[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. Amen. Behold our God, come let us adore Him. There's not a better thing we could do with our time or life than to come and behold God.
[0:14] And in Matthew chapter 4, verses 1-11, we're going to be told that to resist temptation, we need to behold our God as He's revealed to us here in the written Word.
[0:26] Beholding God has so much more to do than just worship in a church moment or experience. It has to do with our daily lives because it's how we overcome the evil one as we look at our God and how good and true He is.
[0:38] Temptation is not near as strong when we see the power and might of our God. And the weakness that we feel in temptation, the draw to it, always comes when we start to lose sight of how wonderful this God is that we should come to and adore.
[0:51] Brother Robert already read Matthew 4, verses 1-11. I'm going to look at some of the verses again, reread them here to you. But let me ask real quick, do we have any Broncos fans that are here this morning?
[1:01] We've got one. God bless you, Mateo. All right. We have any Seattle Seahawks? I said Supersonics. Holly? Okay, there's two. How many of you just really don't care?
[1:12] Would you raise your hand? Which is the most of you men here. You know, I'm really into football. Somebody asked me who I thought was going to win. And I said, you know, I really pull for the Broncos because I really like teams from the East Coast.
[1:23] Which proves I don't know anything about football or geography. But I was trying. But I'll watch the game if I get home in time tonight. It's always fun to watch people who, you know, go together.
[1:34] Best offense, the best defense going head to head. And it's always fun to watch. I hope you'll watch it as well if you want to. If not, all right. Read comic strips of Charlie Brown if you want to. But great offense, great defense.
[1:46] But we're going to find here that Jesus goes into a bout with Satan. First, number one, when you come to reading Scripture, there's like a flag thrown up on the play here. Because you get to, in the first verse, you're like, I don't exactly understand how that's being said.
[2:00] Matthew 4.1, it says here to us, it says, When Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. When you study your Bible, you've got to ask questions.
[2:10] And you can't move on until you answer those questions. Because you're not going to fully understand the rest of it. So at the end of chapter number three, the Holy Spirit comes and sends like a dove there. And then God says, this is my Son of whom I'm well pleased.
[2:23] There's a shining moment there in Jesus being recognized as God here on earth. But then the Spirit led him down a dark alley where he would be attacked by Satan.
[2:36] That doesn't seem to make sense, does it? That the Spirit would lead him to a place of tempting by Satan, by the devil. Then also, the devil? Is that really even a person? Haven't we grown past that idea that there's a person called the devil in this world?
[2:51] And then why would Satan be able to tempt Jesus who is perfect? So on the first verse, on the first play, there ought to be a lot of flags that go off. And you say, I've got to understand what's being said there before I can put together what's happening here in the story.
[3:06] And it is a great battle. I mean, it is a great battle here that God, who has put on a robe of flesh, is going to take on Satan face to face in a cage match.
[3:16] Not only does he go to Satan one on one, but he says, wait 40 days until I haven't eaten. Wait 40 days until I'm at my weakest physically. Wait 40 days until I hunger, then show up, and I will fight you face to face and overcome temptation.
[3:34] And he does it in a way that everybody in this room does it. As you read the story and you're like, there's so many things available to you, Jesus, make them disappear. There's so many things you could do.
[3:46] And he chose to just take the word of God and overcome the temptation there so that people like you and I could do it. So there's a testing going on. And it isn't testing to prove that Jesus is God to the Father.
[3:58] He's already stated what he knows. He knows that this is God. God knows this is God here in flesh. And it's not even to prove something to Satan. It's to prove to everybody in this room here that will read this word that he overcame by the word.
[4:13] That he overcame and he let it be recorded. And he overcame not only as a human, but a human in his weakest hour. So that you as a human in your weakest hour can rely upon the word of God to overcome temptation.
[4:28] It's a stinking awesome passage of scripture. I try to think of a better way to say it, but I wouldn't do it justice. And it's just an awesome passage of scripture. Sometimes when you read something that seems more complicated, and then you start reading it, it's pretty simple.
[4:41] This one, you just get layer after layer of wonderful teaching. And we're going to look at it as much as we can. So let's be clear at the beginning. Jesus was tempted. The word of God is accurate, as always.
[4:52] He was tempted, but he will remain sinless. So don't get concerned if you don't know how the story ends. We will get to exactly what temptation is here in a moment. But know this, that temptation is a conversation just as we see here.
