The Most Dangerous Place For A Christian

worship is about giving it all up to the praise of [Music] I want to talk this morning about the most dangerous place for the Christian the most dangerous place for the Christian Matthew's Gospel says then the devil left him and angels came and ministered to him Luke's Gospel chapter 4 says when the devil left him for a season in Matthew's Gospel ministering angels came to his aid for the devil would leave him for a season have you noticed that after a lofty experience after an exciting time of worship after a huge and great blessing in your life the devil comes snatch your joy to SAP your enthusiasm to pull the rug out from under you spiritually because with great victories come greet trials in the text Jesus leaves the heights of experience at the jordan river whether heavens opened and the spirit in the form of a dove descends and lights on Jesus and announces to the world in God's voice this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him that's a lofty experience but between the lofty heights of the Jordan there is the depths of the desert at the Jordan his ministry is affirmed in the desert his ministry is attacked and I need to warn you the moment God affirms you in the self-same hour the devil will attack you I wish I had a witness right here now my brothers and sisters for the believer the wilderness the desert experience is not an escape from reality but it is rather an engagement with the eternal for when you read the Bible every challenge met in the desert or in the wilderness God gave victory Abraham took his only son Isaac in the wilderness to sacrifice them and when God saw Abraham's faithfulness he rewarded him by saying as a ram caught in the thicket and it was on that spot that Abraham called God by a new name Jehovah Jireh the God who will provide Moses on the backside of the Midian desert saw a bush on fire but it was not being consumed it was burning with no smoke and when Moses drew near God says take your shoes off for the ground you stand on his holy ground I've heard the cries of my people by reason of their taskmasters and I'm now going to use you to deliver the children of Israel David had to hide in the wilderness from the insanity of King Saul and it was there that David writes the Lord is my light at my salvation I wish they had a Bible reader here whom shall I fear the Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid when the wicked even my enemies and my foes came upon me to eat up my flesh it was there that they stumbled and they filled every wilderness trial brings God's victory [Applause] this this story this this this testing of Jesus can be related to the struggle of Adam in the god jesus who is the second Adam comes to take back from Satan what he stole from Adam in the Garden of Eden God put Adam and Eve in the garden to conserve and concede and when Adam ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he forfeited the keys to the earth he relinquished his authority to Satan who is now Prince of the air and ruler of this world because Adam freely gave it to her but the second Adam Jesus Christ came to take back from the devil what he stole from Adam in the god I want you see this a point that is often overlooked in this temptation is the nature of Satan's attack Satan's temptations toward Jesus in the wilderness were all concentrated on luring Jesus to fight on the divine level rather than of the human level because only a human could rob Satan of his power because it was a human who gave it up in the first place when you read the text Satan never calls Jesus son of man he says if you are and that word in the English if you are it's an inaccurate translation because Satan knows who Jesus is this is not his first encounter with Jesus that honor accurately be translated since you are the son of God he never calls Jesus son of man because he wants to rob him of his humanity because only a man can save us not just any man but a man nevertheless because it was a man who got us in trouble in the first place [Applause] let me see if I can make this mix man sinned in a garden Jesus redeemed in a garden man sinned with woman God redeemed with a woman man sinned on a tree God redeemed on a tree everything Satan stole from us in Genesis Jesus took back in Matthew he is our kinsman redeemer well wish I had a Bible reader baby he takes back from the devil he snatches back from the devil our humanity walk with me around the text the Bible says that there are three great enemies of the Christian and the three great enemies of the Christian are the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life and each one of these temptations answers the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life Jesus comes as the true humanity to demonstrate we can live victoriously over the devil's tests he tests them in the flesh and he wins he tests them with the eyes and he wins he tests him with pride and he wins and if we can ever overcome the flesh the eyes and the pride of life we would have victory in our Christian experience here's how Jesus shows us how to do it the first temptation Satan comes to Jesus who's been in the wilderness 40 days this test also takes us back to Israel who was in the wilderness 40 years somebody ought to help me preach it and Jesus who is 100% man because you do know he divests himself of his divine attributes to only have power when it is given to him by his father but as a man he is subject to everything like as we are yet without sin I need two or three more Bible readers in here and as a man he is hungry he is physically hungry and the devil will always come to you in your moment of vulnerability he will always try to test you with what you're in need of to get it without God it is right here in the texture he says since you are son of God I know you're hungry I know you've been here for two days you haven't eaten anything your body is getting emaciated your flesh is starting to feed on itself you God you you you you can do this this is nothing for you to do since you are God since you are son of God just command by your power that these Stones become bread you can do it since your God demonstrate that your God by making these stones bread he's hungry he's weakened he's human and Satan does not want Jesus to fight as God he wants to attack him as a man so he says since your God make these stones bread Satan wanted Jesus to dedicate his ministry to changing the world but not saving it because you can undergo change and never get see nature forms us sin deforms us environments conform us schools inform us prisons reform us but only Christ Jesus can transform us Jesus did not come to change the world he came to save the world [Applause] Jesus could use his divinity and turn these stones to bread that would save people from hunger or he could use his humanity and appeal to God and save people from their sin let me run it by you one more time he could use his divinity and turn stones into bread and save people from hunger or he could use his humanity appeal to God and save people from their sins because the greatest hunger of the human soul is not physical bread the greatest hunger the greatest verse of the human soul is for a