Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
Audio Transcript
And then again next weekend. So I’m really happy that you’re all here. So if you have a Bible with you, which I hope you do, if you open up to the Gospel of Luke, and if you don’t have a Bible with you, if you’re not, there are Bibles kind of scattered throughout the chairs.
And then those blue pew Bibles is on page 501 where we’re going to be today. So it’s going to be Luke 4, verses 1 through 15, Luke 4:1 15. And so I’m going to read all that text and then we’re going to pray together again and then we’re going to get to work. Okay? So Luke 4:1 15.
And I’m reading out of the ESV, so please hear the words of our God. And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for 40 days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. The devil said to him, if you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.
Jesus answered him, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone. The devil took him up and showed him all of the kingdoms of the of the world in a moment of time, and said to him to you, I will give all this authority and their glory, for it’s been delivered to me, and I’ll give it to whom I will. If you then will worship me, it will all be yours. And Jesus answered him, it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God. Him only shall you serve.
And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, if you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here. For it is written, he will command his angels concerning you to guard you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.
And Jesus answered him, it is said, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test.
And the devil had every opportunity or every temptation. He departed from him until the opportune time.
Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee. A report about him went throughout all the surrounding country and he taught in their synagogues. Being glorified by all, that’s God’s word for us this morning. Would you please pray with me, Lord, Please help me to communicate your word well today just keep me from error, keep my tongue from stumbling. Please let me not be a distraction from your word.
We do pray the Holy Spirit would be very present in this time to Open up your word and to bury it deep in our hearts in ways that we would see and glorify Jesus. In his name we pray. Amen. So I’m gonna give you a quick story that I think I’ve told in the past. I just want to share again just to kind of set things up for our text today.
So there we were, Tia and I, my wife, Tia and I, parents, young kids. And if you have young kids or at least one time, did you know the reality of blowout diapers? If you don’t know what I’m talking about, use your imagination. Now, every so often as our kid had blowout diapers, they would try to help because even at a young age, they would recognize something’s wrong here. That which blew out of the diaper was supposed to be in the diaper.
And they would try to help and to fix the problem on their own and basically try to shove back into the diaper that which blew out. So once again, you can imagine what that looks like. Little hands trying to clean up for themselves by stuffing the blow up back in. For those old enough here, watch the movie Braveheart. Remember the great battle scene covered in war paint?
Yeah, you can imagine. Well, as my kids did that, they did the best that they could. They’re trying to take responsibility to clean up their own mess. Obviously, they couldn’t do it. And the more they tried to fix their own problems, the bigger and bigger of a problem it became.
They needed someone else to come clean up their mess. They needed either Tia or myself to come clean them up. And because we love our kids, we did so, as messy as they were, which you can imagine. No, I tell you that story because I think the story does paint a picture of the message of Christianity and the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who came to do what we could never ever do for ourselves. And yes, that does speak to what Jesus did for us on the cross.
To clean up our sin by dying in our place. So as what scripture tells us, even though all of us have sinned like scarlet, by faith in him, we actually become white as snow. That even though we are all red like crimson, through faith in Jesus Christ, we become like wool. But it’s not just the death that Jesus died for us, one that we could never do, but Jesus also lived the life for us that we could never live, one that was free from the stain of sin. And this morning, as we gathered together, that’s actually what our text is focusing on.
The obedient, sinless, perfect, righteous life of The Lord Jesus Christ, the very life that he lived for us, a life that we really needed him to live for us. Say it again. We could not live this life on our own. Now, before we work through our text, just a reminder where we were last week, where we stopped in our study of Luke. So if you’re with us, you may remember we looked through the genealogy of Jesus, which with Luke started with Jesus, traced seemingly through his mother Mary’s lineage all the way back to Adam, which is different than Matthew’s genealogy and the Gospel account of his account, because it seems like he traced from Joseph’s line.