[5:06] We get a chance to see Jesus overcome the evil one. Temptation here is a conversation between Satan and Jesus. And temptation in your life is always a conversation that takes place in your heart.
[5:20] And we have the word of God just as Jesus relied upon there. So what's the staging here of this bout that's going on, the setting? So I said he's in a desert. Why couldn't it have taken place at the baptism?
[5:31] Why does it need to be out there in the desert all alone? Why does it need to be 40 days after fasting? That we see Jesus go from hearing from heaven, behold my son, to now he hears from hell and hearing from Satan.
[5:45] Jesus, we're told, is the second Adam. He's starting his earthly ministry here after the baptism. And he is going to go about undoing everything that was messed up by our first Adam. Adam was tempted in a beautiful garden with all kinds of resources.
[5:58] Christ struggled in a lonely wilderness. Adam was at his best when he was tempted. Christ will be hungry. Adam was the king of old creation. Christ is the king of the new spiritual creation.
[6:09] Adam sinned and lost his dominion. Christ obeyed and regained what Adam had lost. And so much more. Adam was defeated and brought death to humility. Christ was victorious and brought life to all who will trust in him.
[6:21] We're seeing the ministry of the final Adam and how he overcomes sin. So who's our two contestants here today in this battle? First of all, let's look at the devil.
[6:33] Not as a force, but he is a person. This is not a joke. This is not the dark ages where we just talk about this mythical creature. There is a person that is called Satan.
[6:44] Devil, Romans 12, 9. And the great dragon was cast out. The old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world. He was cast out into the earth and the angels were cast out with him.
[6:56] Satan accused her adversary, deceiver, old serpent, as he's referred to in the scripture. We're told in Ephesians 6, 12 that we should take on the whole armor of God because we live in a world with powers and spiritual darkness there.
[7:09] And that he is a formidable opponent to mankind. That unless we submit ourselves to God, we can never resist the devil. Meaning that submitting ourselves to God and being hidden in him, that Satan is no match for us in Christ Jesus.
[7:24] But without Christ Jesus, we do not stand a chance. That we should flee temptation. We should not go head to head with him. Unless we submit ourselves to God, we cannot resist Satan.
[7:35] We once walked in the course of this world as unbelievers, which is guided and maintained and perpetrated by Satan in Ephesians 2. So we don't see him face to face, but he is involved in so many of the things that we encounter.
[7:50] He's not everywhere at every place. But however, the world that we face is largely dictated by his tactics and his desires. Which means this morning, Lamar, that Satan did not hide Gregor's shoes from you.
[8:02] But if you lost your temper, he was probably cheering you on as you did. And also, if you're in here like Flip Wilson, a guy said, Devil made me do it. No, he didn't.
[8:13] He didn't make Flip Wilson, who coined that phrase, do it. And he didn't make you do it either. But you can be sure that he works hard at making sure there's very little in this world preventing you from doing wrong.
[8:25] He works to make sure there's very little resistance and great encouragement for you to make that decision that you will make. The quote, our famous song leader, future missionary to China, The devil is a very hard worker.
[8:37] The pastor was giving Ed a hard time one time. He said, you can't say anything negative about anybody. You can't even say anything. Do you have anything good to say about Satan? And Ed said, well, he's a hard worker at what he does.
[8:48] And that's true. And it's certainly true. And it's okay that you're known for not being able to say anything bad about anybody. That's also true. But he's a hard worker at what he's doing. And he's busy about it.
[8:58] He's busy about getting us to not worship God. Second contestant here was Jesus as man. And this is so important. Satan knew he couldn't stop him from being God.
[9:10] But if he could stop him from being man, then our salvation would fall apart. Because he came here in the robe of flesh to live and to die a perfect life as man. Because if, and that's what we see here, Jesus as man.
[9:22] Verse 4, it says that, the scripture says that man cannot live by bread alone. Well, you say, well, Jesus, that's a great verse. But what does that have to do with you? We can't live by bread alone, but you are God.
[9:33] Because he says, I have chosen to robe myself in humanity. I have chosen to be man so that I can live and I can die for you. So he answers Satan the same way we would answer. We cannot, man cannot live by bread alone.
