Who tempts you?
Matthew 4:3-11
Matthew 4:3–11 (NIV)
3The tempter came to him and said, “If you are
the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
4Jesus answered, “It
is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes
from the mouth of God.’”
5Then the devil took him to the holy city and
had him stand on the highest point of the temple.
6“If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw
yourself down. For it is written: “ ‘He will command his angels concerning
you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your
foot against a stone.’”
7Jesus answered him, “It
is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
8Again, the devil took him to a very high
mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.
9“All this I will give you,” he said, “if you
will bow down and worship me.”
10Jesus said to him, “Away
from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him
only.’”
11Then the devil left him, and angels came and
attended him.
How does Satan tempt you?
Satan is
crafty, he is smart, he is cunning, and he knows your hearts and desires? He is
listening and watching you for the right time to strike!
We can learn a
lot about our adversary by studying how and when and why he tempted Jesus! You are
being tempted, you may not know it but you are! So I’ll ask you again how is Satan
tempting you?
VS 3 The tempter
came to him and said
So, to start let’s look at why Satan
tempts you!
John 10:10 (NIV)
10The thief comes only
to steal and kill and destroy; I
have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
·
To
create sin in your life
·
To
separate you from the love and protection of God
·
To
steal your joy
·
To
kill your spirit
·
And
to destroy your peace
·
He
comes to disrupt the work of God, and wreak havoc on God’s children
And let’s look at the tempter himself!
Matthew Henry:
The Devil is the tempter, and
therefore he is Satan—an adversary; for those are our worst enemies,
that entice us to sin, and are Satan’s
agents, are doing his work, and carrying
on his designs.
·
Yes, Satan is the ultimate tempter
·
But let’s not miss what Jesus warned us about
the most
·
The wolves (plural)
·
Notice I didn’t ask what is Satan tempting you
with
·
I ask “how”
·
Or better yet who?
·
The tempters aren’t just the ones you see
·
The scary ones are the ones you don’t
Satan just didn’t go
after Jesus desires, he used the scripture and twisted it to fit his narrative!
And sometimes we think we are smarter and wiser than our adversary, what we
learn here is that if we aren’t careful he will attack you with the very thing
you think you know!
The subtle temptations
3The tempter came to him and said, “If you are
the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
4Jesus answered, “It
is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes
from the mouth of God.’”
5Then the devil took him to the holy city and
had him stand on the highest point of the temple.
6“If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw
yourself down. For it is written: “ ‘He will command his angels concerning
you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your
foot against a stone.’”
7Jesus answered him, “It
is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
The first
tempting, the sin of necessity (tell these stones to become bread)
·
The first thing Satan did was attack his
necessity
·
You’re hungry, your God, make some bread
·
No harm in that
·
You deserve it, it’s been 40 days
·
When you hungry, a bill needs paid, diapers are
running thin
·
That’s when we will be tempted
·
Survival is driving force
·
And here we see the devil himself using a basic
need to turn Jesus
·
That’s why we walk together
·
That’s why we do life together
·
To help fill those gaps
·
And not give Satan a reason to say, “where is
your god now”
·
Satan will use your necessity to doubt the love
of God
·
Satan will use necessity to make you doubt that
God cares at all
The second tempting,
the sin of pride (If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down)
·
The movie the Patriot Mel Gibson said of his adversary
“pride will do”
·
Pride in a believer is just what Satan ordered
·
The thought that you are untouchable because you
belong to Jesus
·
The zeal we get and turn Jesus into something he
is not
Proverbs 16:18 (NIV)
18Pride goes before destruction, a haughty
spirit before a fall.
James 4:6 (NIV)
6But he gives us more grace. That is why
Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”
·
Be careful to never let pride in your faith set
you up for a attack from Satan
The not so subtle
8Again, the devil took him to a very high
mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.
9“All this I will give you,” he said, “if you
will bow down and worship me.”
10Jesus said to him, “Away
from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him
only.’”
The third
temptation, the sin of your desire’s! (9“All this I will give you,”
he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”)
·
My mom used to say be careful what you wish for
·
Satan knows what you desire
·
What you want so bad you will do anything to get
it
·
So be careful that you keep your desires in
check
·
Could be someone other than you spouse
·
Stuff
·
A Promotion
·
Whatever it is, Satan will try and position you
in a place to sin, and give you what you want right now
·
But it will get in the way of what you ultimately
want
·
True love, peace and joy
The ones in your
blind spot
·
It’s not the obvious sin temptations that you
need to worry about
·
It’s the subtle ones
·
The ones dressed up to look like good and righteous
and wholesome
·
The ones you think you deserve that will take
the deepest roots so be careful what you wish for!
The ones in your
blind spot
·
It’s not the obvious sin temptations that you
need to worry about
·
It’s the subtle ones
·
The ones dressed up to look like good and righteous
and wholesome
·
The ones you think you deserve that will take
the deepest roots so be careful what you wish for!
How do we combat
temptation?
All three times Jesus answered with the word of God!
·
We simply follow the word
·
That’s why walking together is so important
·
That’s why we study and we grow together
·
To stay strong, to avoid the temptations of life
·
Jesus said the road is narrow, ill add this
o Its
full of curves
o Its
full of pot holes
o It’s
got cliffs
o And
falling rocks
·
We have to use god’s word to navigate it
·
It’s the road map
·
Paul says this about it!
Ephesians 6:10 (NIV)
10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his
mighty power.
Ephesians 6:13–18 (NIV)
13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so
that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and
after you have done everything, to stand.
14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your
waist, with the breastplate of
righteousness in place,
15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can
extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword
of the Spirit, which is the word of
God.
18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with
all kinds of prayers and requests. With
this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
And notice this!
11Then the devil left him, and angels came and
attended him.
·
Just like there is evil in the world there is
good
·
Satan has an army
·
So, does Jesus
·
In the spirit world, there are angels fighting
for you
·
And on this earth Gods children are also “angels”
with skin on
