"Yield Not to Temptation", Rev. Dr. Howard-John Wesley

beloved as we get ready to get into the word of god on today i want to thank you all for your prayers and ask that you continue to lift me up in prayer as some of you know when i found out i had a little bit of a fall that's going to require a future surgery and so right now the doctor has me on some restricted movements and so i'm going to try to declare and deliver the word of god with a little bit more restraint today than normal but i can't make any promises so won't you pray with me and for me as you get ready to hear the word of god lord we thank you for another day that mercy has provided and grace has surprised us all along the way we come now seeking to align ourselves with the life and the love and the ministry and the message of jesus christ our savior that through us the world may know more of him i pray now god that your word be the tool that helps shape us we may live and walk in your will give us clarity of understanding and hearing believing and even more so of doing this is our prayer and we ask it in jesus name amen i want to begin this sermon with the seminary second those few brief moments where we dive deep into theology thought and practice you may not know this but the early generations of christians struggled with the doctrine of the incarnation one of the things that was confusing to them to not only understand but how to clarify was this belief that in jesus we had one who was fully human and fully god at the same time now that may seem foreign to you and i because you and i have 2 000 years of christian history and doctrine that has passed on the belief that christ was fully human and fully god that god was incarnate in the flesh of jesus christ you and i have made peace with the prologue of the gospel of john which begins in chapter one by declaring in the beginning was the word the word was with god and the word was god and then in chapter 1 verse 14 and the word became flesh and dwelt among us we've made peace with that but the early church the early generations of christians these followers of jesus turned apostles they really wrestled with their understanding not only of what it meant for jesus to be fully human and fully god but even more hard to persuade the world that in jesus we were dealing with god they struggled to find out how to explain that an omnipresent god could be restrained and experienced in the flesh of one man remember they lived in a world of greek mythology where there was a pantheon of greek gods and demigods and you recall demigods were these creations that came about from the gods playfully procreating with humanity producing these beings that were half human and half god like hercules and perseus and dionysus and so they wondered in a world like that was jesus half human and half god fully human fully god but the apostle paul will tell you that the biggest struggle was that the world could not understand how an eternal and omnipotent god could die on a cross how do you kill god that's why paul when he writes to the church in corinth he says this watch this that the preaching of the cross is foolishness to some because it's foolish to declare that a god could be killed by human hands and so the early church struggled with how to proclaim that jesus was fully god and fully human it is that struggle of incarnation that cracked the door for the ideology and philosophy of gnosticism to penetrate christianity the incarnation opened the door for a gnostic challenge to christianity i'm going to use some terms that you might have to google after this the gnostic influence in christianity came about in a doctrine called dosatism say it with medocitism d-o-c-e-t-i-s-m dosetism comes from the greek word docane which means to seem or appear and here was the docetic gnostic challenge to christianity it taught and believed that the flesh of jesus was not real it was just an appearance jesus was fully god but that his flesh was not real that that it was an appearance it was fake it was not a real human it was god and he appeared to be human and therefore the death of jesus was not really a real death it was just one that appeared to be so in our eyes dosetism denies the full human existence of jesus and it was that gnostic docetic challenge to christianity that was part of the call of all the early church leaders to gather together in the first church council in 325 a.d in nicaea go and teach pastor in 325 a.d in nicaea the church leaders gathered together and out of that came what we now know is the nicene creed and in that church council in 325 a.d church leaders absolutely rejected docetism they said that dosetism was a heresy to the gospel because this is what they understood if jesus was not fully human then jesus cannot be our savior because in order to save us from the sinfulness of humanity he had to walk in the fullness of humanity and if jesus was not fully human and if his death were not real then we would still be in our sins and so that council leaned heavily on hebrews chapter 4 verse 15. for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weakness but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin they hung their hats on hebrews chapter 2 verse 18. for in that he himself has suffered being tempted he is able to aid those who are tempted and i share with you what was developed by that church council that we've adopted for all these years and that is this that what qualifies jesus as our christ what solidifies him as our savior what makes him worthy to be our messiah is that jesus experienced everything we endure jesus has experienced everything we can endure the reason he can help us in our humanity is because he himself was human that that was the theology behind one of the great hymns of the church no