[9:47] He's not only man, but he's hungry, weak, and he's tempted here. It's through moments like this that Jesus becomes our sympathetic high priest. Hebrews 4, 15. For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
[10:05] This is only the first of it. Satan leaves, but he doesn't stay away. He keeps coming back to him, but he stays without sin. So the children of Israel who have been 40 years in the wilderness can know that Jesus understands what it is like for them.
[10:20] He knows how you feel when you feel like you're all alone and caving in the temptation gives you. When you're caving in the temptation because you think it's your only source, ounce of power you still have.
[10:32] Sometimes we make a decision to sin in the fallen temptation because we feel like it's the only decision that we get to make anymore. That maybe you feel like you're thrown around by circumstances in life or that somebody's telling you what to do, but in sin you get to be your own boss.
[10:46] And we like that, don't we? Sometimes we fall into temptation because it brings comfort, which the only comfort we think is available. We want to escape from this, and we think it's our only escape from this, what we're dealing with here on earth.
[11:00] Not only did he go into the wilderness, he goes into our wilderness. He is setting an example, and not only is he setting an example, he's winning a victory on that day that allows us to win the victory in the day that we are at right now.
[11:12] We'll talk about that more later. So our two contestants, God and human flesh as man, and then Satan here, the fallen one, the fallen angel. And we find out what their objectives are.
[11:23] Satan gets real clear in verse number 9 what he wants. He just comes out and says it. After the third one, he's like, just fall down and worship me. That's what he wants. He's a little more subtle in the other two, but in the last one he says, hey, I'll make a deal with you.
[11:33] Let's cut God out of the equation. You worship me now. All of the nations will worship you. That's what Satan would want. If God does not worship, then Satan wins. He doesn't have to have you worship him.
[11:45] I mean, recently in current events, there was an event that took on at the Grammys, and I read in the news, they said they worshiped Satan. But why would a culture that worships self be mad if we worship Satan?
[11:55] Because I don't make any better God than Satan does. So you might as well worship yourself or worship Satan. It really doesn't matter to Satan. As long as you're not worshiping God, you can worship anything you want.
[12:06] He wins. You understand that? You're not Satan worshipers, but if you worship yourself and you make yourself God, he wins there. So you can win in a bar, you can win in an office, you can lose at home, or you can lose in a church.
[12:19] As long as he's not being glorified, Satan is getting what he desires. He just comes out and says it here in the third temptation. Satan desires to draw you away from God.
[12:30] Specifically in your day to day, he desires to edge you away from God. Temptation is just one step away from your relationship, your fellowship you're having with him. And temptation keeps moving us and moving us away.
[12:44] So we see what Satan's up to, and we shouldn't be surprised what his tactic is in a match here. But what is Jesus Christ doing here? In verse number 10, it reads, it says, Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him shalt thou serve.
[13:02] Jesus is busy about bringing worship and glory to God. God in human flesh is showing us how to worship him through temptation. Worship is what is always at stake.
[13:14] It is the prize belt. It is what is being fought for right here. The worship of God, or the worship here of Satan. And that's true in every battle of temptation that you would have.
[13:26] Jesus shows that worship is the duty of every human being. That the worship of God is the duty of every human being. So how does he go about showing this?
[13:37] I read a story, and I think it illustrates it perfectly. A king's son is hanging out with a peasant boy, and they're playing in the yard all the time, and they become pretty good friends. And one day the boy says, I want to introduce you to my dad.
[13:47] He's the king. And the peasant boy says, I can't go meet your dad. I'm just a peasant boy. And he says, No, it's fine. I know my dad. So they go to the castle, and they come to the door, and they're going to go meet the son. And everything is lighthearted, and they're just running along like kids would.
[14:00] Then they come outside the door where the dad is at. And the son gets very serious and grave, and he knocks on the door, and then he comes in, and the peasant boy is watching the son there, and he watches him bow down to the father.
[14:15] He watches him show respect. He watches him show honor, and the peasant boy is watching the king's son, and he follows an example. Jesus says, In human flesh I will worship the father, so that I will show you as humans how we come to him.
[14:32] It is the duty of every man to worship God, and Jesus in the flesh showed that it was most important for him to worship the father. You see that? Satan's trying to cut God out of the equation.
[14:43] But Jesus said, No, because I'm in human flesh, because I'm here on earth in human flesh, my duty is to worship God the father. And so we see that there.
