Temptation of Jesus - Heaven to Earth - Matthew S1E3

Amen and amen and amen. All right, church, grab your Bibles. We've got a lot of work to do. Matthew chapter four is where we're going to be. We're studying the book of Matthew all year. You need to get a Bible out. On your phone is fine. A paper copy is maybe finer. This sermon is from the Bible. It's about the Bible. That's what we do here. We teach the Bible. So don't just look at me. Get a Bible. All right, good. If you look at it, we're in chapter four. We're only going to do 11 verses, but we're going to be in about 11 different scriptures. so you have to bounce around quite a bit. You'll see that the title of it here is called The Temptation of Jesus. And so some of this is going to be review. If you pay attention, which I know dozens of you do, then you'll be like, haven't I heard some of this before? Yes, but you're still sinning. Yeah. So we've got to keep covering this. And here's why. Jesus is tempted in every way that we are. And when I first started going to church, I didn't grow up in church. Maybe you've heard me say that before. I got saved as a high schooler. I started going. And I mostly went to Southern Baptist churches, all right? And boy, they love the Bible. They love the Bible. And they talked about not sinning a lot, a lot, mostly. It's the only message I really heard. God bless them. I heard every week, man, God is good. You're bad. Try harder. See you next week. But nobody told me how. They just said don't. And sometimes I remember one preacher telling me, listen, when you really, when you become a real Christian, you're not even going to want to sin. And I thought, well, crap. Oh, was that a sin? Did I just sin? Was that one? I don't know. Okay, so. I still struggle with temptation, even today, and I'm a professional Christian. Anybody else in the house struggle with temptation? Oh, good, just us and Jesus. if you don't I don't even know what to tell you you're so disillusioned I can't even help you okay so this sermon is not only how Jesus overcame temptation alright cause the bible says he was tempted in every way that we are this is the book of Hebrews we're gonna see Jesus be tempted by the devil himself not just his college roommate but the devil himself is gonna try to go after Jesus and then what I really want you to see though is lenses so that we can, with the help of the word of God and the spirit of God in us, overcome temptation and walk in the freedom that Christ has purchased for us. So in the book of Philippians and Colossians, when Paul tells us, walk in a manner worthy of the gospel of Jesus, he's basically just saying, listen, you have been set free, so let us walk in that kind of freedom. So here we go, Matthew chapter four, beginning in verse one, starts out this way. Then, now you can't just, here's all last week's sermon. I wish I could have mashed these together, but they don't let me preach for two hours straight, but that's what this was. Then, this is just after Jesus has his high holy moment, he has this baptism, remember? He's standing in the water, the heavens open up, God the Father speaks out loud, behold my son in whom I am well pleased. Here's the thing you gotta pay attention to. Often after the high holy moments you have with the Lord, pay very close attention because get ready, you might walk through the valley of the shadow of death. He's going to go from the water to the dry place in the desert. He's going to go from his dad speaking to him, God the Father, to the devil speaking to him. That's usually how it works. And Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Verse 2, and after fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry. Do you think? He's very hungry. Now, it could be preparation, but pay attention. when you were hungry, tired, and isolated, oftentimes you were a sitting duck for the enemy. This is why you need people, you need community. Verse three, and the tempter, that's what the Bible calls the devil here. And the tempter came, and here's what he says to Jesus. If you are the son of God. Now what did God just say? Behold my son. And the first thing the tempter is going to do is he is going to lie to Jesus because that's what the devil does. He's a liar and every time he speaks, lies come out of his mouth. He is a tempter and nobody ever amens this. Temptation is tempting. If it's not tempting, it's not temptation to you. and just because one group of people are tempted by one thing and you're tempted by some other thing does not mean you're more holy than the other group that we are tempted by temptation and the devil's been at this a minute and so he's a tempter and he came and he says to jesus if you are the son of god you see he's a liar and the only thing he wants to do according to john 10 10 is to steal kill and destroy you and everything good and godly that you've ever had in your life And the way he's gonna start, just like he does with Jesus, after God the Father just spoke out loud, behold my son in whom I'm well pleased, and then right on the heels of that, the enemy comes along, he's like, are you sure? Are you sure that you're the son of God? If you are the son of God. You see, a part of the reason the enemy always goes after our identity is because if we actually knew who we were, then we would know what to do. That's right. That the devil doesn't get to tell us what to do. The world doesn't get to tell us what to do. Only Jesus tells us who I am. And I know what some of you are like. You're like, yeah, but sometimes I have doubts. Okay, neat. You know what God wants you to do with your