50 year old? That's something to really think about. We resist the devil by our faith in Christ and knowing God's word.

[13:52] So I want us to turn to our second scripture which is found in the book of Philippians. It's on page 1165. Let's turn there together.

[14:12] So it's Philippians chapter two verses four through eight. It says on your notes five to eight, but we'll start on verse four.

[14:32] Let's read it together. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.

[14:48] Who though he was in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form.

[15:06] He humbled himself by becoming what? Obedience to the point of death, even death on the cross. Let's think about that for a second here.

[15:17] How Christ humbled himself for us. Very powerful words that we find from Philippians here. And just like how we've seen in that first verse, we saw that Christ was tempted for 40 days in the wilderness.

[15:34] There were the three temptations to be separated from God. We can see from this set of verses that it is the call for us to not just focus on ourselves, but also to focus on the needs of others.

[15:50] It's a balance, right? We certainly need to care for ourselves, but also care for others. It's when we only focused on ourselves. Focus on the Lord, focus on the needs of others, and also focus on how to care for yourself.

[16:07] We discover that it is Jesus Christ who is the prime example of humility. It is he who was without sin, who was born into the flesh and became like one of us to bear the sins of the world.

[16:22] And not only is Christ the prime example of living a life in humility, but Christ shows us this inexhaustible and remarkable love that God has for us, such as in Romans chapter five, verse eight.

[16:36] But God shows us what? His love for us in that while we were still what? Still sinners, Christ died for us.

[16:47] And certainly we're not Christ, we're not the Lord, but we are called to believe in him, to humbly believe in him, to be repentant for our sins.

[16:57] Remember what we talked about last week, to change your mind, metanoia. And also it is to follow in his footsteps. And so you need to ask yourself the question then, will you humbly follow in the footsteps of Christ?

[17:14] To see the kind of love that God has for us is very hard for many of us to grasp this type of love, this agape, this unconditional love that God has for us.

[17:27] But it is the truth of scripture nonetheless. And there's two things that in reading this passage that really stick out to me, hey bud. When we're reading this passage, we see that Christ was in the form of God, which shows Christ's existence before the creation of the world.

[17:50] And that's always very interesting where we see, what do you mean Christ was before the foundation of the world? But this is one of those verses that speaks to that. This also helps us with the understanding of the Trinity or the triune God.

[18:05] When we're reading this passage, we see that Christ was in the form of God, right? It was the form, the morph, the form of God to the morph of a servant, to the form or the appearance, the schema of man.

[18:23] And so Christ emptied himself, he humbled himself by becoming a servant, the word becoming flesh and dwelling among us to seek and to save the lost and doing all of this so that all who believe will have everlasting life.

[18:42] And this is the love that God has shown us to pay for our sins on the cross that we can attain salvation through faith in him.

[18:53] In John chapter one, verse 14, what does it say? And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory, glory as of the only son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

[19:10] It is Christ who is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. It was foretold in so many passages of the coming of the Messiah. I want you to consider, we're not gonna put the entire verse on here, but in Isaiah, it's in your notes, chapter 52, verse 13 through 53, 12, it speaks of the suffering servant.

[19:34] It is the foretelling or one of the many verses that foretell of the coming of Jesus Christ and the suffering servant that will come. And this is encouraging to me again to see the context, but also the connections with other scripture.

[19:49] And I pray that this is encouraging to you, that you come to know who the Lord is and that you will humbly follow in his footsteps.

[19:59] It is believing in the Lord first and foremost. And upon that salvation, upon receiving the free gift of salvation, it is learning about the Lord and doing good in his name.

[20:11] For we are saved by grace through faith, such as in Ephesians chapter two, verse eight, for by grace you have been saved through faith. Is this by our own doing?

[20:24] No, it says this is not your own doing. It is what? A gift and this gift, right? When you give someone a gift, it is free.

[20:35] And that's just the wonderful thing about our Lord, is that it is the free gift of salvation. And it is in knowing the Lord that our minds are continually changing to know him more deeply and to grow in that relationship.

[20:50] You don't tell your spouse you just love them once, right? You have to continue to show that you have that love and that dedication. Well, how is having a relationship in the Lord any different?

[21:02] You have to continue to have that relationship. That's just wonderful. We continue to grow in him and that should be an encouragement for us to live and to love like Jesus.

[21:14] Let's turn to our third scripture, which is found in the book of James. It's on page 1201. And it's James chapter four, verses six through 10.

[21:44] So James chapter four, verses six through 10. But he gives us less grace. No, what does he give us?

[21:56] He gives us more grace. Therefore it says, God loves the proud. No, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

[22:06] Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will what? He will flee from you, draw near to God and he will draw near to you.

[22:18] Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter turn to mourning and your joy to gloom.

[22:31] Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you. Keeping you guys on your toes, right? Making sure you know what the word of God says here.

[22:42] And we come to this final verse that is found from the book of James and the context of this verse is speaking about how to live a life that is more Christ-like.