[14:54] And Jesus brings us into the presence of God, and he shows us how as humans we should worship him. He would follow the friend's example and show respect. He would recognize the gravity of the moment by his friend's action.
[15:06] And it's the most important thing that we will do with our lives, is to bring worship and glory and honor to him. So why should you and I study this so closely? Well, the way that Jesus fought is the way that we should fight.
[15:19] He was being that human example for us. Satan leaves, but we know that he will be back. We know that the time will return. In Luke 4.13, a cross-reference to the scripture, it says, When the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.
[15:36] So when he leaves, he says, I'll be back. You won this time, but I'm coming back. And he does. He comes back in Matthew 16 through Peter. Peter is saying, You don't have to go to the cross. And Jesus looks at Peter and says, Get thee behind thee, Satan.
[15:48] He recognizes it. In John 16.15, a large crowd of people gather, and Jesus says, I have to depart, because these people want to make me, by force, become the king. So there's another temptation, to take the easy path, to setting up the kingdom.
[16:02] Temptation comes, even to the cross, where they put that gall to his mouth, and he says he will not take of it. He is constantly being tested, and tested by this world. Satan is still fighting the champion of the world, and he's set on defeating us on every occasion.
[16:18] We are tempted in a variety of ways, but we must all admit, we often face temptation. Every one of us in this room, faces temptation. Amen?
[16:29] Say that with me. Since, say amen, because let, let somebody in this room, think that we're just a bunch of do-gooders, who have overcome to a point, where we have, went past temptation, that every one of us, Satan is trying to attack, the glory of God through us.
[16:46] So every one of us, in a variety of different ways, some of them seem more honorable, but they're not. Some of them seem cleaner, than they're not. Seem something more moral, that they're not. But every one of you in here, faces temptation, and all God's people said, amen.
[17:01] So if you're sitting in here today, and you think you're the only one, don't worry, you're filled with a room full of people, that are facing temptation as well. But we learned something, some great things here, in Satan's tactics of temptation.
[17:12] He just pulls out all the tricks, and we learn a lot about him. I think we've learned some things about, God and human flesh, and Jesus here, and how he came, and he overcame. We see some things here in Satan as well.
[17:23] Now, temptation here, simply means to try, or to make proof. We're going to look at two definitions here. First of all, when temptation is used, it's used to try to make proof. In Genesis 22 verse 1, when God was told to take Isaac, to be sacrificed, God was tempting, he was testing Abraham.
[17:40] He was taking him there, and he said, I want you to take your son, and he was testing him. And as a result, he was drawn closer. Deuteronomy 8, when speaking to the children of Israel, and thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, and to know what was in thine heart, whether thou was keep the commandment, or no.
[18:03] There's a testing going on. Is Eric Elrod in here today? Eric passed his, it looks like he passed his test yesterday, in nursing. And I'm really glad that they have a testing in place, where they tried to do some proving, before they will let a guy like Eric, assist in a hospital, or do anything.
[18:20] They said, we want to know what's in your head. We really need to know, before we give you this certificate, what is in your head. And many of you have taken tests like this. Children of Israel put to the temptation, I want to prove you.
[18:31] I want you to know what is in your heart. And temptation and testing does that. It lets us know what is in our heart, which is a good thing. Because we want to draw closer to God, so during times of temptation and testing, we find out what's between our heart, and following after God.
[18:49] And as it's placed there, and we feel that, we feel the pain that's placed upon our heart, we can remove those things. There's also a negative form of the word, James 1, 13, 15. And probably many of you have it bouncing around in your head right now, because you're saying, temptation, I thought that was something that we're told, let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God.
[19:06] For God cannot be tempted with either, neither tempteth he any man. But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust has conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin when it's finished, bringeth forth death.
[19:20] I was told growing up to remember that verse by LSD. Lust, sin, death. When lust is acted upon, it brings sin, and sin brings death. So we're told here that God will not tempt us with evil.
[19:32] He cannot be tempted with evil, and he will not tempt us with evil as well. So simply put it, Satan tempts you with evil to draw you away from God.
[19:43] He tries to make everything outside of God look better than it really is, to make you take a step away from God. But God will test you with what he knows you can handle, as he promises, to draw you closer to God.
