[0:00] Luke chapter number 4. Fantastic this morning. I do not miss being a slave of sin for a moment today. I'm a child of God, and I am who He says I am. And He says I am free.
[0:11] I am free from that bondage of sin. I can overcome temptation in my life. And I not only am able to, but I got to see Jesus Christ overcoming the evil one.
[0:23] And it was recorded for me today in Scripture. And I get to share that with you. Thank you so much. I'm always grateful that church is not a talent show, because I'd always hate to come up after our special music.
[0:34] So talented, so wonderful. Luke chapter number 4. I remind you of the two temptations that came before. The first one was concerning bread, but it really wasn't concerning bread at all. It was about God's provision.
[0:46] Would the Son look to the Father for His provision and say that I'm not going to find it in any other place? And Jesus most certainly passed the test. And He did not create the stone into bread, because He waited upon the Father.
[1:01] And then last week we saw where Satan takes Jesus upon a high mountain, shows Him all the kingdoms of the world, shows Him something that He does desire, which is all the nations worshiping Him, but placed it in a way in which that would not have been pleasing to God, which would not have been right.
[1:15] And Jesus passed that test as well in that temptation. You kind of look at it in our lives like the old game show, Deal or No Deal, where you have a box, and you don't know what's in your box, but you're being shown all these other boxes.
[1:30] And as they would open up, you would say, I'm going to stick with what I have. And in our lives we say, I'm going to stick with the will of our Father. I'm going to do things the way that He calls us to do, even if it means that there's a mystery, even if there's an unknown, even if I could cash out right now and take what I can see and what I can hold in my hand and know, I'm going to trust God and I'm going to follow Him.
[1:52] And it brings us to our third temptation as recorded in Luke, and that's in verse number 9, and He is brought to Jerusalem and set on a pinnacle of the temple, and Satan speaks unto Him.
[2:04] I first want us to see the day, and you've heard this before, that temptation is on every corner, but it's also on every pinnacle. It's not on every street corner where you expect to find it, but it's also on the top of every temple upon every pinnacle.
[2:17] It can, temptation we are defining as the enticement of a God-given desire beyond God-given bounds. A God-given desire for hunger or bread, but outside of His bounds.
[2:31] A God-given desire for Jesus to be exalted in worship, but not in the way. This passage, when we get down to verse 13, makes sure that we don't miss it. And it says that, And when the devil had ended all the temptation.
[2:44] These 13 verses are about temptation. We get to learn from the Father of lies how He lays out temptation before it. We get to see from Jesus how He overcomes the temptation that is brought to us.
[2:56] So let me remind you a few things about temptation. Temptation always conceals the danger that is there. When the Bible speaks about temptation, it talks about it as being a trap that is set for us.
[3:07] In 1 Timothy 3, 7, It's seen as a trap. And in Proverbs 5, 22, it says, And his own iniquity shall take the wicked himself, and shall be holden within the cords of his sin.
[3:25] Temptation is a trap that is set for us, but it conceals something. It conceals the danger. Proverbs 1, 17 says, Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of a bird.
[3:37] So it doesn't, if you're going to go trap a bird, if you're going to catch something, you can lay it out so they can see it. We have Landon Lockett here with us today. Would you raise your hand, Landon? Landon is from my hometown of 500 people in Kentucky.
[3:51] And I won't tell you how Landon comes to camp now. Quite a funny story I'll tell you sometime. But I'm grateful. If you want to know who I was at 15, meet Landon here, all right? He loves the Lord, and I'll be proud to be associated with him.
[4:05] But we know a few things growing up on the Kentucky Lake about fishing, right? You don't just throw a hook out into the water. You've got to be really lucky if you're going to catch a fish with a hook that doesn't have bait on it.
[4:17] And then it isn't just enough to put the bait on the hook, right? You want to conceal the hook. You don't want the fish to not know what's going on until you have caught him. Satan knows this, and we're taught this about temptation, that there's a trap that is laid, but it hides something.
[4:30] And what is it hiding? It's hiding the danger that is there. Those of you who have kids, you know, they tell you a story, and they say, we just did this. But the part they forget is all the danger that was involved in the plan that they have because they didn't see it.
[4:44] It was hid from him. Another thing, so we're warned of the danger throughout the Bible. All the time we're hearing, from God's Word, we hear warnings. And the day we eat of it, we will surely die.
[4:56] There is a danger to this. There is a danger to fornication. There is a danger to living a dishonest life. There is a danger to being pleasing men and trying to only do what the world wants to do.
[5:07] There's all this danger. And we hear, in the day that you will do this, you will surely die. But we also hear something else that says, no. No, you won't surely die. That's not what it's going to have.
[5:19] Because Satan wants to hide the danger that is in that. Maybe growing up, you had a friend like that. You had a plan, and you said, no, that's not a good idea. This could happen. And the friend says, no, no, no.
[5:29] Don't worry about it. It's going to be okay. There's no problem. Well, all of you have somebody in your life that is not a friend. It is Satan. And every time you look at a temptation, and you see something, and you know the danger is there, he loves to cover it up.