[22:53] It is in knowing that we are saved by grace through faith that should be the greatest encouragement for us to have a desire to live for the Lord and to love like Christ has loved us.

[23:06] These verses give us a framework. And just as Christ resisted the devil, resisted the temptation of the devil, so too can we resist the devil.

[23:18] Resist the devil and he will flee from you. That's a very powerful verse, I'm gonna be honest here, right? We resist the devil by having that relationship with Christ and by knowing the word of God.

[23:30] I know what my Bible says and devil, I don't know what you're saying here. That's how we have to know what the word of God says. It is encouraging to know that when we resist the devil, he will flee from us.

[23:45] Especially when you hear sometimes that the devil will just follow you around like a stalker or something and just continually go. When you resist the devil, he will flee from you.

[23:56] Of course, we should always be encouraged to enter in that deeper relationship with the Lord and not just have a superficial relationship. It's like I said, you don't tell your kids or your spouse, you just love them once.

[24:10] You have to continue in that. And our minds should be, and our hearts, they should be focused on living a life that is different than what this world has to offer.

[24:22] Many of us can see what the world has to offer. And we may wonder, is there any meaning in a life without the Lord? Just like in Ecclesiastes, you find that Solomon found that life is meaningless under the sun.

[24:38] Without knowing God, life is meaningless. But God provides us salvation through faith. He gives us purpose. He gives us a new identity in him.

[24:49] There's so much that comes from the Lord. I speak of transformation that comes from the living God. And just as I was speaking about Metanoia, changing our minds, there is change that happens so that we come to know the Lord and there's continual transformation that comes from the Lord.

[25:08] And we see in that verse that God continues to give us grace. Knowing that God gives us more grace is a wonderful set of words here.

[25:20] Because God is constant and he will never fail us. Because Jesus Christ, my friends, is not the same. He is the same yesterday and Tuesday.

[25:32] Right, no, yesterday and today and forever. And knowing that we believe in the Lord, when we believe in him, we are saved by grace. God continues to show his abundant love towards us.

[25:46] These verses speak about how we should humble ourselves before God. Knowing that Jesus Christ paid it all on the cross at Calvary, it should encourage us to live for him.

[25:58] Let us not be stagnant in our faith, but let us be encouraged to live for the Lord. You'll notice that in Proverbs chapter three, verse 34, that quoting that we found in James, it's quoted twice.

[26:15] It's referenced from Proverbs 3, 34 and also 1 Peter chapter five, verses five through six. And with all of these verses in mind, I want us to think and consider and to reflect on the humility of Christ.

[26:32] Christ resisted the devil through knowing the scriptures. Let us be encouraged to know our Bible. It makes me think of who we are as people that we are called to believe in the Lord and to have our minds and our hearts transformed.

[26:47] Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. Create in me a new heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit in me.

[26:58] We should know God's word. For recognizing temptation, I want to put in 1 Corinthians that no temptation has overtaken you.

[27:08] That is not common to man. That's a very good one to know, right? Temptation is common. God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation, he will provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it.

[27:24] And that's wonderful to know that with every temptation, there's a way to escape that temptation. There's a way that we can outwit the devil, so to speak.

[27:34] Let the devil flee from you. And in closing here, I want you to take time to reflect on where you may be facing temptation in your own life.

[27:46] Is there temptation that is getting you to focus away from the Lord? You'll see that there's verses on the live it out section, recognize temptation, right?

[27:57] Practice humility from Micah chapter six, verse eight. He has told you, oh man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice and to love kindness and to what?

[28:11] Walk humbly with your God. It's a very powerful verse and also in your notes, live and love like Christ, just as found in 1 John chapter four, verse 16.

[28:22] We have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love and what? Whoever abides in love abides in God, God abides in him.

[28:35] Very encouraging verses here. And so in all of this, be encouraged to know that when you are tempted, you can have the devil flee from you by knowing the word of God.

[28:51] And certainly we are called to walk humbly with the Lord. Allow for God to work in and through your life. By having the Lord at the center of your life and your work and your play with your family, with your community, in having that relationship is life changing.

[29:12] Your life will never be the same in knowing the Lord, but there's that assurance, that confidence in the Lord and knowing that you are safe and secure. Wouldn't you want to share in this faith with your friends and your family?

[29:27] I hope that you're encouraged too. And with that, let's pray together. And Father God, as we conclude our time today, we ask that you give us the strength, the wisdom, and the guidance to respond to the temptations of the world or from the devil.

[29:46] May we learn to live in humility to Christ and to have you at the center of our lives. Be with us as we close in our final song today.

[29:59] And as we leave this place, as we go out into our lives, let us not just be hearers of the word, but doers. We say all of these things in the precious name of Jesus Christ and we all say together, amen.

[30:16] Thank you for tuning in to the Ontario Community Church sermon podcast. For more about our church and how you can get involved or support our mission, please visit ontariocommunitychurch.org.

[30:28] May God's blessings be with you.