So not Mary’s, but Joseph’s line, who is Joseph, who was Jesus adopted father. And as Luke traced the genealogy all the way back to Adam, the first human, the one who God himself formed out of the ground, breathing life into him, it seemed like Luke, through that genealogy, is emphasizing a couple things. First, it does seem to emphasize that Jesus came for all of mankind, which is actually, I think, one of the more subtle themes. Actually see in the Gospel of Luke, there’s just a wide range of people that Luke details how Jesus ministered to them. In fact, over Thanksgiving, if you’re looking for a little study to do on your own, just read through the Gospel of Luke and mark down all the different types of people that are recorded.
Maybe just think for us this the first three chapters of our study of Luke. Think about just a variety of people that are listed. Second, I think Luke traced from Jesus all the way to Adam. This is to connect Jesus to Adam in ways that we see that Jesus of being the second Adam, something Scripture talks about the second Adam, but the better Adam, the first Adam sinned and the stain of Adam’s sin, it’s been like a hereditary trait that’s been passed down actually to all of us, as all of us are children of Adam. Let’s mention Jesus, the second Adam.
He is the better Adam because he’s the one who did not sin, which is what our text, say it again, is emphasizing this morning. And he did not sin, even though he was tempted with great and real temptations. The Lord Jesus did not sin. He was righteous. One of the things we talked about last week in the study of genealogy, that in Scripture, it points at us having a representative over us.
We all have a representative. So one is actually Adam, who by birth, by choice, we all are born into, where as Adam represents us, we are marked by sin and death and judgment. But the good news of Scripture that God is great, sent to mankind. The second representative his eternal Son, the one who took on flesh to become one of us, the Lord Jesus Christ. The second Adam, the better Adam, who did not fail, who by faith becomes our representative.
He represents all those who by faith call upon his name, who believe in him and his death, resurrection from the dead. Whereas our representative, his righteousness, including his righteous life, is actually counted as our righteousness. So that through faith in Jesus Christ as our representative, we are marked by which he is marked, which is eternal resurrected life, which is eternal joy and peace. Where all of the benefits of Christ that He has as God’s eternal Son actually become our benefits, including all of God’s perfect and full love that he has for the Son, for Jesus. That’s how he loves his people.
That’s the way he will always love his people, including the days when, unlike Jesus, when we give into temptation and sin. Which takes us back to our text today, text continue to mention, underscores that Jesus, he’s just the better Adam. First Adam, right? He failed. He rejected God’s word.
He was deceived by the devil, which is true of all of us. But to keep saying our text today, the second hand of the Lord Jesus, who also was tempted by the devil, did not fail. He stayed true to God’s word. Okay, now, as we work through our text today, just a couple things up front. I do plan a circle in back at the end, but I want to get these up front.
So first, the true the better Adam. So what Jesus, what he does. This gives us a perfect example for us some things that we would like to follow after when temptations come our way, so there can be application for us on the end, like how to be like the true and better Adam. However, that being said, the second thing I do want to mention up front. So the bigger takeaway from this text is when temptations come, when we fail in sin, it actually should drive us to Jesus and see our need for him as the one who did not fail, right?
We can’t make ourself righteous. We can’t clean up our own sin. So we must go and continue to go to Jesus. We must continue to identify ourselves with Him. So far too often, what we do with our sin either by choice for various reasons, like we embrace our sin as like our identity.
Or maybe we’re so defeated by sin, we let sin become our identity because of discouragement. Or we maybe identify ourselves as the one who to clean ourselves up, to clean up our own messes. However, if you’re in Christ, your identity is in him. Even when you sin. You are not your sin.
If you are in Christ, you belong to Jesus, the one who in the flesh face every temptation that is common to man. Yet without sin and his grace, not only is he able to clean us up, but he actually delights in doing that for his people. The Lord delights in in doing that which we cannot do for ourselves. So as we work through this passage, yes, find application on how to fight against your own sin as temptation comes your way. But more than that, this morning as we work through this passage, let our hearts be warmed by what Jesus has done for us, by his righteous life, the life that we can never live on our own.
And let it be warmed in ways. This reminded us how much God loves loves us that the Lord Jesus did this for you. He did this for me. And let our warm hearts lead us to glorify him. Okay, so back to text, verse one.