[5:43] He loves to put some bushes on it. He loves to put some leaves on it. He likes to hide it there, just like a trap and a snare, because what he's trying to do is trying to hide the danger, but he's also trying to embellish the pleasure that would be found in it.
[5:57] That when we say yes to sin, that we're saying no to God, but in that moment. It's where Cain says, man, it would feel really good to have revenge upon my brother.
[6:07] Or it's where Achan says, hey, if I just steal this and I put it in my tent, I'll get to know what it's like to have wealth. Or Abraham says, God promised me children, and it's not happening, so I'm going to take it into my own hands.
[6:20] Or David, that adrenaline that that adultery had. When he had a wife and he had all that a man could ever want, but he wanted that thrill that he would have from doing wrong.
[6:30] The danger was hidden, but the pleasure was exposed, and that's what Satan likes to do. He likes to stage the house. He likes to set it up for you so you only see what you're supposed to see, and you don't see what he doesn't want you to see.
[6:43] How many of you heard this growing up? I heard this from a preacher when I was a kid, and it's so good. It says, sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.
[6:56] How many of you have heard that before? All right. All of you have heard it now, so we're at 100%, all right? But it'll do that. Often thinking about the story of Absalom, and it does. It takes you into a place that you never thought you were going to get.
[7:07] Absalom's hanging in a tree. His head is there. He got involved in something, and it spread, and sin wants to do that. He just tries to bait you along, cause you to take that first step, and then you find yourself in it.
[7:21] And unlike the song that says, things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace, the opposite happens. The temptation looks so great. The goodness of God seems a little less good.
[7:32] The grace of God seems to be a little less a motivating force in our lives. But I'm thankful today that we're not ignorant. 6 Corinthians 2.11, lest Satan should get an advantage of us, we are not ignorant of his devices.
[7:45] Why are we not ignorant of his devices? Because we have Luke chapter number 4. We have other passages of the scripture that says, this is what Satan does when he shows up. We have passages of the Old Testament, like I just read to you, that says, when he gives a temptation, he's going to hide the danger.
[7:58] He's going to embellish the lie of how good that it is. We can study the father of lies and all of his lies. As I said before, it's like a game tape and a football game. We get to watch and see how he plays the game and know what he's doing.
[8:13] And because of that, we know we can't trust our feelings alone. Ephesians 4.19, it says, who being past feelings have given themselves over lasciviousness to work on cleanness with greediness.
[8:25] But you are not so learn Christ, if so be that you have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus. We are supposed to confront this temptation with truth.
[8:38] And what happens when we come upon this trap and we realize that it's there for us and even though the danger is hidden and it's not as good, when we go to the truth of God's word and when it's brought there, the guilt of sin will be exposed, the danger of sin will be revealed, the pleasure of sin will be redirected.
[8:55] And say, you know what? I want this, but that isn't how I'm supposed to get bread. I'm going to wait on the Father. This is a natural desire that I have for something, but God has given me a way in which I am supposed to go after this and pursue this in my life.
[9:11] Some of these teenagers over here have heard this speech. Some of your kids have never heard this speech. Some of them have heard it multiple times right now. But this is how it goes. And I did this at camp many different times.
[9:22] Heard a kid, got in trouble. And so I want to go talk to him about something. And this is basically what I'll say to them. I'll say, I'm about to ask you a series of questions. Before you think through the consequences of your answer, I want you to think about the life that God intended for you is to be a life that is lived based upon truth.
[9:40] We can correct bad decisions, but we cannot help you if you're going to have a dishonest heart. And that's where the kid says, yes, I took the bunk beds and I took them outside and I should not have done that.
[9:52] And I'll say, okay, we can fix this, all right? We can fix this problem right now. But if they will lay the foundation of honesty and that they will say, this is truth, we can work from that and we can overcome a lot of problems there.
[10:08] But where a small problem becomes a big problem, right, is where they say, I was nowhere to be found. I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't even sleep in a bunk bed. I've been standing here.
[10:18] I got to camp and I stood right here until Wednesday when you came and spoke to me, all right? And then I say, I don't, I can't help you. I mean, I don't know what to do with you because there's nothing to build a life upon.
[10:29] And if you want to stay in that position where you don't want to build a life with truth, then we can't help you. And you're in a much worse condition than you believe that you are over such a small thing. But that's the same with us.
[10:41] And temptation, when we come upon that snare, we got to lay down that bridge of truth and walk across it knowing what the truth is. And so that's the what of our temptation that we've been talking about. And the Bible says we're not ignorant of the vices of Satan.
[10:54] We know what they are. But also there's a where and a when and a who. And so the where is kind of surprising in this story. He first gets Jesus in the wilderness, tries to convince him that God is very far away, that God isn't around.
[11:07] If God was here, you know, why aren't you eating bread? You're the son of God. And his loneliness that is there is in the wilderness. But now where does Satan take him? He takes him to the pinnacle of the temple. He takes him to a place that's very visible, not just anywhere, but he takes him to Jerusalem, which is called in Psalms 132.
[11:23] It says, For the Lord has chosen Zion. He has desired for his habitation, and it may rest forever. And here will I dwell, for I have desired it. He took him to Jerusalem.