[19:58] It lies in what is presented, and how we're tempted to go after it. What was the result of Abraham going up that day and offering up Isaac as a sacrifice? It was a closeness to God.
[20:09] He was drawn closer. And he did not tempt him with evil. He did not put something out there. And we're going to learn some things about what Satan used to tempt Jesus that shows that as much as anybody in the Bible, Satan knew who Jesus was and what his desires.
[20:25] Because you learn a whole lot of things about your heart by what tempts you. You can learn a lot of things from your heart by how we're being tempted. So this test reveals about God.
[20:35] So if you know your opponent, and Satan knew his opponent, you should have an advantage if you know your opponent. I think I've told this before, but I was at a sports camp with Coach Elrod a couple summers ago, a few summers ago, and I told him, I need you to help me with an illustration.
[20:49] There's all these kids. And I said, we're going to talk about wrestling today. And I want you to tell me what you're going to do. And he said, well, I'm going to grab your ankle. I'm going to flip you over my shoulder. And so he told me what he was going to do.
[21:01] Well, he didn't know that I was asking him what he was going to do so that I could have like a counter attack. I thought, okay, I got all these little kids here. And some reason I felt a desire to impress them, even though they were elementary kids.
[21:12] And I got Zach there. And I said, I know exactly what he's going to do. When they blow the whistle, he's going to grab me, go for my ankle, and he's going to flip me over his shoulder. I don't know exactly what it was. Because I know what he's going to do, I can take him down.
[21:24] Yeah, it didn't turn out like that. He did the same thing he was going to do. I was just fighting. And it was way more awkward that way. And he slammed me to the mat way harder than he needed to. But it didn't help me to know his tactic, because he's stronger.
[21:37] In any way that I want about it, I could beat him, but you can't bring, you know, shovels into a wrestling match. But other than that, I wasn't going to beat him. He could tell me. And that's the ultimate, isn't it? I'm going to tell you what I'm going to do, then I'm going to do it.
[21:51] And that's the ultimate in fighting or in wrestling. Well, Satan knew some things about Jesus, and so he put it out there. What draws Jesus away? It isn't those sinful things that would be stirred up in our heart, because it says in the Bible, there's nothing found in Jesus that was unpure or sinful.
[22:06] There's no sin in Jesus to stir up. Look at the things said before Jesus. Eat bread, because he's hungry. Is it wrong to eat bread? No. Jesus even makes bread, and when he passes out the fish and the loaves, apparently he makes it multiply.
[22:20] So he's not opposed to eating bread. He's not even opposed to miraculously making bread on his own terms. Secondly, it's to show the world that you're God. Jump off this cliff and let the angels catch you, so that they will all know you're God.
[22:33] That's what you want, right? Does Jesus want the whole world to know that he was God? Certainly. In the church age, we're working at that still this day to make sure the whole world knows that Jesus Christ was the Son of God and died for your sins.
[22:44] And then lastly, Satan says, I know what will get you. Jesus, I know what you want. You want the nations to bow down and worship you. And so he knew that he couldn't get him to desire something that was wrong.
[22:55] But he says, I can't get the what to change, but how you go about getting it, I'm going to try to test you and tempt you. It's not the what, it's how that it would be gained. And we face temptation the same way too.
[23:07] But sometimes we pursue legitimate things and illegitimate manners of going after it. We go and get things now that God wouldn't have for us until the future. The Bible makes it clear that we should not tempt God.
[23:19] God's verdict on Jesus was already clear in the last chapter. So the Bible says that you should not tempt or test God because he is God. And the Pharisees run around doing it all the time. Yeah, if you're really the Messiah, then you would have never done that.
[23:31] Those crazy Pharisees, you should never set a test, a man-made test for divinity. Notice Satan's personalized approach. Satan wanted Jesus to put aside his humanity to eat bread.
[23:41] He could not stop him from being God, so he tried to get him stopped from being a man. Jesus had nothing in his nature. John 14, 30, Hereafter I will not talk much with you, but the prince of the world cometh and has nothing in me.
[23:55] His temptation was real just the same because temptation involves the will and Jesus came to do the Father's will. So what does temptation reveal in us? You see what it revealed in Jesus?
[24:07] That what he wanted, he wanted the nations to bow down, he wanted the world to know that he was God. That reveals something. So what are some things temptation reveals about us? Oscar Wilde says, I can resist anything except temptation.