And as you look there, if you’re visiting with us, please keep your eyes in the text. I’m just going to keep going back throughout the whole sermon of this passage. So verse one. So we read Jesus full of the Holy Spirit returned from Jordan. And Jordan, that’s where Jesus was in the beginning of chapter three.
Remember how he’s getting baptized by John, the baptized John the Baptist at the Jordan, where at his baptism Jesus actually was like came to identify with us, which is really humbling to think about. He came to identify with us so that we can identify with him as baptism may remember. So we looked through that a few weeks back. He so God the Father spoke from heaven calling to Jesus by calling him his beloved Son, the one with whom he was well pleased. Which by the way, if Jesus is your representative, that declaration that was spoke to Jesus, that’s your declaration as well.
Because of Jesus Christ, God is well pleased with you. So Jesus returning from the Jordan, read the Holy Spirit led Jesus now into the wilderness. We’re in the wilderness. He would have a great trial given to him by God for us where he’s about to be tempted by the devil. Verse 2.
We read that as he entered the wilderness, Jesus would be there for the next 40 days. Next 40 days being tempted by the devil. Not for us. Let’s just take a moment just to search our memory ranks of the Old Testament for those here who are familiar with the Old Testament. And let me ask you, what does this remind you of Jesus going into the wilderness for 40 days?
And the answer is the people of Israel who actually referred to as God’s Son in the Old Testament. Do you Remember after crossing the Red Sea, when they were set free from the bondage of slavery in Egypt, Remember how they entered into the wilderness and there they would be for 40 days.
As we read throughout the Scripture, as Israel wandered in the wilderness time and time and time again, Israel was called the Son of God. Sinfully failed God. They did not pass the trial. They were given into temptation and sin over and over again. Remember how they like grumbled and complained, how their hearts were like murmuring within them often because they’re such picky eaters.
Remember how they are ungrateful for the menu God is choosing to feed them with? Remember how they built a golden calf for idol worship, the different mutinies? Remember they had that against Moses. Remember how they doubted God when spies gave him a report of the promised land that God was leading them into, Done in such a way as like, now we’re good, we don’t want to go into the promised land over and over again in the wilderness, Israel the Son failed God, they sinned, they gave into temptation. But now we get to this text.
Now the true Son enters into the wilderness where he would be tempted by the devil. But unlike Israel, Jesus did not fail. So not only is Jesus the true and better Adam, which we sang earlier, he’s also the true and better Son, the true and better Israel. Back to verse 2. As Jesus is in the wilderness being tempted, we see that he ate nothing during those 40 days.
And at the end of 40 days, our text tells us he was hungry. Okay, once again, a few things here. So first, there’s two great Old Testament prophets, so Moses and Elijah, who also fasted for 40 days. It seems Jesus is now identifying with them in the text, as if Moses and Elijah were like pointing to Jesus, where Jesus actually proves to be the true and better Moses, the true and better Elijah. Because those prophets, as great as they were, even they sinned, even they failed.
But Jesus, the prophet of God, the one who Moses foretold to come after him, saying, deuteronomy, the Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me, from among you, from your brothers. It is him you should listen to. Jesus, the true prophet does not fail. Second, the hunger that Jesus had here just helps us to see, continue to see that Jesus, God’s eternal son, was also fully man, like us in every way. Whereas fully man, he got hungry.
Like real hunger filled his human body, hunger that his body wanted satisfied. It’s something we can actually see in other places in the Gospel accounts as well, concerning the human nature of Christ. He’d be hungry, thirsty, tired, like us in every way, without sin. Third, let me just also mention knowing that Jesus was hungry in his human flesh. Just think how much more tempting this would have been for him to sin.
Just think like when you and I get hungry and how much more irritable we are my family, we often use the word hangry. We can just see it in each other. But when we’re hangry and our hearts are like consumed with this hunger and how we just want d is something just to satisfy it. You hear the Lord, you know, with the added difficulty of being hungry, where his stomach was looking to be satisfied with food. As he’s tempted by the devil, he’s tempted without sin, which includes the first temptation.