[11:34] He took him to the temple. He took him to the highest part. He took him to the place where Satan had to believe that he was taking him, the place where he would fear he would feel the nearest to the Father.
[11:45] He took him to a religious place here. It reminds us that temptation, it wears church clothes. Temptation, it can be found everywhere. You can't sterilize a place where temptation doesn't go, because as soon as you walk into it, you've walked into it, right?
[12:02] And temptation can be there. So it isn't, hey, let's get so far away from God. God's not here. It's that, hey, you're right here in the presence of the Father. Why don't you make a decision? And not only why don't you make a decision, let me give you some Bible to support this decision that you're going to make.
[12:19] Satan, we know he's not omnipresent. He can't be anywhere. We also know that Satan gets more credit for things than he deserves, or we say that, but he's actually very deserving of the credit he deserves.
[12:30] Because even though he's not everywhere, there's a spiritual warfare that takes place in our lives, but he is the father of lies. He is the power of the air, and he is working at times. This passage has a lot to say about angels.
[12:42] The angels will come at the end. Satan, Lucifer, as a falling angel, reminding us of spiritual warfare that we're in. Some people believe that the temptation that Satan was giving here, where he told Jesus to jump, it might have been as high as 15 stories.
[12:57] Maybe Satan believed that he could stop the other angels from coming to get him. Well, regardless of what Satan's plan was, he just wanted him to take a step off a cliff, but a step outside of the will of the Father.
[13:11] Because if he took a step outside, then anything would happen there, Satan would be glorified in. Because Jesus jumps, the angels catch him, he lands, they want to set him up as the king, they recognize him as the Messiah, try to keep him away from the cross that we talked about last time, or maybe Satan was just trying to kill him.
[13:30] I'm not going to try to get into the mind of Satan. It's not a place that I want to go. It's not a place that I want you to go. But I know that he was trying to get him to get out of the will of the Father, and that temptation that was there to go walk away from God's role, the Father's role in his life.
[13:46] But I did, as I mentioned in the Bridge Builders class today, this is a good time to remember that the devil is real. He's not just the personification of the evil inside of you.
[13:57] He's not just that person on your shoulder that they have in Disney cartoons. He is a real person who roams this earth looking for people to destroy. He hates you.
[14:08] He hates your family. He hates this church. He hates anything that has to do with the gospel of Jesus Christ. And he is in this story. He's also in the story still today of this world.
[14:20] And so there is no environment where you're safe from the temptation of Satan. But there's also good news. There's no place where you cannot overcome him. So there's no place that you're safe, but there's also no place that you cannot overcome him.
[14:34] So temptation comes in church clothes. Sometimes it's found on every street corner, but other times it's found on the pinnacle of the temple. It can be found at times even when you're feeling close to God, in times that you're far away, he looks for an opportune time.
[14:47] And that's what he does. Temptation will leave for a season, verse 13. And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed for him for a season. You know, when we live by faith, as we're told to do in Galatians 2.20, we're told to live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved and gave himself forth.
[15:03] Living by faith means that we make daily decisions. It means that we have an opportunity to say, yes, I'm going to depend upon God and to make this decision. It would be great if there was no decisions to make.
[15:13] But that is not how God created us. That he is glorified when we say, yes, I'm going to trust you, and I'm going to say no to the temptation. And Satan's desire is total destruction, but we are so thankful today that his power is not equal to his will.
[15:28] That we can overcome his desire for our lives. But he's looking for times of vulnerability. Luke 22.31, And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.
[15:43] And other times he tells them to watch and pray, and that you don't enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak, that there are times of vulnerability where temptation are going to be stronger.
[15:54] There are seasons in which Satan wants to show up. There are seasons in which the temptation will be stronger in your life. And we can see this. He's going to go off to college, and he's going to study anthropology.
[16:05] And I can see in the room of everybody there, their eyes got real big, and they said, he's about to be tempted to step away from a Christian worldview because of what he's studying. I can see it in your life, but you can also see it in my life.
[16:18] There's times of temptation. And by now, in the maturing of Christian life, you should be able to recognize when those temptations come. You ought to be knowing the cycle of your sin. You ought to be knowing that when I'm in this place, and I'm all alone at this time of day, or when I have this conversation, I'll do these things, this is a time where temptation comes because Satan is looking for that time of vulnerability.
[16:38] Don't be ignorant concerning the devices of Satan. You see a pattern that's there. Keep track of it. Recognize it in your life. And so here Satan has this place. Satan tempts Jesus in the temple.
[16:50] He does it after 40 days of fasting. That's part of his attack. He knows what he wants. And Satan, he personalizes a temptation. I've told you in here before how on social media, they personalize their marketing.
[17:04] And I'm still the only person that gets an advertisement for these fire logs that smells like KFC chicken. All right? And I'm constantly bombarded with him wanting Paul, they want to sell me this fire log that smells like chicken.
[17:16] Have you ever seen that? Has anybody ever advertised that to you? All right? Anybody, nobody in here still has that, okay? But the World Wide Web and Martin Zuckerberg, they know, we know how to get money out of Trent.