not one written by johnson oatman in 1895. you remember the words that him there's not a friend like the lowly jesus no not one no not one none else can heal all our souls diseases no not one no not one why jesus knows all about our struggles in the real sense he's been there and done that that whatever we endure christ has experienced what makes him our savior is that he has experienced what we endure but what makes us his followers is that we will endure everything he experienced let me say that again what makes him savior is that he has experienced what we will endure what makes us disciples is that we will endure what he experienced i know they didn't tell you this when you joined the church when you walked down that aisle that sunday with your hand lifted and you said i accept jesus christ when you open your heart to the presence of the lord jesus and they took you in the back and you filled out that paperwork you didn't read the fine print on the back but the fine print goes like this since jesus walked in our shoes as a disciple you're going to walk in his that since jesus went through what we've been through as a disciple you are now going to go through what christ went through when you said yes to jesus you volunteered for a calvary moment when god is doing something painful in your life that you don't understand you volunteered for a judas moment when you're going to be betrayed by someone close to you you signed up for some pharisees in your life people who hate you even though you're just trying to do the will of god you volunteered for some peters in your life that break your heart when you love them with all of yours you're going to go through a lazarus moment when someone you love dies and it causes you to question what god is up to you're gonna have moments when you learn that the crowd that applause you one day can try to take you out the next you're gonna have moments when you go above and beyond to be kind to people who can't even turn back around and say thank you and you are going to experience the same temptations of jesus what i want to do led by the spirit today and over the next two weekends is broaden our understanding of the temptations jesus experienced that you and i will experience as well when we read over and do some shamanic study of the temptation of jesus in the wilderness found in both luke chapter 4 and matthew chapter 4 i want you to understand that that the enemy has more in his pocket to tempt you then sister boom boom and brother lord have mercy that the temptations the enemy brings against the righteous are deeper than you seeing a 20 bill fall out of someone's pocket and the devil convincing you that's the lord blessing you right now no the temptations are greater than that and what i want to do today and over the next two weeks or walk through the three temptations of jesus and look at what they speak to our own life and our own living and our own development in god i want to read from matthew chapter 4 which parallels in luke chapter 4. in matthew chapter 4 beginning in verse number 1 then jesus was led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil after fasting 40 days and 40 nights he was hungry the tempter came to him and said if you are the son of god tell these stones to become bread jesus answered it is written man shall not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of god that's enough let's deal with this first temptation in the series yield not to temptation jesus first encounter with the devil is recorded here in matthew chapter 4 and again in luke chapter 4 you recall that jesus has just been baptized and now he according to the spirit according to the word of god is led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted i want to make sure you catch this he is led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted i want to make certain you catch this that this is not demonically orchestrated it is divinely initiated the holy spirit leads jesus into the wilderness to be tempted these temptations come right before jesus begins his public ministry of miracles and declaring the kingdom of god and it's almost as if god says in order for you to live in your ministry and fulfill the purpose and do that which i've ordained you to do you first have to overcome these temptations and beloved i would argue with you that if we would walk in the fullness of god's will for our life if we would operate in god's ordained purpose for our life if we would be what god created and shaped for us and and desires us to be that we too must learn to overcome these temptations that the same ones jesus faced you and i are going to deal with let's look at this first one jesus is in the wilderness he's been fasting for 40 days and 40 nights and the bible says after fasting for 40 days and 40 nights the devil the tempter the enemy the evil one comes and look at what he says if you're the son of god tell these stones to become bread here is the first temptation let's break it down and see what's going on notice what the enemy says when he approaches jesus if you are the son of god if you are who you say you are if you believe that you are what you're proclaiming to be here's what the enemy says prove it to me i want to put you in a place where you've got to prove to me that you are who you proclaim to be if you are the son of god prove it now now allow me to teach bible and tell you why this is so critical chapter 4 verse 1 the temptations of jesus begins with what we know is called a temporal conjunction go and teach pastor you remember what a conjunction is it ties two things together the word then t-h-e-n is a temporal conjunction it ties together something afterwards with something that happens before so whenever you see the word then and you see what happens after