We see him starting in verse three. Now just look. There’s a couple points of interest. I think this is point or this text is pointing to that there’s actually many more temptations that Jesus had and it’s 40 days in the wilderness. But Luke just includes three of them, three that I think are common.
Second, as you go through these three temptations, one of the things that my small group talked about this week and many others throughout church history has talked about how these three temptations seem to capture what first John describes as things that did not come from God. So first John says, like the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, these things do not come from God. It does seem like these three temptations listed we’re about to go through fit into those three categories. Verse three, which seems Luke now, like going back to share the details of these temptations face in the wilderness. The text temptation 1 things you see here is like a temptation towards the flesh or in the text, the devil to Jesus.
Jesus, if you are the son of God which is mentioned, this is what God the Father declared from heaven as Jesus was baptized. Right? This is my beloved Son with whom I’m pleased. Devil certainly knew this to be true, that Jesus was God’s son. So here the devil is like trying to provoke the Lord.
Okay, Jesus, if you’re the Son of God, since we know that to be true, how about you prove it and command this stone to become bread? And that’s been a real temptation for Jesus here, considering, like he ate nothing in the wilderness. It also doesn’t make it surprising the devil tempted Jesus in this way. I think often our temptations come revolving like weak spots or weak areas of our life. So Jesus was tempted to fill his empty stomach.
But unlike us, instead of giving into temptation, we see Jesus answer back to the devil in verse four, if you take your eyes there, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone.
Now, a few things here. First, it is written that Jesus is referring to. He responds back to the devil. So it’s actually him quoting the book of Deuteronomy, which is actually one of the books that details the wandering of Israel in the wilderness. So Deuteronomy 8 says, man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
And in the Context of Deuteronomy 8, this verse was first given to God’s people before they were ready to enter the wilderness or enter out of the wilderness into the promised land. And in chapter eight, they’re reminded how they failed God, how they tested them, particularly when their stomachs were less than full. As mentioned, they grumbled and complained about the menu God fed them with as a reminder. Israel fails, Jesus succeeds. Second, just take notice that this first temptation, as well as the next two, just notice how Jesus answers the devil back with God’s word.
See, in the text, it is written back, as I said earlier, some personal application for us. This is going to be probably at the top of our list when it comes to how to fight temptation. We fight it with the truth of God’s word. Okay, so in the text, that’s the first temptation, temptation to cause the stone to become bread. A temptation that Jesus passed.
Verse 5, temptation 2, which certainly says some like temptations to the eyes. We see the devil took him, took Jesus up on the top of a mountain. And as Jesus was on the mountaintop, the devil has him like, look out where no doubt Jesus could see with his human eyes, just like, you know, hundreds of miles in all direction. And as Jesus looked out from the mountaintop, the devil desired to show the Lord, like all the kingdoms, all the kings of the world, in a moment of time, in verse six, as the devil showed Jesus the kingdoms, he says to him, jesus, yeah, you see all this? See all this, the miles and the miles and miles all around?
I tell you what, Jesus, to you, I will give you all this authority and their glory. For at the kingdoms that you look out and see, they’ve actually been delivered to me. And because they’ve been delivered to me, I give the kingdom to whomever I will. So here’s the deal, Jesus. If you worship me, all that you see, all of it will be yours.
Now, a few things here. First, this is a devil taking in a sense, in some sense, some truth. He’s twisting it so something’s doing the third temptation as well. So in a sense, there actually is some truth. So Scripture refers to the devil as like, the ruler of this world.
So in a sense, he does have some authority there in this life. However, he has no authority to give that which does not belong to him, because in the end, all things belong to God, and the nations, they belong to the Lord. In Psalm 2, God promised to his Christ that he would make the nations his heritage and the ends of earth his possessions. The nations, they’re not for the devil to give out. Only God can do that.
And he wrote that he would give it to the Christ. Scripture tells us Satan’s a liar, indeed, the father of lies. And that’s what he’s doing here in chapter in the second and the third temptation. Like, he takes some truth, but he twisted around, made it a lie, which is basically what he did with Adam in the garden. And the first sin, when Adam was deceived to eat the forbidden fruit for the devil.