[17:27] All right? He likes having a fire in his house, but he's lazy. So I'm going to give him a starter log. All right? And I know that he loves KFC chicken. So if we could put the two together, I have a personalized marketing plan made for me because I'm just so abundantly wealthy, Mark Zuckerberg, that you think that you ought to spend all this time and energy.
[17:48] He's the founder of Facebook. That you ought to take this time and energy to market things specifically to me. I don't show up on his radar, but Satan, in this world, there's a temptation that's personalized for you.
[18:02] There's a place and there's a timing, and it's exactly what you want in that moment, and you need to be prepared for it because Satan loves to personalize the temptations that come in our lives.
[18:12] And I want to remind you, he doesn't call it temptation. He calls it opportunity. When temptation is sent your way and it arrives in the mail, it is a package that says opportunity.
[18:22] The power of all temptation is the prospect, what? That it will make us happier. We don't stand out of obligation or out of duty. We do it because of some moment we believe this product is going to make us happier.
[18:35] That Psalm 1611 says, That will show me the path of life. In thy presence is the fullness of life. At thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore. That God has a path for me, and along that path of obedience, there is pleasure and there is joy.
[18:50] But then Satan says, I also have a path for you. And in that path, can't you see down this path? Don't you see that on the first step of this path, there is something that looks like pleasure, there is something that looks like joy, that this path is also a path you can take because it has a pleasure that is there that is for me.
[19:08] And maybe the pleasure on this path seems more immediate than the pleasure of obedience does down the path that God has for me. He doesn't care if you feel far away from God or close to God.
[19:20] He just wants you to make a decision in this momentary desire for pleasure and to act upon it. And you know, in our Christian life, that distraction can be just as effective as lust or denial.
[19:35] We often think about temptation being something that's right out there for you, to deny the truth of God's Word, to jump off there. And what would happen there in the story is that if he was to jump in, we would see what would have happened.
[19:46] It would have taken him away from God's, the Father's plan for him. But distraction will also do the same thing for us. Some of you have probably read that famous book, The Screwtape Letters, and a man's beginning to read the Bible.
[19:59] And as he begins to read the Bible, the demons are all like, oh no, he can't get into the Bible. If he gets into the Bible, he'll find truth. If he finds truth, he'll overcome temptation. If he finds truth, he's going to head down the right path.
[20:09] If he finds truth, he won't go down the path that is there. And so what happens? They said, let's distract him. Let's tell him it's time for lunch. Let's make it noisy outside the library. Let's just do anything we can to pull him away.
[20:21] Let's distract him. Because remember, anything outside of obedience to the will of God is exactly what Satan would want. Not any kind of disobedience to God is the disobedience he is looking for.
[20:33] We said last week, to worship yourself, to rely upon yourself, is as good as Satan worship. Because he's only concerned that you don't obey the Father. He's only concerned that you don't bring glory to God.
[20:43] Anybody else will be the same. So if we want to know his will and a desire, we must stay prayerfully rooted in the Scriptures. Psalm 119, 11. Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee.
[20:57] Thy word have I hid in my heart that I may not sin against thee. Because the word hid in my heart says, hey, I know there's pleasure on that path, but that's not the path I'm supposed to go down to.
[21:07] Because the word of God that I've hid in my heart. And we see Jesus answering on every turn from the Scriptures. We see him meeting the qualifications of a king in Deuteronomy because the word of God had been written, not just by his hand upon paper, but he knew the word of God.
[21:22] And if you're going to know this, if you're going to recognize how the Holy Spirit is leading you, he's going to lead you according to God's word. How do you decide what is this, a personal desire? How do you know the difference between you and how do you know the difference between the Holy Spirit leading in you is that you know the word of God.
[21:38] And so we're going to get in this and say, he's fine with you knowing the word of God as long as you don't know it correctly. So we see up to this time right here that temptation is always an invitation to live out a lie.
[21:51] Temptation is always an invitation to live out a lie. It's actions that are based upon something that is not the truth. One of my favorite things about camp is that when a person gets done preaching, we have an opportunity to give them an invitation.
[22:08] And it's not only to come to an altar and to pray, but we can say, hey, we just spoke about baptism. If you want to talk about baptism, go over here to this group. If you want to pray for your lost friends, go over here to this group.
[22:20] And based upon the truth that they are trying to cultivate in their life, they're trying to embrace in their lives, they would make a decision in which group that they would go to. Well, the same with us. Satan presents something that he calls truth that is not truth, and that he invites us to live out that lie.
[22:37] So recognizing what is a truth and what is not a truth is the most important work that we have when it comes to living out our Christian faith. So verse number 10, it says, For it is written.
[22:47] So if you read in verse number 10, for it is written, you would assume that Jesus is talking. No, here's Satan. He's deciding that he wants to have a short Bible study on the roof of the temple with Jesus here.
[22:58] And he's going to misuse scripture. Satan quotes from Psalm 91 verses 11 and 12. Here in Luke 4, 10, he says, For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest that any time thou dash the foot against the stone.
[23:14] He misquotes it, and he misquotes it only slightly, but he takes it out of context. Satan and other people and ourselves often will try to make the Bible say what we want it to say.