doubts? Pick up your doubts, follow after Jesus. What the enemy wants you to do is what he wants you to do is believe your doubts and doubt your beliefs. And what God wants you to do is to doubt your doubts and believe your beliefs. and if you knew who you are in him then we would be able to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ I don't know if you ever thought about this but when we talk about temptation I've been a Christian a minute I mean a long time I got saved in high school in 52 do the math it's a lot and I'm still tempted a lot a lot and have you ever gotten to the place where you look at your own walk with Jesus and I'm really into it this is not a casual endeavor for me okay I mean I'm all the way in I believe in Jesus I love his word I love him I can preach the gospel I get it all I understand and yet I thought I'd be a little further along in my faith journey than I am right now like how in the world are some of the same things that tempted me as a 15 year old still tempt me as a 52 year old seems like when you grow out of that well apparently not I heard this incredible quote by John MacArthur who's going to be with the Lord now he was being interviewed and he's an incredible Bible teacher not the sweetest soul you've ever heard from okay pretty direct and when he was talking to somebody about sanctification he said this I love this so much he says as you grow in Christ you will sin less and you will feel worse isn't that so true when I first got saved I just thought if I was sober and celibate for several days in a row killing it I might be a saint and now I will get the conviction of the Holy Spirit will overcome me like crazy if the tone of my voice isn't right to my wife. I think, oh, I'm disqualified from ministry. You see, the sanctification process is a thing, and we do have an enemy, and he's trying to steal, kill, and destroy you, and temptation will never go away until you go be with the Lord. Hey, listen to this. This is crazy. We're only three weeks into this year. We've had 536 people surrender their life to the Lordship of Christ this year, okay? so do you you 536 guess what it's not getting easier it's not gonna get it's actually gonna get harder that the enemy didn't even really mess with you that much before but now you are his enemy and so it's about to get real and so why then why if you love Jesus a long time I know some of you by the looks of it you've loved him a long time okay I can say that okay here's why it doesn't get easier. If you wonder, well, why am I still tempted? Because the moment you got saved, what the Bible says is that your heart of stone was ripped out and that you were given a heart of flesh. Okay. You were given God's heart. The Bible talks about your soul was taken from death to life. Your eternity is changed forever and ever and ever. You were adopted into the family of God. All of those things happen in an instant, but what didn't happen is God did not give you a new mind. and you have the same mind that you have. Now, what is offered to us according to Philippians chapter 2 is the mind of Christ, but God doesn't reach in and take your brain out and give you a new brain. So you have the same family history, you have the same upbringing, you have the same past, you have the same birth order, all of those things, you know, the way you were wired, you still have those things. So in Romans chapter 12, Paul is going to say this. I appeal to you therefore brothers and the reason that therefore is there is because in the first eight chapters of the book of Romans Paul just lays out the gospel in a way I don't even have time to go over it okay he just says I'm not ashamed of the gospel we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God that the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus that God demonstrated his love for us in this that while we're yet still sinners Christ died for us, that even though we have this internal struggle between sin, who is going to save a wretch like me? Thank Jesus that therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. That's about the first eight chapters, real quick, as fast as I can go. And so the chapters 9, 10, and 11 are about God's people and their role in the consummation of all things. and therefore, based on the gospel and then based on really Israel's role in the consummation of all things, then 12 to the end of the book of Romans is how the gospel changes us and how we ought to live. So in 12.1, he says, therefore, since all that's real, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable, I can't say the word, you try it acceptable to God which is your spiritual worship in other words when you rightly see God for who he is the normative response is that you give your whole life as a living sacrifice to God and you're like okay cool Paul how he's like I'm glad you asked there's a two-step process to live a life where you give yourself to God in worship number one he says do not be conformed to this world. Number two, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. That's how you do it. Well, why would you have to transform your mind? Because you still got the same old sinful mind. You still got the same patterns. And the reason he uses the word conformed, you're not to be conformed to the pattern of this world, is conform is a building term. And some of you, most of this crowd know it. Our Palatka crowd is going to know this. Have you ever poured concrete? If you pour concrete, I don't mean pay somebody to do it. If you do it, here's what you gotta do. The first thing you do is you build a form, then you mix