[24:19] Which is pretty funny and some of us may say that as well. I can resist anything but temptation. Well, you may joke and you may talk like Oscar Wilde, but I hope you don't believe like him because he's also the same man that says, I do not want to go to heaven.
[24:30] None of my friends will be there. We can't overcome temptation. The Holy Spirit lives inside of us. There's a young boy, he was saving money to buy a baseball bat and he'd been saving for some time and his mom came into a room and he was praying.
[24:44] He said, Heavenly Father, I pray that the ice cream truck will not come by tomorrow because I'm trying to save money for a baseball bat. And so that's what happens. You know, we want stuff.
[24:55] You know, we really want to honor God, but sometimes something drives by and we decide in that moment that we want it more. That is not who we are in Christ Jesus. We are fallen, but we'll not be overtaken.
[25:07] Temptation reveals to us what was lacking our understanding of God. Do you see Jesus went to the root issues? It's not about bread, it's trusting God. He didn't give him a discourse on how to make bread. He says, Satan, it ain't about bread, it's about trusting God.
[25:20] It's not about showing power, it's about the will of God. It's the same in our lives. That anxiety that you have is rooted in a lack of trust of God, which means you don't fully understand his power. Your complaining shows your lack of gratitude, which indicates that you do not see God as a provider.
[25:36] Your temptation for porn may be rooted in a selfish desire for comfort because you do not see Christ as all sufficient. Your mistreating of your spouse may come from a twisted view of how God is treating you.
[25:47] That's why Charlie Brown said it so well, sound theology has a way of taking a load off your heart and mind. Behold our God. In temptation, you have a distorted view of who God is, so the world looks really good, so go and behold your God.
[26:02] And that temptation will be weakened when we see how powerful and strong God is revealed to us in the Word of God. And we can never make too much of this Word because it isn't here that we behold our God.
[26:15] We know Him from His Word. So this is good news. Assuming you want to grow in your walk with the Lord, it's good news. I could name a million different things in here and I may never land on your type of temptation, but the Holy Spirit has a way of placing it right now on you and bringing conviction.
[26:30] And can I tell you, recognizing that you're being tempted by something can be wonderful news because you can stop medicating the symptoms and you can run to God. Say, God, I don't trust you in my finances, so I'll take every shortcut that I can at work or any place I go, go to Him and say, what is it?
[26:47] And He says, my son, what you have forgotten about me is this. And you get drawn closer to Him. Can you think about things in your life that were really strong temptations in the past and you never had victory over it and now you've overcome it?
[27:01] You know what happened? You learned something about our God that strengthened you here. So the victory that is in Christ, this is exciting news. Temptation is always a conversation. Let the Word of God have God's place in the discussion.
[27:14] Temptation, the Word of God, between man and Satan, had a place. In your temptation, let the Word of God have it. Look at the responses. Turn the stone to bread.
[27:25] Turn the stone in the bread. Apparently your father doesn't care for you because you don't have anything to eat. He says, man does not live by bread alone, but everywhere that proceedeth from the Father. Deuteronomy 8.3 Jump off this high place let the angels catch you.
[27:38] And Satan's even giving Bible there in Psalms. It says that. His response, it is also, again, it is written, do not tempt the Lord our God. Deuteronomy 6.16 And in that, he gives a little mini hermeneutics course that a person may be using Bible to bring about temptation.
[27:54] He says, but we got to compare spiritual things among spiritual things. The Word of God does not tell me to jump off of this. The Word of God says that I should not tempt my God. And so we got to be students of the Word.
[28:05] That's why simply memorizing a Bible verse doesn't do the job because you don't understand exactly it isn't taking root inside of your heart. Then it says, worship me and get everyone else to worship you.
[28:16] Let's cut the Father out of the equation. His response, it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and Him only shalt thou serve. That's Deuteronomy 6.13 Just as Goliath, David had one rock for Goliath there.
[28:30] He went and killed him. Jesus just went to one book of the Bible. And He only went a couple chapters. He could have went anywhere He wanted. He could have created any new word that He wanted.
[28:40] He could have written a new Bible. And He said, I'm going to go back to one portion of the Scripture and I'm going to tell you who God is. And He fought with the Word. Jesus could have responded in any way that He wanted.