[23:28] Here Satan is doing a Bible study, and he's taking a passage of scripture, and he's making an application to it that was not meant. Psalms 91 teaches God's protection from the attacks of those that are determined to destroy them.
[23:41] Here's Satan's application. He was saying, Hey, the Bible says that if you were to jump down here from here, then the angels would catch you, and your feet would not be dashed against the stone here.
[23:53] Not stumbled, but it says your foot would not dash upon it. My son Carson, he loves Peter Pan. I mean, everything Peter Pan, it's his favorite. He's watched one cartoon, the 1950s cartoon, Peter Pan, a hundred times.
[24:07] All right? And so I was thinking, I asked him the other day, Why do you love Peter Pan? I mean, do you not want to grow up? Please do. My basement's not big enough for you, okay? And I said, Do you not want to grow up? And he just said, What did he say about Peter Pan?
[24:19] He just wants to fly. I mean, every 10-year-old kid just wants to fly, right? I mean, it just sounds great, the ability to fly. He told me how he tried it a few times, and he has not been able to do that.
[24:30] But he wants to be able to fly. Is there anything more spectacular than this? I mean, would not this be incredible? Jesus comes to the temple, and in that day, and there's a people around, and here Satan says, the Bible says that if you were to jump, then you were to go, and then the angels would catch you.
[24:48] And then there's, look what it says in Malachi chapter number 3, verse 1. It says, Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant whom you delight in.
[25:02] Behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. He says, People's already expecting you to show up at the temple in some spectacular fashion. Why don't we let this be the end of your story? Why don't we let this be when you set up the kingdom?
[25:14] Why don't you do something spectacular? If you would just take a step out of the will of the Father and take this jump, you go to those 15 stories, angels would catch you, and they would set you down, and that you would be worshipped, and everybody would recognize who you were, and you wouldn't have to head to the cross, and all that pain that is waiting for you, and that cup you're going to have to drink would not be there for you in a spectacular fashion.
[25:37] And so that's what Satan, he gives a Bible study, and he says this should be the application of it, but he took it out of context. And we love to do that, right? How do we do that?
[25:47] When the 5'5", 145-pound guy decides to try out for the college football team, and what does he say before he goes on the field? I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me. But unfortunately, the offensive line can do all things through Christ, which strengthens them, and he happened to strengthen them a whole lot more than he strengthened Rudy in the story, right?
[26:07] And so we love to take it and make application to ourselves. We don't care about the context. We just want to make that, and that's what Satan did. Satan takes him to a place where he feels close to God, close to the Father.
[26:18] He uses Scripture to try to get him to make a decision here. But what's the context in Philippians 2, 13? Verse 12 says, I know that both how to be abased and how to abound, and everywhere in all things, I'm instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer in need, that I can do that through Christ that strengthens me.
[26:38] I can be content in whatever state I'm in. I cannot make the football team and be the water boy and be content. That's what Philippians 2, 13 is teaching you in that story.
[26:49] So we take the verses out of context, and it's a powerful weapon, because Satan knows we're going to live based on what we perceive to be truth. So if he can control the truth that we're living on, he can control our actions.
[27:01] We look at Jesus' response. It comes from Deuteronomy 6, 16. You shall not tempt the Lord your God. And in Deuteronomy 6, 16, it says, As you tempted in Massa, speaking about Massa.
[27:12] So we need to remember what happened in Massa. And what's great is that we have the Bible. And so when we get to Luke 4 and we live this context, all we have to do is turn to Exodus, and we can read about it.
[27:23] Exodus 17, 7. And he says, And he called the name of the place Massa and Meribam, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us or not?
[27:34] The children didn't have water in the wilderness, just like Jesus didn't have food there in his fasting. And they wanted to overthrow Moses. They said, You brought us out here, and it is better that we would have been in Egypt.
[27:47] And they want to test the Lord their God. They wanted to know if he was present. And so that's a good question that you would ask in your life. Am I trusting God and seeking to serve him, or am I demanding that God would serve me?
[27:59] And that's the testing that he gave. He says, God, if you're really good, then you will do this. God, if you're really good, then you will provide this for me. God, if you're really good, I will jump off the roof of this temple, and the angels will catch me.
[28:13] If you're really the Son of God, the Father loves you, then you could test him. But God does not need to be put to the test, right? God is loving. He is good, and he is perfect.
[28:23] And we know, and so the testing here was him trying to get, Satan was trying to get him to test the Father for his own pleasure here. And so God's Word is never a pretext for sin.
[28:35] In Romans 6, what it tells us, he says, oh, we have grace in our lives, so we can just go about sinning, right? And he says, no. What are the two words? God forbid. God forbid.
[28:46] That's strong language. God forbid that you would ever take the Word of God and allow it to be your text for doing wrong. And as crazy as that sounds, that is one of the most common things that are happening in the world that we live in right now, is that Christians are holding on to what they want to do in this world, and they are adapting, and they are editing the Word of God to make the Word of God fit into the desires of their heart and what they want.
[29:09] And we say, God forbid. The very passage Satan used to promote sin is the one that he promises victory over Satan's sin and judgment. Look at Psalm 91, verse 13.