relationship with its creator Satan says if your God proofing make these stones bread jesus said it is written man that's that's that that's who I am man Jesus flesh bones blood sinew tissue heart lungs man that's who I am you're trying to get me out of being Who I am a man and man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God let me see if I can help somebody have you ever had something wrong in your life and you just can't put your finger on it you knew something was off center but you knew something was messed up you had food in the refrigerator you had furniture in the house you had gas in your car you had money in your account but that was just something you just couldn't quite put your finger on until you got in a close relationship with God and it was just you and God that's some things that food came satisfying there's some things money can't buy have a got a witness here cuz when I need peace money can't buy that but I need my life to be straightened out no amount of food will satisfy that when I need structure and order in my life I need something that the world keep revive man shall not live by bread alone but by every word I want you to stay right there with me every word every word I want you to stay right there with me every word that's power in every word that word have I hid in my heart yeah I wish I had a Bible reading that I might not sin against you your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto every word every word every word you you you have no business shouting and getting excited in the worship if you don't know the word because the word will settle your life down have a gotta witness the word will strengthen you in your dark hours the word will help you when your world turns upside down the word will keep you when everything around you is falling apart because isaiah says i will keep here i wish i had one or two oh witness in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on me has the word ever stopped you from crying has the word ever grifted your bar down head has the word ever cheered you when you were lonely that's power in every word [Applause] [Music] the second temptation Satan that word Satan means adversary and anybody who tries to stop you and avert you from your mission is being used by Satan he is the adversary of the brother the devil that were Diablos from which we get the english word Parabolica he's a schemer he's an accuser of the Brethren he's a liar from the beginning and if you don't watch the devil he will add you to believe a gospel that is reasonable but not powerful a gospel that's exciting but not authoritative a gospel that flatters but does not confront a gospel that does not turn people upside down so it can't turn them right side up because there's something in us that the gospel is trying to get out and in order for the gospel to get it out of us it's got to ransack I live listen we have a treasure in an earthen vessel but that treasure can't come out unless the gospel tear something up let me see if I can make this mixing when when thieves break in your house they're looking for your valuables and if you just left it on the dresser or left it on the kitchen counter they wouldn't tell you stuff they just take your valuables and leave help me preach a minute that's something valuable in us that the gospel has to tear up because we hide it we hide it under makeup we hide it under masks we hide it under disguises just like Adam and Eve we hide it under fig leaves of Education fig leaves of degrees fig leaves of cars and clothes and cash and bank accounts those things hide was hidden in us so the gospel got the title it takes some of us a long time to come to faith because we've been so good at hiding it and masking it and disguising it that it takes some of us years to come to know Jesus Christ some of us are just easy to come to faith but but some of us have been so hardened by sin that we started doing joy our lifestyle there's a line in the movie Shawshank Redemption my favorite movie in the world there's a line in that movie where where Morgan Freeman says these walls are funny first you hate them then secondly you get used to them and then after a while you become to depend on them and that's the way sin is first you hate it then you get used to it and then you come to depend on it you become codependent on that drama on that dance you do to try to get away from what's really bothering you you don't need a treatment center you need salvation you don't need a psychiatrist you need to be born again you don't need the 12-step program that's only one step to come to Jesus Christ believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead and you shall be saved somebody who struggled with sin and the Lord ransacked your life you can help me testify he'll tear you up but then he'll put you back together won't he do it I said won't he do it he will tell ya and then he will man your broken life watch this watch this watch this second temptation since you are the son of God throw yourself down from the pinnacle in this temple for he will give his angels charge over you less you dash your foot against a stone Satan the devil quotes the song Satan the devil quotes the Bible Satan the liar the accuser of the Brethren quotes the Bible but because he's the devil he misquote said it's right here in the text he says just just throw yourself down from this temple he give his angels charge over you and he'll catch you before you dash your foot against the stone but he left out the major portion of that passage because that passage in Psalm says if you just cast yourself down he will keep you in all your way now the devil leave that part out he says he will give his angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways lets you dance your foot against the stone now that's far different from what the devil says the devil says throw yourself down and he'll send his angels to catch you but the Bible says he will guide you he will keep you so that you don't fall down against the stone somebody missed that Satan is trying to get Jesus to do some acrobatic feat he's trying to get Jesus to do some stunt so that men will believe but listen the problem with with with Ringling Brothers kinds of worship services the problem with a church becoming a show is that the show got to get bigger every week thank you for tuning in to a call to Joy it is our prayer that the Word of God has brought joy strength and faith to your life we would love to have you as I guess that little Grove Missionary Baptist Church where we are exalting the Savior equipping the Saints and evangelizing the center for your convenience we have a 7:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. worship service every Sunday morning and 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday nights lily Grove is located at seventy thirty forty Westar Street Houston Texas 77021 are feel free to visit our website at WWF until next week God has called us to a life of joy [Music]

Channel: lillygrovembc

Views: 273,335

Keywords: Reverend Terry Anderson Pastor Lilly Grove Missionary Baptist Church Houston Texas

Id: 1D0aRTfUAMA

Length: 28min 13sec (1693 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 11 2014