We're looking at our scripture It says that Jesus after he was baptized and what a tremendous tremendous moment that was John the Baptist called him out Jordan River buried Resurrected and when he came out of the water you have one of the few times at all the Bible the Trinity is present Jesus in flesh God's Son the Holy Spirit was there in the symbol of a dove and Then a voice from heaven God spoke and affirmed that it says as he looked at Jesus This is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased What a tremendous moment, when did this happen in the beginning of Jesus public ministry? He's coming out of obscurity he moves into the public and here we have this mountaintop experience a baptism and Then on the heels of that we read in our scripture the story the temptation of Jesus you find it in Luke chapter 4 you try find it in Matthew 4 and a little little touch of it in mark all three Gospels and You read there in Luke's Gospel a very interesting phrase open your Bible if you would to not Luke, but Matthew 4 Chapter number 1 it says then Jesus was led By the spirit and the wilderness to be tempted by the devil Actually, that would be a better translation the holy spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness of all things To be tempted by the devil Can you imagine such a thing? Jesus baptized in the Jordan right across not many miles away from Jericho and He went there into the Mount of temptation, by the way We've looked at five mountains, right? but the Mount of temptation is the only Universal mountain that all of us have climbed and all of us will climb. It's a universal experience All of us will be saying you can't run you can't escape sin and Jesus was driven into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan and what a deserted places was I have been right in that area and you can see there what is called the Mount of temptation Cru Antonia is what they called it. They have a monastery up there you could see it in the distance and you can see all the Sandstone that's there miles and miles. They call it the place of desolation it is in the southern part of Judea and There Jesus came out of this tremendous Experience of baptism and he was driven into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil Remember Jesus now he was the Bible tells us about 30 years old. He was a young man He'd been there 40 days and 40 nights without food. He was hungry. He had been there alone He'd come from a family that protected him Nazareth his mother his surrogate father protected there in the little synagogue Protected there, he came sheltered and now he is out in the world. He is baptized he's announced that he is going out into his mission and then we see the temptations come and They were very very real and alive to him What was the temptation of Jesus all about now get this or you'll miss the whole thrust of our scripture? Jesus was tempted at the point of his life's purpose I get that He was tempted at the point of his life's purpose What was the role the message the calling of Jesus? You find it In what we call the Lord's Prayer Which is really the model prayer James 17 is the Lord's Prayer The prayer we call the Lord's Prayer is the model pray. Listen to it. It gives us the purpose of Jesus life our Father who art in heaven our Abba our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name it establishes Reverence and worship in the beginning and here we have his life purpose. Thy kingdom come Get it. Thy will be done on earth as It is in heaven That was a calling of Jesus when he came in flesh That was the kingdom of God among us by the way in the Bible. You mean kingdom of God kingdom of heaven? they're interchangeable or Do you find the kingdom of God? Where do you find the king of heaven where God is king? Jesus is Lord There's the kingdom of God wherever you find it here now forever prehistory in history post history that's the kingdom of God when Jesus came he brought the kingdom fleshed out among us and Called for the will of God to be accomplished in the lives of people. He came to call the world Into the kingdom of God, that was his purpose To save the salvage to rebuild to bring us into God's kingdom. That was the calling of God and Therefore he was tempted in light of that purpose so This moves his temptations into another another realm. Let's look at them There are three of them will follow Matthew. I Feed fasted 40 days for tonight. This is Matthew 4 and The tempter came and said to him if you are the son of God a better translation That would be since you are the son of God the devil knew he was the son of God Jesus had now come to see his role his calling he said since you are the son of God command that these Stones become bread a Lot of Commentaries but what's the commentary commentary or what people that read the scripture? Who are Scholars and students and they try to help us understand what that scripture is teaching and they make comments on it They write about it. They tells us what those words mean. I read dozens of them Most commentaries at this scripture. You know what they say that temptation of Jesus was they say he hadn't eaten anything for forty days and he was hungry and Therefore you go out there, by the way I've been in this general area many times and they have rocks out there that really looked like little loaves of bread You woke the streets of Jerusalem. They sell on the streets bread today Little little rolls of bread that look exactly like those rocks So these scholars say Jesus looked at all those rocks. He hadn't eaten anything in 40 days and 40 nights and Satan says Why don't you just zap those stones and make it a hot bread like your mother make like hot bread like they sell in Jerusalem or the streets They said that was his temptation to satisfy his hunger They said Jesus was at a weak point. Therefore. That's when Satan came to to tempt him By the way, I disagree with that. I Think Jesus was at a strong point spiritually Because he had been with the Father. He's been alone. He'd been fasting he'd been praying he'd been listening He'd been trying to see how God wanted to live out his life and therefore instead of being a low point it was a high point as he was full of God and full of the holy spirit and By the way, what