Scripture, I think, shows us this is often a strategy. This is often what he does with us. He tempts us with some truth, twists into a lie. It’s the end of Thanksgiving. You’re looking for something to read, something.
So CS Lewis has a famous book just called Screwtapes Letters, and that’d be a good one for you to read. So it’s a fictional book, but it does help us just to ponder how the devil, like, twists things in our lives as he tempts us with deception. Second, let me mention here, every temptation that we face in the end is gonna be a worship issue for us. Will we give into the temptation by bowing our knees to what it says or what it promises? Or will we keep our eyes fixed on the Lord and the worship of him?
That’s always what it comes down to. And I think we see that every temptation end is a worship issue just because of how Jesus responds. Back in verse eight, if you want to take your eyes there. So after the temptation, Jesus answers the devil. It is written once again, pointing back to the truth of Scripture.
It is written, you shall worship the Lord your God. In him only shall you serve. So Jesus quoting a commandment found in Exodus 21st Commandment of the Ten Commandments, which is a commandment that soon after is given Israel broke with the golden calf. A commandment that we often break as we put our worship into something less than God, which often is something probably good that we twist around into an idol. The text, Temptation two comes Temptation two past third temptation.
It feels Like a temptation towards pride. Verse nine.
The devil took Jesus to Jerusalem, and they were able to get up on the pinnacle of the temple, which scholars actually tell us was a pinnacle, pretty new structure at the time when this took place. Maybe like 15, 20 years old at the time of the scene. And it seems to be like there’s a structure like priests would go up and blow, like the shofar to start different ceremonies that would take place at the temple. And the pinnacle was estimated to be maybe like 15 stories tall, but behind the pinnacle was the Kidron Valley. So it’s estimated that from the top of the pinnacle to the bottom of the valley, this is maybe somewhere like around 400ft.
So this is pretty, pretty high up there. And as Jesus took Jesus up to the devil, took Jesus to the pinnacle once again, he says to him, jesus, if you are the Son of God, similar to the first temptation, if indeed you are the Son of God, since we know that to be true once again, how will you prove it? And how will you prove it for all these people at the temple to see, so they can know this is true as well? So Jesus, just throw yourself down from here. For after all it is written, it does say right in Scripture, he will command his angels concerning you, to guard you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.
Does it not say that, Jesus? Do you not believe what Scripture says? Now this here, this is the devil actually quoting Psalm 91, verses 11 and true or 11 and 12, truth here. But because the devil is the father of lies, who twists truth, he twists even the truth of Scripture. And he quotes that outside of the context of what Scripture teaches as a whole, where Psalm 91 was given to help God’s people, to trust in God in the face of adversity, where even if those who like hate God come to persecute them in ways that they’re casting stones at them, God promises that he’ll be with his people, to surround them with his angels in those moments.
So the devil’s twisting things here in the text. Jesus, like, calls out the devil for doing so. And he calls out in ways that he correctly uses God’s word, verse 12. And Jesus answered him, no, devil, it is said, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test. So quote from Deuteronomy, which, in the context of that verse, the Lord is calling on his people Israel, for testing him while they were in the wilderness.
Let’s just be mindful ourselves here, how easy this is for us to do. As well. Not just the devil, even us, where we take some truth of scripture, but then we run with it and we twist it and we miss the fuller context of what scripture teaches. We’re trying to use scripture to like test God in ways that we’re trying to like fill our own pride. But not Jesus, even though he was a son of God in his human form, did not give him to pride.
Scripture tells us he did not count equality with God a thing to be exploited during his incarnation. So text third temptation past verse 13 keep going. When the devil had ended every temptation he could throw at Jesus, he departed from departed from him until the opportune time, meaning the devil would be back to further tempt our Lord. He certainly did on the night that he was betrayed, as our Lord was in the garden, as a cross was set before him. Finally we’re going to end this morning.