[28:52] It's amazing how we would become overcome with temptation as our Bible says neglected in the back of our car or on the shelf somewhere at home. So maybe you're in here and you think, man, I'm just really getting beat up left and right by this same temptation there and again and again.
[29:11] You need to behold your God. You need to get to the Word and you need to find it. And often when I heard things like this, thinking about the Word of God being an answer to the attacks of Satan, I kind of pictured it like in school.
[29:22] You have this list and then you have a vocabulary list and then you take the Word and you draw it. You with me here? So definition, fire truck, red truck that carries water.
[29:32] I really should have thought this illustration out, shouldn't I? Alright? And so you take fire truck and you draw a line to the definition of it. So I thought maybe I'll just get ten verses and when they come up I'll throw it at them.
[29:43] It doesn't work like that because that verse can't just be written on my face if I'm a football player and it can't just be memorized in my head. It has to get inside of my heart and inside of my mind and I have to know the truth of the Bible there to overcome Him by the Word, overcome the evil one by the Word.
[30:00] For your sake He responded with the Word. The same Word that you're holding in your hand. Those verses He said, you have those. At the beginning of your Bible those words are in there. Remember your temptation is coming from a lack of understanding who God is and remember that this book is all about who God is.
[30:18] There's nothing else. You can play games on a PlayStation or you play these different things and you have to choose a weapon, which one that you would like. If you're in a cage match feeling like you're fighting Satan after 40 days there in the wilderness and you get to choose one weapon, it's very clear.
[30:35] It is the Word of God. It's what Jesus has chosen and we should nourish our hearts with the Word. Remember temptation is a conversation and we should turn the volume up on the Bible in our lives.
[30:48] I really like this commercial I saw on the computer the other day. It's for a type of headphones called Beats. And so you've got these athletes and they pull up to a stadium and everybody's just yelling at them and they're throwing stuff.
[30:59] One of them saw on television it says this guy's getting old. Kevin Garnett's getting old. He's not good anymore. And all these things are coming into his mind and he's sitting on the bus and he's looking out the window and everybody's yelling at him and he reaches down and he grabs his headphones and he puts his headphones on and he comes out and everybody's yelling but he can't hear it and the song is I'm not going to sing it.
[31:21] Alright, but the song says I'm the man, I'm the man, I'm the man. That's what he's telling himself. And I kind of find that comical because he's a multi-millionaire superstar athlete and he listens to a song that says 80% of it says you're the man, you're the man, you're the man.
[31:34] Can I tell you that if you're going to play in a big game if you're going to go on a football field putting headphones on that says you're the man, you're the man, you're the man it will help. If you're going to try to live your daily life don't listen to that.
[31:45] You're not the man. You're not the man, you're not the man, you're not the man. Jesus Christ is the man and there's one book that reminds me of it every time that I go to it. And then at the end of it it says hear what you want to hear.
[31:57] It's a great selling technique. I don't even listen to much music on headphones and I probably look really goofy in these headphones but I want it because of what they sold that you can escape everything around you by putting these things on.
[32:11] You can too. The temptations that are around you the accusations, Satan telling you you might as well give in you gave in last time you might as well give in you don't have any strength you might as well give in nobody cares if you do right or wrong you ought to take the Bible the Word of God and place it there and say Jesus Christ died for me he overcame with the Word and you've got to turn up the volume on this thing because there's a conversation going on in your life in temptation and you have set this aside crank up the volume on the Word of God in your life.
[32:39] Not only that don't only crank up the volume set up some speakers in your heart. We're looking at Psalms 84 today in the heart of the unbeliever it's like an overgrown wilderness but we have a path we have a way in there and daily reading of the Word as a duty will bring the light and time.
[32:53] Out in the desert some of you may have golfed before out in the middle of the desert there's nothing going on in places like Arizona Flagstaff, Arizona in the middle of the desert they have beautiful golf courses because somebody has channeled water to these places.
[33:06] That is what you are doing when you are spending time in the Word you are building channels into your heart so that when things come up and they're stirred up inside of you the Word of God gets to it very quickly.
[33:18] When we worship we are saying that in God we are satisfied and Him alone. The Word allows us to view His beauty and splendor so Jesus is not only the example but He is our substitute.
[33:29] There is no desire in our hearts that cannot be met by Him. There is no struggle we face that has not already been felt and experienced by Him. Jesus Christ came with the perfect life to die for imperfect sinful, rebellious people.