the concrete, and you pour it into the form, and it conforms to the pattern that you built. So if you want your pool to be in a kidney shape, you make a kidney. If you wanted a heart, you make a heart, whatever it is. And what Paul is saying is sociologically true that we live in a world that tells us how we ought to do life. And our entire life pre-Christ, we have been conformed into the pattern of this world. And so Paul's like, don't live like that anymore. But be transformed by the renewing of your mind. So the world's going to tell you to do sex one way and money one way and status one way, right? And then Paul's going to be like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Don't pour yourself into the conformity of the way this world does things, but transform your mind. How? Here's how you renew your mind, okay? But be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. And so here's how you renew something. Everybody knows this. Ladies, when you get new fingernail polish, what do they do? They don't just add more on. Your fingernails will be that thick if that's what they do. It'll just be a big glob of whatever's on there, okay? No, no, how do you do it? If you're going to renew something, you've got to take off the old and then put on the new, right? Fellas, if you're going to paint your car, you can't just paint over it. It'll flake off. You've got to strip that puppy down. If you're going to renew the floors, you take off the old finish, you put on the new. This is what Paul is telling us to do. The way that we renew our mind is not to be conformed to the pattern of this world, but we identify the old lies that we have bought into mentally, and then we renew our mind by standing on the truth of the word of God. So this is very, very important. If you flip over to Ephesians chapter 6, this is the preeminent text on temptation and spiritual warfare. We did an entire series on this last year. And the reason I want to point this out is because the primary Christian battle to walk with Jesus, it's mostly a battle in the mind. Ephesians chapter six, beginning in verse 10 says this, finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might, whose might? His, not your might. See I was taught not implicitly not explicitly I don think people meant to tell me this but the way it was taught to me is that the good Christian life was that of sin management And what you had to do if you were a good Christian is that you had to get a hold of your sin and be a good Christian. And we don't drink and smoke and chew and go girls who do. And we held that sin down. And we tried, some of us harder than others. But even the best among us, If it was left up to our own willpower, we left defeated every time. I call it beach ball theology. Try to hold a beach ball under the water. How long can you do it? Well, it depends on who you are, you know. Some of you swallow up guys a little longer than others, all right. But eventually, eventually, if you were just relying on your own might, either a wave hits you in the face or the sunscreen gets slippery or your arms get tired, and when you let go of the beach ball, what happens? It does not just casually return to the surface and it explodes in your face. And that's what you, with just begrudging white-knuckle submission, will lead to. The reality of the gospel is that, in my beach ball analogy, Jesus walks by with a pocket knife and he stabs your beach ball and just sucks and drains all the power out of it. So we have an enemy, but we've got to be strong in the Lord and the strength of his might. And here's how we do this, verse 11. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand. that means fight. Stand against the schemes, the methodea, that the enemy's got a game plan against you. He has certain methods. And what we're going to see is he's been using these same methods since the beginning of human history. Verse 12, for we do not wrestle or fight against flesh and blood. You see, you think your problem is your boss, or you think your problem is the way you were raised, or you think your problem is your ex-wife. Bro, she's not your enemy. I don't know, some of you are like, you ain't met my ex-wife, okay? I mean, I didn't believe in the devil, now I met her. I go, well, at least he's got kids. No, see, here's the thing. What Paul wants us to understand is our battle is not against flesh and blood. When we think like spiritual warfare, oftentimes what we think, when we hear the word warfare, we think of like World War II. The good guys versus the bad guys, and everybody lines up, and they attack each other, and may the best man win. Well, that is not how it works between God and the enemy. You see, the Bible tells us in the book of Revelation that the enemy, the devil, is like a dragon with a mortal head wound. That the moment Jesus pushed up on his nail-pierced feet and says, it is finished, he curbs-stomped the devil right in the head, and he's got a mortal flesh wound, and he's flailing around until the last day when he's gonna be sent into the lake of fire. That's just how it goes. So we're not fighting for victory, we're fighting from victory, And since the enemy already knows he's defeated, he's not necessarily going to show up and put a full frontal attack on us. Why? Because he knows he will lose. I mean, like, if the devil of hell came at you and manifested himself, like, at your dorm room tonight, you know, you'd probably call Christians. You'd probably pray. You'd probably run to God and not from him. And then he really knows he's going to lose. So much like right now, our country has