The text verse 14 after the tempting was complete, after Jesus passed the test where he proved to be the true Son of God, the true and better Adam, the true and better Israel, the true and better prophet, the true Son of man, the true and better representative, the one who by faith we are identified with. We see he returned in the power of the Spirit to his home region of Galilee and as he headed back home, report about him and all the things happening surrounding him. All of his teachings, all of these things began to spread as the news traveled about Jesus surrounded all over the country, as people from all over began to like torture, talk about Jesus in ways they’re wondering if perhaps this was the Christ the text as the Lord’s fame spread, we see that he taught in the synagogues where he taught in such a way that no one ever heard it taught before. Is he taught as one who had authority and this time he was being glorified by all. The term glorified here in the text seems to communicate like the acceptance that Jesus had at least up front at first text.
Next week we’ll see the acceptance that Jesus had quickly started to evaporate. This term glorified also seems to be Luke pointing that others are starting to like praise and worship Jesus, which is something we actually do see in other places of scripture, including Luke and his second volume acts of Jesus receiving worship. And that’s actually really important for us to see. This actually goes back to the second temptation, the devil asking Jesus to worship him. For only Jesus respond that God alone is the one who is worthy of our worship.
So for Jesus to receive the glorification, the praise and worship by all, this is not Simply an act of people starting to understand Jesus as God in the flesh. But this is actually Jesus himself declaring himself to be God in the flesh, where he’s declaring to be God’s eternal Son, the second member of the Blessed Trinity. So throughout Scripture, there are multiple explicit passages where Jesus is declared to be God. But also throughout Scripture there are even more passages where it is implicitly declared that Jesus is God. Particularly passages like this where Jesus is receiving the worship of others, true man, true God, who came for us.
Now, as I close, I want to close this first. I just want to give us some practical advice on two things we can do from the model of Jesus and how to fight temptations. Then two things we shouldn’t do in his model, and then finishing two things that we just we cannot do. Okay, so can, should not, and then cannot. So first, just some practical advice from the model of Jesus.
There’s things we already kind of circled down. I just want to kind of summarize these here. So what are some things we should do as temptations come our way and they will. So first we should follow the example of Jesus and walk in the Spirit. Verse 1.
Jesus, being full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. Then verse 14, and Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee and same and friends, that same Spirit that dwelled in the heart of the great God man, Jesus Christ, the very Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. That’s the same Spirit that dwells in the heart of his people as well, including all here today. That same spirit dwells in your heart. And Scripture tells that we too ought to walk in the power of the Spirit, where through the power of the Spirit, God gives us the ability to have like a discernment of that which is true, that which is twisted as the Spirit guides us to all truth.
That through the power of the Holy Spirit, God gives us ability to like, walk away from temptation, to not give into the gratifying desires of the flesh. So for us, we ought to live our lives in ways that we’re not quenching the Spirit, but being full of the Spirit, so that through the Spirit we be strong in the Lord, strong in the power of his might. We’re able to put on the full armor of God that we might be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. Which I think for us simply means we just set our hearts to faithfully place ourselves where we know the Spirit is active, starting with just filling ourselves with the truth of God’s Word, but also by faith, placing ourselves in places that reflect God’s character, God’s desires for his people, including prioritizing the church and serving each other with our gifts. Trusting that as we place ourselves in places where we know the Spirit is at work, we’ll be able to more faithfully fight against temptation.
That’s one thing we’re to follow from the model. Second thing we’re to follow that we can do is we follow the model of Jesus and we fight temptation with Scripture. In the text, verse 4 after temptation 1, Jesus responded, it is written verse 8 as they’re facing temptation to Jesus responded, it is written verse 12 as they’re facing temptation 3, Jesus responded, It is said for us, this is one of the many reasons why we hope we all are reading Scripture, where we’re studying scripture, meditating on scripture, hiding scripture in our hearts. It is through the power of the Spirit that is at work through Scripture, friends. That’s how we fight this fight.