you should also ask what's going on before what happens before the enemy says if you're the son of god well go back to chapter three at the end of chapter three we find that jesus has gone down to the jordan river to be baptized by john the baptist when he gets there john is reluctant but eventually he agrees he baptizes jesus and the bible says that upon coming out of the water that a dove as the holy spirit descends on jesus and god speaks and listen at what god declares at the jordan river this is my son in whom i am well pleased in chapter 3 god says this is my son in chapter 4 the devil says if you are the son of god uh you almost missed it let me rewind and press pray the god shows up at the baptism and says you are my son the enemy shows up in the wilderness and says if you are the son of god okay one more time for those that are stuck oh slow god says you are my son and the enemy comes back and says if you are the son of god what's happening here the enemy is testing this do you truly believe what god has declared do you believe what you just heard do you trust what god has spoken listen the enemy has heard what god has said and then puts jesus in a place to wonder do you really believe what you just heard do you really believe what you just read do you really believe what was written there how much do you really trust what god has said beloved i come by to tell you that one of the things the enemy does in each and every one of our lives is test our belief in the word of god the enemy seeks to put you in circumstances and contexts and situations and struggles that cause you to doubt what you know god has declared and i don't know who i came to preach to in this sermon but i came by to tell you never let what you are going through cause you to doubt what god has declared never let what you're walking in cause you to doubt what god has written never let what you are going in through your life cause you to doubt what god has declared over your life i know i know it gets rough sometime but i don't want you to doubt that weeping only endures for a night i know things get out of hand but don't you doubt that no weapon formed against you shall prosper i know it feels like it goes from bad to worse but i want to remind you that he works all things together for your good i know you pray and pray and pray and it seems that there's no answer but i came by to remind you that they that wait on the lord shall renew their strength don't you doubt what the lord has said how much does it take for you to doubt the word of god i like what jesus says he says satan man doesn't live by bread alone but by every word that comes out of the mouth of god what jesus says is this that i don't just need bread i need the word of god i need to know that greater is he that is in me than he that's in the world i need to know that he will never leave me or forsake me as much as i need food i need to know that he's preparing a table before me in the presence of my enemies jesus declares that we need the word as much as we need food that's why you ought to read your bible not only will it make you a christian but it will strengthen your spirit and strengthen your soul and give you what you need to stand in times of trial i need the word of god so satan comes and says prove yourself and you know what i like jesus responds to him it almost goes like this satan i don't have to prove myself to you or anybody else let me pause and just preach right here and i came by to tell someone early in this sermon stop trying to prove yourself to other people oh god i feel like preaching that y'all better be glad my arm is in a sling because i would throw both my hands up you don't have to prove yourself to anybody and here's what jesus says it's a word for someone listening today he tells satan this i don't need you to believe what i know is true about myself hey i don't need you to validate i don't need you to approve i don't need you to believe what i know is true about me you ain't got to believe that i got it going on i know i got it going on you don't have to believe i'm beautiful i know i'm beautiful you don't have to believe that god is at work in me i know god is at work in me and someone today the word of god to you is you've got to know what you know whether people believe it or not whether they affirm it or not whether they approve of it or not whether they applaud it or not whether they receive it or not there's just some things you've got to know for yourself jesus declares i don't have to prove myself and that's a word in the world in which we live this social media driven world where we have this incessant and persistent need to prove ourselves to other people doing whatever it takes to get followers and likes and retweets and reposts someone today you're living with some unhealthy debt because you're spending money you don't have to buy stuff you don't need to prove yourself to folk you don't even know and the word of the lord through jesus today is you are to stop trying to prove yourself to other people and just stand firm on the word of god over your own life if you are the son of god prove yourself can i push it gets a little deeper he says if you're the son of god watch this tell these stones to become bread tell the stones to become bread you know what terence i i've read this passage more than a handful of times and i realize that i've always read it incorrectly i always thought satan told jesus turn the stones to bread that's not what satan says read your bible satan says tell the stones to become bread speak to the stones and your voice has so much power that stones will obey your voice and become bread because satan knows there's power in the voice of jesus and when you read through your gospels that's what you're gonna find that when jesus