enemies all over the place. And one of the primary tactics that they try to attack us as a country with is not a direct frontal attack. I mean, I've said this before, but seriously, like if Canada wanted to take over America, what are they going to do? Kill us with kindness? Drown us in maple syrup? Like they don't have a chance. We would just, in one second, squish America. That's it, right? and so there are groups of people all around the world that hate us and so everybody knows this is just this is just common knowledge now there is a misinformation campaign going on all the time from places all over the place the people that hate us there are bot farms that feed things into your algorithm that's different than my algorithm so we'll hate each other and they're doing a great job it's a it's a it's a dirty war campaign of misinformation. This is what the enemy tries to do with us because he's already defeated. And if he can get us, if he lies to us and we think these things, then we'll believe these things. And if we think and believe these things, then we'll begin to do these things. And then he's got us. So our battle is not against flesh and blood, but our battle is against rulers, authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. You see, and what the enemy does is the enemy wants to trick you and he wants to bait you down a road that you don't wanna go down. Now again, if you're new here and you're like, you mean to tell me in the year of our Lord, 2026, you believe in the devil and the demonic? I do, I do. And if you don't, you should make a fist and punch yourself in the face because you're too dumb to talk to, man. I mean, you just haven't thought about this very much. It's just true. Do you think the evil atrocities around the world are just chemical imbalances? Poor parenting? Mistakes? No, no, no, no. There's a thief, and the only thing he wants to do is kill, steal, and destroy you. And if you don't realize there's an enemy, if you don't wake up every day, and you don't think the alarm clock is the bell to start the game, you're always going to lose. And so he says, we don't wrestle against flesh and blood. And so the primary way the enemy tempts us, tricks us, lures us, is he lies to us. Just like he's doing to Jesus. If you are the son of God. I call these the whispers. Okay? Ever happen to you? Like maybe rolling into church that hadn't been here in a little while. And you're like, oh, thanks for bringing that up. Okay, and you feel a little bit guilty. You ever feel condemned? I'm up here preaching my brains out about something, and then you get this thought in your mind, well, he doesn't mean you. That doesn't count for you. That just counts for those good church people. Where do you think that comes from? You think that's your heavenly father speaking that word over you? And listen, man, I'm preaching a sermon against it right now, and I'm telling you, especially on Thursdays and Sundays, the amount of times I think in my brain, you can't live up to what you preach. or if they only knew, if they only knew, like what's going on, like how mad you get in the fast lane when those people aren't going fast enough, okay, whatever. And that's like the only one I'm gonna say to you, I'll confess some stuff to my group, but I ain't just telling y'all everything, all right? So here's what I've found. Here's what I've found. When the enemy accuses me, one of my best tactics is what, this is what I do. I just agree with him. I just agree with him. When he goes, who do you think you are? How are you going to do a whole series on act like men? You don't love your wife like Christ loves the church. I just go, I know, right? Yeah, it's actually worse than you think because you've only got tape on me and I know the crazy going on in here. And even though I can't live up to God's ideal, he still chose me, he still died for me, he still called me, he still anointed me and he uses a fool like me to proclaim that the cross is out of this all. And so Paul, for the rest of his time, is going to tell us how to fight, how to go to war. And what I want you to see here is that it's all rooted right here. It's all rooted in his word. The way that you put on the full armor of God is that you are invested into his word. Verse 13, therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, having done all to stand firm, stand therefore. The reason he says stand four times, that means like take a stand or stand your ground. It means fight, fight, fight, fight. And here's how you do it. Having fastened on the belt of truth, that means you're connected to Jesus and his word. Having put on the breastplate of righteousness, that's about identity, you learn it through his word. And as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace, the gospel is his word. And in all circumstances, take up the shield of faith, and the Bible says that faith comes by hearing his word, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one, and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. This is the primary offensive weapon against the enemy. It's not the only offensive weapon because he's also gonna say like pray like a crazy person. But the primary offensive weapon against the enemy is his word. Now, how does this work? John chapter eight. Jesus is having an argument with religious people. You ever have arguments with religious people? If you want it, you can just have my emails if you would like to take over some, all right? it's unbelievable all right so in john 8 31 jesus has this whole discussion oh man some of you make you so much based on your comments i've