[33:45] people that aren't only sinning by nature as little kids when we get old enough and we get to choose right and wrong we will take a double dose of wrong. We are sinners by choice as well. And He came to the cross and He died for us.
[33:57] And when He overcame temptation He did it as we could as a human without sinning He did that and He gave an example. And this story and this truth is so beautiful that there is nothing that will ever be in front of you on a computer screen in a phone conversation on a piece of paper during tax time there is nothing that is more tempting than when you look at the cross and say that is more beautiful.
[34:19] There is more splendor in that. So He overcame your temptation by giving you something greater. He overcame the desire in your heart by giving you something even greater to desire and give your life to.
[34:32] Like the way John Owen says it only a side of His glory and nothing else will truly satisfy God's people. The hearts of believers are like magnetized needle which cannot rest until it is pointing north.
[34:45] So also a believer magnetized by the love of Christ will always be restless until he or she comes to Christ and beholds His glory. That nothing will ever satisfy the desire of your heart no matter how much of it you get outside of the glory of God.
[35:02] That is the wonderful thing that takes place in our hearts as new creatures. As the famous theologian Holly Pearson said on a blog last week if I could take a selfie of you know the picture you make I feel weird saying it I hope you knew what I was talking about if I could take a selfie of myself for the whole world to see I'd want them to see the beauty of God that's been placed in my heart.
[35:22] It's the most wonderful thing. The world should say why in the world do we mess with all these lesser things because what those people have yeah I want that. What they give themselves to why does temptation seem so strong to you?
[35:35] Because you have a low view of our God. And if we're going to go out and share the gospel if we're going to go out and tell people that our God is the greatest that our God above all gods then we ought to show it through our lives and temptation by overcoming the evil one by beholding God.
[35:52] It's a low view of God from absence of looking upon his face in God's word that has made temptation so strong. What you're dealing with right now is not near as beautiful as you think it is because of the fact that you have not taken a good look at who God really is.
[36:11] It is knowing more about the all-sufficiency of our Savior and the word that will provide your victory. The greatest temptation or test a man will ever face is believing that they are not in need of forgiveness from a holy God.
[36:25] So there's a testing that's taking place right now in your life if you're not a believer in here. And there's a conversation that's going on in your heart that says those weak Christians possibly we need more than a crutch as Christians we need a lifeline we're weaker than you even know.
[36:40] They may need things like that but I'm not that person because I was born naturally good I wasn't born like you said and so I'm not in need of forgiveness I am not a sinner. That's the conversation going on in your heart and can I tell you that this word the words of God says that we're all sinners and we're all in need of forgiveness and that your sin has the same ways of any sinner the penalty is death.
[37:03] The question is will you believe this word over what you have found in your heart? Christian in here I want to challenge you to find a place at this altar or maybe in your seat and I want you to take the word of God in your hand and I want you to ask God to forgive you for ignoring the powerful word as you have played around with the puny things of this world.
[37:24] You have a power to overcome temptation. You have an example and you have a substitute found in the person of Jesus Christ and will you behold our God would you come and let us adore him.
[37:38] There's no time to yield to temptation when we're beholding our God and adoring him. Let me leave you with 1 Corinthians 10 13 There has no temptation taken you but such as common to man but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above what that you are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it.
[38:02] Today in your temptation you have been offered a way of escape. You know the tactics of Satan you know the power that is available to you and I hope some of you will find an escape. I pray that you'll find victory today not because of a speech that a young guy made behind the pulpit because you beheld our God that you saw him as strong and powerful and you saw him come and do for you what you could never do and he did it in human flesh to be an example and our substitute in a time of temptation.
[38:32] Heavenly Father I thank you for your word it's beauty it's wonderful thank you for it thank you for preserving it for us and so that we could see it today. Lord I pray for my fellow brothers and sisters in this room that have not been beholding God in a certain area of their life and they're about to be overcome with temptation or they feel like they're getting beat up by the evil one by Satan because they're constantly giving in to it I pray that today they'll take the word of God in their hand and their relationship with the word will change that they will see that they need to go about digging in their heart and planting this in there and engrafting the word so they can overcome the evil one.
[39:10] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfredo, Georgia. For more information log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times location contact information and more audio and video recordings.