speaks things happen one day he's out and about in this and a roman centurion comes to him and says jesus i've got a servant who is sick and jesus says i'm on my way to your house and the centurion says you ain't even got to come to my house all you need to do is speak from where you are and if you speak it he'll be healed and the bible says jesus spoke and the servant was healed bible says in one day the disciples are in a boat in the middle of a storm and jesus comes walking to them and they're afraid and jesus looks at the wind and looks at the wave and you know what he does he speaks and when he speaks the winds and the waves obey so much so that the disciples says what manner of man is this that even the winds and the waves obey his word the voice of jesus has so much power and authority that he stands at the grave of lazarus and all he says is lazarus get up and come out of here and the bible says that a dead man stood up at the voice of jesus because the power of jesus is located in his voice when he speaks things happen tell the stones to become bread now i gotta let you know dr judy i was i i was reading this over and over and something kept disturbing me about satan telling jesus in the wilderness to speak to the stones and the holy spirit finally revealed it to me and that is that this is not the only time in the wilderness someone was told to speak to iraq i wish i had my bible students in this place today that you will remember in the book of exodus when the children of israel are in the wilderness that god shows up and the children of israel need water and god tells moses speak to the rock and if you speak to the rock water will come out beloved because not only is there power in the voice of jesus there's power in the voice of the child of god if you speak there's power in your voice our voices have the ability to transform situations our voices can take that which is damaging and turn it into that which is nurturing our voices can help usher in resources in wilderness where people are struggling all we've got to do is use our voice now if you understand that there's power in the voice of the child of god here's the temptation of satan satan says jesus use your voice to turn stone into bread and if jesus does this it will be his first miracle and here's the problem satan you want me to use the voice god has given me to bring a miracle into the world that doesn't bless anybody but myself him the ministry and the miracles of jesus were never about blessing him it was always about blessing someone else and maybe just maybe jesus turns down the temptation because he realizes god did not give me power in my voice to transform the world in a way that only blesses myself it is a shame for you me to use my voice in a way that only blesses me beloved i came by to tell you that there is power in our voice as the children of god but shame on the child of god who only uses their voice to bless themselves shame on that brother or sister that calls himself a disciple and only uses the power god has given you in a way that only benefits you shame on you for not speaking on behalf of someone else shame on you for not using your voice to transform the world for the betterment of other people shame on us when all we think about me myself and i beloved i know i'm gonna get an email when i say this but that's all right i'll come by tell you i am disgusted by children of god disciples of jesus christ churchgoers and bible toters who only have something to say when it benefits them but never use their voice to bless someone else i got a problem when you can open your mouth against lgbtqia but you ain't got nothing to say about voter suppression laws i've got a problem when you can put out tweets and misinformation about vaccines but you ain't got a word to say about how this country treats immigrant children and haitian refugees i've got issue with conservative christians that always have an opinion about another woman's uterus but have nothing to say about police killing black innocent folk or school shootings or riots on the capitol shame on you when you can open your voice but never use your voice to bless someone else if you are the son of god prove yourself speak to the stone use your voice to bless yourself and watch this third one he says tell the stones to become bread it's not bread but act like it is tell yourself it's bread watch this you're hungry and you need something to eat so you know that's a stone but tell yourself it's bread and eat it even though you know it will hurt you because you're so hungry that you convinced yourself that that is what you know it ain't can i tell you what the most damaging temptation of this is it's the enemy saying let your hunger cause you to lie to yourself and call something what you know it ain't don't don't miss this here's the temptation let your hunger for things in life cause you to lie to yourself and look at something and convince yourself that it is what you know it ain't imma say it one more time here's the temptation allow your hunger for need of things in life to cause you to look in the mirror and lie to yourself and tell yourself that something is what you know it ain't okay i know i know you don't understand it let me break it down to you like this um when i was growing up i remember when i was in about maybe the eighth or ninth grade i think it was the ninth grade i had a real crush on a young lady who went to our church her name was tracia oh oh i loved me some tracia back in ninth grade tracia was one of the finest things i ever laid eyes on in my life i i i thought i was in love with traceam and you know we did that thing back in the day where you asked a girl if she would go with you we we didn't date it wasn't you just said will you go with me and i asked you