does temptation usually come to you me? It comes at low points and I'm free. I'm fed up. I can't go anywhere. I'm out of bullets. I'm empty I'm distraught and we come to any comes at high poets. We get up with tremendous. We've seen that enough study of mountains how many people in the mountain they have great experience they come out of the valley and the Bottom falls out of their lives how many times we already seen that? so we have Jesus here, I think at a high point and Satan comes and says Man, since you're the son of God turn these stones into bread It was not just temptation to satisfy his own hunger It was a temptation remember as to how he would call the world to God What was it about Satan said man if you just give everybody bread They'll follow you That's your purpose have people follow you To enter the kingdom of God to let the will of God because in their life zip bang just promise them bread They'll follow you if you doubt this if I could say today, let me tell you something Everybody here I'm gonna give you plenty of bread for the rest of your life and you can interpret bread as bread our bread as we use in slang I'm gonna give you all the stuff you need to live out the rest of your life. If you want that just follow me I have a feeling we'd have a crowd going out that door That was a temptation Feed everybody give everybody what they need This ladies and gentlemen, if you know anything about history our today's world, that's the call of the Communist I'll feed you. I'll look after you. I'll give you everything you need. You aren't to work don't have to do anything We'll take from these and give to others we'll have a level of society then I'll give you bread it's all covered cradle to the grave a tremendous appeal then and today is it not Therefore one of us when you think about it. You mean I follow you and I'm gonna have everything I need to live this life and this bright on the bread. You've got to follow in me But what did Jesus say? Jesus quoted scripture Here he quoted a passage from Deuteronomy 8. We're going to see the other two temptations. He courted passages from Deuteronomy 6 and Jesus said to Satan man cannot live by bread alone, but By every word that comes forth that proceeds from the mouth of God That is how you have to live in other words, we can't live on the basis of all that is tangible How many people do we know? We read about and some we may know person that has Everything that's WorldCat off. I mean you name it. They've got it Are they happy? Oh they fulfilled Really feel like boy. My life is full. I'll have wealth and health and happiness. I've got it. No, no no a Thousand times no Jesus write that scriptures right man. Can't live by bread alone but by what proceeds the principles that come out of the mouth and the teachings of Almighty God and His Word Jesus answers with a quote from scriptures say you can have it all and still be empty and We see bread is a natural desire. All of us have hunger, right? All of us have these passions or these drives or these instincts in our lives. Do we not There's an instinct for acceptance. There's an instinct for physical gratification There's an interesting for fellowship. There's an instinct to get ahead All these instincts are there and the devil would have us try to fulfill all these natural built-in passions our way and not God's Way What is he saying to Jesus? He was saying Jesus. You don't have to go by way of the cross Here's a shortcut you own all the world to follow you. Just give them bread That will do it. You see if some people have the idea of Christianity is well It's what you find the store the prodigal son when the prodigal left home. He went to his dad and says give me Give me some people have the idea that That's what God in Christ and the church and the kingdom of God is all about God Give me God. Zap me God healed me. God made me rich God. Give me God Give me but when the prodigal would back home broken empty diseased Desperate he went back and what he said his father. He said make me Give me is some kind of magical religion make me is Christianity. It is morality and Why does we have to have temptation any way anybody? Why did Jesus have to have temptation? It's because we live in a moral universe It's because we have choices to make and if there's not a choice between good and evil Which is all robots were programmed But we know that Jesus saw all the way through this temptation He said man can live by bread alone. But by the principles of God that comes through his mouth That's how we find life then look at the second temptation. Remember the point How are you gonna bring this kingdom to pass how you accomplish the purpose of your life? Look at the second one Then the devil took him into the holy city had him stand over the pinnacle of the temple and said to Jesus Fitzhugh all the Son of God Throw yourself down and then the devil quotes the scripture Psalm 91 he will command his angels concerning you and Their hands will bear you up so that you will not strike your foot against the stone It's like the devil said Jesus I I know I should have realized you're a spiritual person and the idea of Feeding people the physical answer your spiritual therefore, you know, the Bible and Satan says I know the Bible by the way He knows the Bible, but any of us, he's fire baby cow for the Bible He said, you know, you said you have faith and you believe in the father Just just use your faith and go to the temple and just do a swan dive Right down off the temple 450 feet high by the way there on Solomon's porch just jump down 450 feet and this Psalm 91 says That the angels will come and catch you and you will not even stub your toe You'll not have a scratch on you and the devil said if you'll do that All the people who follow you Here's a miracle. This is a messiah man. He's got it he's of God. He he is a supernatural person He said that's all you have to do just claim that verse and jump off the top of the temple and men they'll all Fall down and follow you and worship you You know what that is That's the sand of presumption It's the same by the way This scripture is quoting out of context totally different meaning and this Satan is a master and some people who stand in the pulpit are masters at twisting God's truth