[29:22] It says that he overcame the lion and the adder. Thou shalt tread upon the lion and the adder. The young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under the feet. Satan is seen as a lion, is seen as a snake.
[29:33] Psalm 91 says that we have protection from the wrath of our sin, that we're going to find it in the refuge of Jesus, that we can cling to Jesus, we can find refuge in Him, and we can overcome the temptation.
[29:45] Psalm 91 was not about jumping off the roof and having Jesus catch us before, or having the angels catch us before we hit the ground. But he took, at a religious place, he took a religious text, but he said something that was very satanic, which was the not obeying the Father.
[30:01] So Satan tempts Jesus to question the timing of the Father, and that's what is happening here. He says now is the appointed time. All throughout the Scriptures, they're saying now is not the appointed time.
[30:12] Now is not the time. Remember at the first miracle, there with his mother, where Jesus turns the water into wine, and the question that is in there is about his timing, about letting people know that he is the Messiah.
[30:24] So I want to remind you something about the Word of God, and I believe you know it, but from one friend to another, I need to remind you here, that God's Word is greater than your circumstances. God's Word is greater.
[30:35] You are of God, 1 John 4, 4, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is He that is in you, than that He is in the world. When you say, I cannot overcome, the circumstances are too strong, the temptation is too great, I want to let you know that you are able to overcome the temptation, because greater is He that is in you.
[30:53] God and His Word is greater than the circumstances. God is greater than human nature. 1 Corinthians 6, 13, this was a saying that they had in their day, quite a funny saying, meat's for the belly, and belly's for the meat, but God shall destroy both in them.
[31:07] Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. It was to say that, hey, food's made for me to eat. When there's food, I should eat it. My body was made to enjoy sexual pleasure.
[31:18] Here's an opportunity to live on it. I should just obey the impulses of nature, and what's there, because God, and He said, that's not the case. All this will pass away. That God, what God says about you, is more important, than what you believe, that your human nature says about you, because God's Word is greater, than our understanding of human nature.
[31:39] God's Word is greater, than extra biblical revelation. If an angel from heaven, would have come to you, and preached to you another gospel, let him be accursed. Any other revelation.
[31:50] It's a lie. People want to give you, teaching of God's Word, that is extra biblical, because they want to pull you, from your standing, in God's Word. And God's Word is greater, than our perception of reality.
[32:01] When God says in Joshua chapter number 10, that the sun is going to stand still, it didn't matter, if everybody's clock, and everybody's watch, was set to a certain time. It doesn't matter, that for a few thousand years, before that time, the sun did the exact same thing, that it always done.
[32:16] When God says, the sun's going to stand still, what does the sun do? The sun stands still, because God's Word is greater. And so we can trust Him, we can trust Him, when it's over our circumstances, and we can trust Him, and our timing.
[32:29] His timing is perfect. Hebrews 4, 16, Let us therefore come boldly, unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help, in the time of need. His grace, His daily bread, is perfect, and it is timely.
[32:43] And we get what we need, for the day. His timing is perfect, but it's rarely ours. Psalm 94, For a thousand years, in thy sight are, but as yesterday, when it is past, and as a watch in the night.
[32:56] On a global level, it says that, We're made one blood, out of all nations, for them to dwell, in the face of the earth. Acts 17, 26, And have determined, the times before appointed, and the bounds, of their habitation.
[33:08] And on a personal level, I can say, My times, are in thy hand. Deliver me, from the hand of mine enemies, and from them, that persecute me. We can trust God.
[33:19] His Word is greater, than circumstances. It's greater, than anything, that you see in your life. And His timing, is better, and it's perfect. You can trust God's timing, in your life.
[33:30] He never gets the question wrong. He never gets the timing wrong, in your life. And we can trust that. Our Lord doesn't only reserve, the rights in our lives, to answer the questions of what. He also deserves, to answer the when questions, of your life.
[33:43] When it's going to happen. And big steps of obedience, that we feel like, we can control, are often, a lot easier, than those small steps, of obedience, over a long period of time.
[33:55] We gravitate, towards the spectacular. Sometimes, I read this week, let's pray that our youth groups, never replace adrenaline, with the work of the Holy Spirit. It's easy to make, a big decision, in the moment, full of adrenaline, that we say, we're making for God.
[34:11] But God calls us, the small steps, of obedience, where we can trust, this timing, and things that are out, of our hands. I won't mention, the brother's name, in our church today, but I couldn't help, but think of him.
[34:24] And I don't know, exactly the story, but I remember, some years ago, when he was at a place, in life, where he was fighting, to get his family restored. He was fighting, to put everything back. After years, of living in sin, now he wants, to honor God.
[34:37] And he looked, at a spreadsheet, and he said, I recognize, that I'm going to have, to live in this place, which wasn't a great, circumstances. I'm going to have, to work this job, and I'm going to have, to do this, diligently, for the next 15 months, before I take, the next step, in my life, to regain, some of the things, that God has, for me.
[34:57] That's a beautiful life. 15 months, of just simple obedience, doing the hard thing, waking up, going to the job, going to his job, reading his word. It wasn't anything, spectacular, but it was trusting, the time of God.