As temptations comes our way. Rather giving in to whatever lie we’re being tempted with in our hearts and minds, we speak the truth of scripture at that temptation, declaring, holding fast, trusting and believing in that which is written. We can do that. Now let me give you two things that we should not do from the model of Jesus here and the reasons why we should not do these things is one, we’re not Jesus. Okay?
So yes, we want to be like Jesus, but we’re not Jesus. Second, in the text, how Jesus went through these trials is for a specific purpose that it were for him, for him alone, so he would become a great high priest who can sympathize with us in all of our weakness. Yet without sin, as these temptations were there for Jesus to prove that he is the true and better Adam, to prove that he is the true and better Israel, the true and better prophet, because he alone is the one who can fight these temptations without sin. So first, as temptations come our way, we actually should not stay in them like Jesus did in our text for 40 days, okay? Scripture tells us yes, we are to resist temptation as it comes our way.
But as we resist them, we also are to flee temptation, making no provision for for the flesh. So temptation itself is not necessarily sin, but it is a sin if you willingly keep yourself in temptation, willingly continue to put your plate or put yourself in places of temptation, because as we do that, we’re actually testing God. So yes, this passage gives us model how we’re to fight temptation that comes your way, but it doesn’t mean we should unnecessarily put ourselves in places to be tempted or keep ourselves in places of temptation. Rather, we’re to flee from it. Friends, we’re not Jesus who had to go through these temptations in order to be our representatives.
When temptations come our way, flee them, forsake them. Second, as Jesus entered the wilderness where he would be tempted, this is something he had to do alone. But because we’re not Jesus, we’re not called to fight temptation on our own. Rather, we’re actually called to face and fight temptations together as the church, as the body of Christ. This morning, if there’s a particular temptation that you’re struggling to fight, where you’re really struggling to flee from sin, from temptation, as you trust in the Spirit of God to help you, let me invite you to trust them in ways that you’re letting others in to help you as well.
So as a church, let others in to be involved, to help you, to help one another to fight against temptation. This is one of the ways that the Spirit proves His power within us. Friends, don’t fight this battle alone, but with humility, the Lord’s power, fight them together. Now you just do things that we just. We cannot do.
First, friends, we cannot. We cannot. We have no ability to flawlessly fight this fight against temptation without sin. None of us. None of us can do this perfectly.
We can’t do it. Second, we can’t count on ourselves to clean ourselves up. You can’t. You and I can never clean ourselves up one last time this morning. That’s why Jesus came.
He came to do that which we cannot do for ourselves. That’s the whole point of the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that Jesus came to do that which we cannot do for ourselves. So for us, he came and he lived the perfect, holy, righteous life in the face of every temptation that we face. So that for us, he could be the perfect, holy and righteous sacrifice to take on the punishment of our sin, which he did on the cross, so that for us, he could clean us up through his forgiveness and his love and his grace and his mercy, so that for us he could be our representative. So our faith in him through his faith in his life, his death and resurrection, his righteousness would be counted as our righteousness.
So this morning, rather than being an infant trying to clean yourself up, trying to do something you can’t do, where the more you try, the more of a mess you make, rather than doing that this morning, trust in Jesus. Trust in him in ways that you’re calling upon his name. So by his amazing grace, he would do for you what you cannot do for yourself.
He can make you clean.
Yes. Fight temptation. Yes. Flee temptation. Yes.
Resist the devil. Yes. Speak the truth of God’s word into your own heart. But even more so, yes. Trust in Jesus Christ, knowing that he lived for you, that he died for you, that he rose again from the dead for you, and that he did this all.
Why?
Because he loves you for us. May that love compel us to live out our lives as messy as they might be seeking to glorify Him. Let’s pray.
Lord, thank you for Jesus.
Lord, I do pray you would forgive us for the many times we continue to fail.
And Lord, I do pray that today you would help us just to trust that through Jesus Christ that you do clean us up. And not only that, that through Jesus Christ, that you love us as messy as we are.
So, Lord, I pray today for any here who’s just trying to clean up their own mess that they would stop. That they turn to Christ, that they identify with Him.
That they would trust that not only did Jesus love them, but indeed he does make his people clean.
I pray this all in Jesus name. Amen.