and Making it say what they want to say people of the Bible say here's a promise in the Bible I'm going to claim this promise all the promises there are not for you and me there plenty of them that are But you can't just go in there and play a biblical gymnastics. In fact, well, I won't this one no, no, and that's what Satan did with Jesus and that's the sin of presumption and So he comes and says, you know just jump off the temple and God will bear you up Don't presume Oh God ladies in German. You say well, obviously God wants to do this Well, I'm dating this guy and he's not a Christian and I'm the only chance he'll have ever to become a Christian therefore I'm gonna keep on dating him and marry him you're presuming on God. No No Well, just jump off and Look at Jesus answer to this as all of his answers. He quoting here from six He says on the other hand it is written verse seven. You shall not test Put to the test the Lord your God Don't test God manipulate God Confuse scripture, and this will destroy your life and will invalidate Any dealing with temptation? Now here comes the third tip date. Remember the purpose for all this temptation Satan was trying to say boy This is how you will win the world by miracle jump off that Temple thing when you survive that they'll follow you. It's the same temptation Jesus out of the cross Remember they said but if you'll jump down if you come off the cross everybody know you the Messiah He didn't come down off the cross. He didn't jump off the cross. He didn't jump down off that temple Had he jumped down off the cross. They were to say oh ho surely this is Messiah and for a generation they may have believed in him but for a Thousand years. They would not have believed in him and we do believe in him because he stayed on that cross he suffered for us and then PS Shh He rose from the dead without the cross. There'd be no salvation So We look at the third temptation and it is strong indeed and He comes and says The devil took him to a very high mountain and Showed him all the kingdoms world and their glory and he said to him the devil all these things I will give you if you fall down and worship me. Is that interesting? Satan took him up and showed him all the glory all the kingdoms of the world What a sight that must have been I mean all the splendor the beauty of kingdoms of nations of countenance of the glory of the ionosphere the glory of the cosmos Satan showed him all this and said Jesus you want all the world to worship you and follow you so your keening will come and God's will will be done. I own all this Satan says it's mine And I'll give it to you and you don't have to go the way of suffering You're right. I'd spend these three and a half years out teaching. You don't have to face the cross I'll give it all and that'll accomplish your purpose. Right? What a temptation what a temptation and Jesus said Nope, you shall worship the Lord thy God and him only Shall you serve? Worship God You know what Jesus knew and we need to understand That which you worship that which I worship we become like that It has the highest priority in our life that which we bow down to Satan said just give me a little worship. Let me replace the father just a minute and zip your life purpose will be accomplished all the temptations that our Lord faced How strong they were how debilitating they were and some of us say, well, you know when I get with evil I have a problem. We're like one of my favorite comedians of yesterday with slip Wilson Y'all know what he said if you remember that era Flip Wilson that the devil made me do it. I didn't have a choice. He just overpowered me Let me tell you something ladies and gentlemen in the name of Jesus You have far more than the devil or all these demons can they will overpower you with that is the illegitimate excuse You don't need somebody to come and hold their hands up and anoint you with holy oil you can say Jesus Christ and I guarantee you he that is within you and He that is in me is Greater than the devil and all the temptation of the world. We just have to use the power that he's given us Let's get very practical We understand how Jesus was tempted we understand how we are tempted in so many many ways What do we do how do we handle Temptation You know this shocks at one Bank it is full of Here's another one Cream only inside I guess. Oh Here it is. Got it all sprinkles I'm gonna tell you I don't think I've had a donut seriously seriously And I'm gonna say four or five years maybe longer than I really happen You know I and I love don't really do I should have been a policeman Now that donut tempts me Do you think I oughta just take one bite? What what do you think huh? Just one one bite? How do you think Well, I won't vote on it, but I'll tell you something that that is a real town I'm tempted to Five second rule By the way parenthetically the five-second rule is really legitimate I looked it up No, it's true You can drop something unless you drop it in water or some particularly dirty place and pick it up in five seconds It's strong probability. You'll get no more germs on it. That's true. That's very true But the bottom line is what do you do about temptation We fall into temptation by our will right we will that What do you do about it? First of all, if we're in Christ where the power to do these two things Two little words. The first one is no Say with me Mighty weak say it again The second thing is run run That's it No Run Very practical Very simple, and if you're on the Mount of temptation, by the way, the Mount of temptation is a universal mount remember? it's the only mountain we'll all go up and What do you do up there you say? What do you do Very simple very simple In the scripture and the Gospel of Luke when Jesus left There's last temptation it says Satan left him and Jesus came down the mountain of temptation and it says and Satan would come and visit him another time Do you think That in my life man, I've been through all that I'm strong now don't be silly. Don't be foolish That's not true Jesus met slewfoot again and So therefore we constantly have to watch we have constantly be able to say no and Constantly be able to run We do that We do that God will work out in your life in my life Everything he's planned for us You