[35:10] It's saying, I'm not going to be like, Jacob the trickster. I'm not going to find, a way to shortcut this. This is the plan, in which God, has told me to take, and this is the plan, in which I'm going to take, and it's a wonderful thing. And then lastly here, and you know what lastly means, right?
[35:24] Nothing, all right? I'm trying to make it mean something, but lastly here, that Jesus, models for us, patience. Patience, Dan, just doesn't feel like, a real tough, manly word, right?
[35:35] Rick, and some of you, in the military, just doesn't seem like, a word that you would say, in Latin, and have like, the Marines would have, tattooed on their arm, or something. But man, it's a strong word. It's only for, patience is a hard, it's a hard word.
[35:49] The word, we have here, John Pearson told me about a book, called the Marshmallow Test, and I thought he was reading about marshmallows, so I'm like, that's weird. And so I thought I should read about it as well, but you know, it's where they bring the kids into a room, and they offer them a marshmallow, and they say, you know, you can have this marshmallow, if you'll wait, it'll give you another marshmallow.
[36:07] And what do the little kids do, when they walk out of the room? They're like, I want a marshmallow, there's a marshmallow. And they eat the marshmallow, right? You listen to a few things, that are said, it says, you can improve your self-control skills, by concentrating, on the future, and putting distance between you, and your temptation.
[36:23] For example, when you're tempted to smoke, imagine the doctors telling you, that you're going to die of lung cancer. That's pretty intense, isn't it? Focus on long-term consequences, as opposed to instant gratification.
[36:36] The world recognizes something. There's some undeniable, universal principles about patience. And even though they strip the truth of God's word, and they've separated from something that would glorify God, it is true in this world, that patience is necessary in overcoming temptation, because patience says, my hope is there, and I can wait for there, because I don't need instant gratification in this.
[37:00] I can have patience, and wait on him. This is how James says it. Patience is seen as a farmer. James 5, 7, and 8. Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husband waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receives the early and latter rain.
[37:17] Be you also patient. Establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord, the draweth night. That patience is grounded in a hope. At the end of the day, when they're working there, and they're sitting on the front porch, and they're looking out on the field, and he looks to his son, and he says, you did plant the seed, right?
[37:31] It's in there, right? Yes, okay. Well, the seed's in the ground. The rain has come, and they wait. But the patience they have is in the hope that the seed that they planted will come up. It's based on truth.
[37:43] Hope is necessary for patience. The farmer plows in hope, the Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians. He plows in hope, believing that what he's doing is a truth that will be lived out.
[37:54] Patience is seen in the life of Job, once again in James. Take my brother and the prophets who have spoken the name of the Lord for an example of suffering and affliction of patience. Behold, we count them happy which endure, for we have the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy.
[38:11] Remember the prayer of Job in Job 42, verse 2? I know that thou canst do everything and that no thought can be withholden from me. Job had hope. I don't know what's going on in my life, but God, I know that you know all and that nothing is outside of your control.
[38:29] And so he could sit there and wait patiently because he could hope in the Lord. So our battle of impatience is a battle against unbelief. So patience is a very tough word. Patience is a hard thing.
[38:40] Patience isn't a passive thing. It's a very important battle. Our belief in God will be demonstrated in times of tribulation. Because we have hope, we can be patient. In your patience, it should possess your soul.
[38:51] Luke 21, 19. Patience is not passive or lazy. Hebrews 6, 12. That you be not slothful, but be followers of them through faith and patience inherit the promises.
[39:03] Passive, being patient is not something that requires a hammock where you sit and you just wait for the problems to go away. Patience is being on your knees with the word of God and saying, God, I trust you.
[39:15] I am not going to move until you tell me to move. I can trust you. And so how do we battle against impatience in our heart? Well, first of all, hope is necessary for patience.
[39:26] Don't ever ask a person to be patient if there's no hope, right? There has to be a truth that it's based in. There has to be there. There's something that is promised there. Psalm 31, 30, verse 5.
[39:38] Hope is going to be found in the word of God. I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in His word do I hope. In His word do I find the hope that is necessary for me to be patient.
[39:52] The strength that sustains you in patience is hope, and the source of that hope is the word of God. Hope is just faith in a future tense. Hebrews 11, 1. Now faith is a substance of things hoped for, for the evidence of things not seen.
[40:06] Let me give you an example in closing, and I mean that, all right? In closing, Isaiah 30, verses 1 and 2. Israel lost the battle due to impatience. Woe to them, rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of me, that take cover with coverings, but not of my spirit, that may add sin to sin.
[40:28] They walk to go down, they walk to go down into Egypt, and not ask at my mouth to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt. They take counsel, but not in me.
[40:39] They have a covering that's not in me. They take an action, they didn't talk to me about it. What is the children of Israel in this story? But they are people that are impatient. What are the children in this story? There are people that are not living with hope and living in the truth that God had given.
[40:54] And the Bible provides warning after warning. It says in Isaiah 30, verse 3, Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt be your confusion.
[41:05] This is where many of our sin, we sin almost daily, charging ahead in our own plans without stopping to consult the Lord. We do not live our lives as we've said before, if the Lord wills, asking Him, God, what would you have of me to do in this situation?