see if she would go with me and tracia said yes y'all the lord was blessing me right then and right now just see the finest thing i ever laid eyes on said she would go with me well i remember to see his birthday came up and i wanted to bless tracia because she was going with me and tracia was a fine thing and the lord was blessing me right now and and i decided that i was gonna get tracia a coach bag i was gonna get her a coach purse yes i was because we were going together and and i wanted her to have a coach purse uh the problem was i didn't have coach money i wanted to get tracia the finest thing i'd ever laid eyes on who was going with me a coach purse but at the time i didn't have coach money probably had about thirty dollars to my name and that was not enough to go down to the coach store and buy a coach purse but but that's all right i'm resourceful i grew up on the south side chicago and i knew in an area called roseland there was a brother on 112th in michigan uh who sold bags out the back of his car he had bags in the back of his car and and i saw that he had what appeared to be to be a coach bag i went down there and showed up he opened up his trunk and he had a purse that said coach on it and and i thought the lord was blessing me right now because i was going with tracia and tracia was the finest thing i ever laid eyes on and it was tracia's birthday and i wanted to see to have a coach purse even though i didn't have coach money but i knew a brother on 112th who sold coach bags out the back of his trunk so i went down 112 and i bought me what i thought was a coach purse and i took it to tracia on her birthday tracia looked at it and i thought i'd be greeted with a hug i thought she'd jump up and down maybe even give me a little sugar here and there tracia looked at that coach person kept looking at it and eventually she unzipped it and looked in the inside and then she looked on the zipper and she looked up at me and that's what she said this ain't a real coach purse i said what you mean this ain't a real coach purse i went down to 112th on michigan and got it from the dude who sells it in the back of his car she said this is a knockoff i said how do you know it's a knock off she said look at the stitching on the bag the stitching ain't right she said on the inside there's no label with a coach number and she says you know it's a real coach bag cause the zippers have ykk on it so you didn't even know that the zippers have ykk and this zipper doesn't have ykk there's no label on the inside and the stitching is off this is a knockoff and she said i don't carry knockoffs and tracia broke up with me because i had the audacity to present her a knockoff and she didn't take knockoffs beloved let me tell you what satan is good at satan is good at presenting you some knockoffs satan specializes in fakes satan is that brother on 112th in michigan trying to offer you some fake and phony out the back of his car he can't get you the real thing so he offers you the fake thing he can't offer you godly love so he'll offer passionate ungodly sex he can't bring you divine peace so he presents a path of avoidance he can't help you fulfill purpose so he tempts you with being busy he can't bring you the joy of the lord so he offers you drunk and high as a fake knockoff and what we need in the body of christ are some more tracia's in the world some brothers and some sisters who declare this is a knockoff and i don't carry knockoffs i don't wear knockoffs i'm breaking up with anything that's a knockoff because i am not going to accept what i know ain't real here it is for someone today stop lying to yourself if you know it's not real if you know it's not god if you know it's not holy if you know it's not righteous if you know it's not ordained don't accept it i gotta leave y'all now but can i give you the shout jesus says i'm not turning these stones in the bread i would rather be hungry than take a knock off and if you keep on reading to the end of the temptations the bible says that in the end angels showed up and ministered to jesus paul stop rewind you missed it he's hungry but he holds out and at the end god sends angels to come and the angels ministered to him the angels brought what he needed the angels fed the hunger because god declared that if you learn to wait on me and if you turn down what you know is not ordained trust that i know what you stand in need of goodbye alfred street may the lord bless you mighty good but i came by to encourage someone to trust that god knows what you stand in need of and if you wait on god god will always bring something better into your world wish i had a witness today there's a tracia watching this sermon who knows that you turned down fake you walked away from what wasn't ordained you said no to what god had not blessed and you waited on god and didn't god show up and didn't god do better and didn't god bless your life and now unto him who is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all we ask or think to that god we wait if you're the son of god prove yourself i don't have to tell these stones i use my voice for more than myself to become bread i'm not going to lie to myself and accept a knockoff i would rather wait on god yield not to temptation listen if the lord allows we're going to come back next weekend and get into the second temptation where satan tells jesus to jump off a cliff because the bible says i want to preach the sermon called the bible says and i want to press this on you as a little teaser remember this faith is no excuse for foolishness who god i'll catch you next week [Music] you

Channel: Alfred Street Baptist Church

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Length: 39min 45sec (2385 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 11 2021