[41:20] And so what are we to do when we're tempted to be impatient? Isaiah 30, verse 15. I'll give you a second if you should underline this word. Isaiah 30, verse 15.
[41:31] For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, in returning and rest shall you be saved, in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength, and ye would not.
[41:44] What are you supposed to do in areas of temptation? When you're tempted and you see the pleasure that's there for a second, you're supposed to say, I'm going to have hope that in what God has told me to do, there's pleasures forevermore, that this is the path that I'm supposed to go down, and I'm going to trust Him so I return and I rest.
[42:02] And I say, God, I don't have any more decisions to make. I have no more decisions to make because you have already told me how to live this out. You have already told me what to do. Resting in this case can be hard and it can be challenging.
[42:16] And so some of you know patience to be like that. It's where it's a unmovable faith in the Word of God to be truth, to be true, and Satan a liar.
[42:27] Why is temptation so strong? Because you believe that is the path of happiness. Why is temptation so strong? Because you won't be patient and wait on the hope that He has given you. Why is temptation so strong?
[42:38] Because you're believing a lie that Satan has made. And maybe he gave it to you at the top of the temple. Or maybe he gave it to you on a street corner. And maybe you're trying to prop it up with some type of scripture.
[42:49] But you know in your heart that it's not the path of obedience. Isaiah chapter number 30, verse 18. Would you read this here with me? We're going to read at the closing right here. And therefore will the Lord wait that you may be gracious unto you.
[43:01] And therefore will you be exalted that He may have mercy upon you. For the Lord is a God of judgment. And read this right here with me. Blessed are all they that wait for Him.
[43:11] One more time. Blessed are all they that wait upon Him. Single person in here with the temptation for sexual sin. For the temptation to follow and to be unequally yoked.
[43:22] That temptation comes strong in your life. And you say, blessed are all those that wait upon Him. God, I'm going to wait. I'm going to wait. And whatever place and situation you're in where you want to cut corners, you want to promote yourself, and you want to do things that would not be according to God's will so you can achieve the things that you want in your life, so you can find that pleasure in that moment.
[43:43] What do you say? Blessed are all those that wait for Him. The submissive path of obedience, it doesn't offer immediate gratification. Sometimes when God works all things together for good, you're going to have a very hard life.
[43:57] It's going to be a challenging life. It doesn't mean that your version of better is immediately what you're going to get. But you're going to live a life that glorifies Him. You may not be ministered in a miraculous fashion, but by the end of the story, the angels will minister to Him, which is so incredible.
[44:13] It doesn't allow for short-lived self-exaltation, but it does provide for all the promises of God for His children in due season. It does not allow you to set the timetable of your life, but it does allow you the joy unspeakable when you know that your life has been designed and ordered by Him.
[44:31] God's way is perfect, and we can trust Him. And if you can't trust God's timing in your life, and temptation is so strong, I want to remind you to identify the lie that Satan has told you and uncover it because there's a trap that's laid there, and He wants you to fall into it.
[44:47] Heavenly Father, I ask that you be with us today, Lord. I do not know what's upon the hearts of the people in this room, and Lord, You do. And so, Lord, it's Your Word that we bring to them today. Lord, I pray the Holy Spirit will do a work in the life of every believer, man or woman, in here, and most certainly in the heart of anybody in here today who is not a believer in You.
[45:09] With every head bowed and every eye closed, could I speak to you in a moment in here? If you do not know that you have put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, you do not know your position with the Heavenly Father, this church exists for the purpose of making much of Jesus in this world and this community.
[45:28] And I want to invite you to be honest with yourself today. Remember what I told those teenagers? You're not getting anywhere in life until you get honest. And so, if you would get honest with yourself today and say, I have never put my faith and trust in Jesus, I have never submitted myself to Him as Lord and Savior in my life, I would love to help you.
[45:47] And so, I'm going to ask you to do something simple right now in this moment. I'm going to ask you to be honest. Maybe for the first time in your life, I'm just going to ask you to raise your hand and say, I do not know where I stand with the God of Heaven today.
[45:58] I do not know if I'm a believer and follower of Jesus, but I want to make it a matter of prayer. If that's you today, would you be honest and raise that hand? Well, speaking to my brothers and sisters in here today, there's no way I can look out here and even know the areas of patience that you need.
[46:15] I don't even know the examples of God's timing. I know in my own life, I know they exist in yours, but that temptation is strong if you won't trust Him. Would you tell Him today?
[46:26] Would you come down to an altar and would you tell Him, God, I can trust your timing? God, the temptation is so strong because I have not believed you to be true. Today, I recognize you to be honest and Satan in this world to be a liar.
[46:38] Would you find a place and would you talk to God and tell Him that you'll trust His timing in your life? As you've done, prayed here at the altar, you'll pray in your seats. Take time and stand and sing with Stephen.
[46:51] And I'll pray...
[47:02] Give him your enemies and love you and do what you do Easter. And go and eat as you, if you have enough of theiran or throw up place them or and away with him.
[47:14] And when the skirt of the altarEZ, and beicus a tip of anyoj that you can put together.