read in your emails lately because jesus is talking to religious leaders and he's simply saying this he's saying you don't know god and the religious leaders the jewish leaders are going what you mean we don't know god we're the children of abraham and Jesus is like time out one second if you knew the father you would know me because I and the father are one and they're like what you talking about and then he goes if you had the faith of Abraham you would know me because Abraham was pumped when he met me and they're like how you met Abraham he's been dead for a long time and Jesus says because before there was Abraham I am. And they were like, we're going to kill him now. That's the context of the talk that they're having here. And so here's what Jesus says in John 8, 31. He says, so Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. You ever heard a politician say you'll know the truth, and the truth will set you free? If they're tying it to their campaign and not the word of God, run for us, run. Jesus says if you abide in my word abide is a relational term we don't use the word abide very much you know what I mean but abide means like stay close and Jesus is saying you want to know me you want to stay close to me you stay close to my word listen if you're going to be a part of this church and I hope you are we are a movement for all people to discover deep in a relationship with Jesus so if if today even when I said turn to Matthew and you're like are you Matthew and You don't know one thing yet. No problem, man. You're in the right place. We're going to teach it to you, all right? Or if you were in Sunday school with Noah, sweet, all right? You wouldn't be here. Everybody else died. But you don't know the Bible yet. You don't even know that. So listen, we're going to teach the Word. And I don't know how to make you love something that I love. But I love this Word of God. I love it, okay? Because it's not just a book. It's actually 66 books written over a couple of thousand years on different continents from 40 plus authors and it all has one unified message and it's all about Jesus and it's not just a it's not just a history book this is the revealed word of God and and of course you're going to read some parts in there that are going to sting a little but it's because he's a good dad and he's the author of life and he knows better how to live life than you do and there is freedom that he has for us. And so as he's arguing with these guys, he said, Jesus says to the, he says to these religious leaders, he's like, listen, you know the words of God, but you don't know the word of God. You've read your Bible, but you don't know the author of the Bible. And I just want you not to be slaves of sin, but I want you to live in freedom. And they're like, what do you mean slaves? We are sons of Abraham. We've never been enslaved. That's what they said. And I bet Jesus was like, You didn't do good in Sunday school, did you? Remember the Egypt part for like 400 years? But don't worry about that. Then he says this in verse 44. He says that if you think Jesus was a meek and mild teacher, you've never heard one of his sermons. He says, you are of your father, the devil. Can you imagine if Jesus called you the son of a devil? You are of your father, the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. You see, the devil, the world, and your flesh, they lie to us. Pay very close attention over the next several weeks as we celebrate baptisms over and over and over. There are two questions that we ask. The second one is, who is Jesus? Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. and it's upon that public profession that we baptize you. But there's a question that precedes that and it is this, do you reject the ways of this world, the sin of your past and anything dark or demonic that you have ever been connected to? And we've all been connected to it and everything the enemy does, one, is a lie and two, it is to steal, kill and destroy. And so if the devil is a liar, then I got some really good news. he uses the same three lies over and over and over he just repackages them honestly it's like a restaurant there's really not much more than dead fish dead cows and dead chickens i mean you can throw pork in there it's all just repackaged recooked right that's just what it is some nicer than others and the enemy has been using the same three weapons the same three lures the same three tactics over and over and over. This is all he's got. Now, he's really good at it. First John chapter two, verses 15 and 16, John says this, do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, now again, if you're new to Bible study, maybe you know John 3, 16. And it starts with, for God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son. And you're like, well wait a minute John says here don love the world Well which one is it Well it the It the that writes it It two different things In John 3 16 the Bible means that God loves the people of this world In 1 John 2, it means that we should not love the systems of this world. And most often, what Christians will do, shamefully, is that we reject the people of this world and we adopt the values and systems of this world. And what we're supposed to do is reject the values and systems of this world and love all the people of this world. He says, don't love the world or the things in it. And if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, dash, this next little thing between the dashes, he's gonna tell us everything that's in the world. This is it. These are the tactics of the enemy. Now the ESV, which I use, says the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life. We're gonna go back to the King James on this one because I just like it better. It just sounds better. It just preaches better. Ready? Instead of desires, the King James says lust. Say lust. That's a little aggressive over here, but you're into it, okay? One more time, lust. Just sounds dirty, doesn't it? It's because it is, ready? Here's all that the world has to offer. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. And it's not from the Father, but it's from the world. You're like, what does that mean? I'm glad you asked. these are the three categories that virtually every sin falls into. One, the lust of the flesh. Now, when you hear of lust of the flesh, you think sex. And it is, but that's not all it is. The lust of the flesh is a desire to feel. It's a desire to feel. It's when you begin to convince yourself, I deserve to feel this way. Now, it could be sex, or it could be a drink, or it could be six drinks. honestly it could be drugs or it could be ice cream late at night anything when you say i deserve or i desire to feel this way and what i feel like is the loudest voice in my life and then i'm going to do whatever i want to do to feel the way i want to feel that's what lust of the flesh is the second one lust of the eyes this is this desire to have this is about stuff this is about possessions. This is when we put the hope of satisfaction or security in our finances or in our stuff. This is when you begin to really tell yourself, if I just had that car, or if I could just live in that neighborhood, or if I just had those pants, oh, I'd be fully and finally satisfied. And it's, you know, and we all think this about something. And then the last one is the pride of life. This is a desire to be. This is about status. This is about power. This is about position. This is why you get depressed when you look at everybody else's Instagram because you compare yourself to them and you think you deserve a better life than they do. That's what this is. These are the tactics of the enemy. And I've told you this before, but the devil is like a good bass fisherman. He doesn't care how he catches you. He just wants to catch you. And so he throws out the lust of the eyes and puts that rattle trap in front of you. And you're like, no, that doesn't do it for me. He's like, no problem. He clips that one off, and then he ties on a hula popper, and he throws that one out there, and he gives you a little pride of life. You're like, no, I'm still all set. And then he clips that one off, and he ties on the granddaddy of all baits in Florida, that big dark purple worm. And he throws it out there and just jiggle, jiggle, jiggle, and that's the lust of the flesh. You're like, yes, ha, no, and he's got you. Don't believe me? Okay. James, the brother of Jesus, says it this way. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Now being lured is not sin. It's temptation. But each person is being tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire, when it is conceived, gives birth to sin. And when sin is fully grown, it brings forth death. And so this is what the devil does. Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life. Don't say this out loud. You don't embarrass yourself. But if you were the devil, how would you try to catch you? You should war against that. You should war against that. If you were the devil, how would you try to catch you? And he knows because he's been tracking you. He's seen your Instagram. He knows which one it is, all right? And the Bible says that the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. If there was an actual lion trying to kill you, you would live your life differently. And there actually is. but like if the zoo called and said hey uh guy three rows over right there let him know there's a lion that got out and he just wants to kill you not everybody else he doesn't like y'all he just likes you think about how you would walk to your car differently at the end of the service you wouldn't just be like i don't know if that's how you walk but you wouldn't just go to your car you when you got to the doors you talked to you talked to the hey anybody Have y'all seen a lion? Is there a lion here? If you got kids, you'd send the one you like the least first. Hey, go into the car. See if there's a lion. You would change. You would change. There actually is an enemy who's trying to kill you. And if you knew how the enemy was going to attack you, then don't you have the clear advantage? If you're in a disciple group, if you have Mac carriers, the conversation I have with my Mac carriers is this. if I was the devil here's how I'd try to kill me y'all check on me in these areas and so the devil has been doing this from the beginning this is one of my favorite things about the scriptures it's just got one author if you go all the way back to Genesis 3 like when this whole thing got going it says this now the serpent same enemy was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made and he said to the woman did God actually say you see what he does here he comes with a lie the twist you see the enemy always wants us to doubt at least three things about God he wants us to doubt the word of God the work of God and the worth of God he wants us to say did God is that what God actually said in the Bible and then and then if you're like well he said it and then like yeah but he did I mean that's just an old book and what does he know God doesn't know anything about dating he didn't have a dating app he didn't know anything about money. There was no stock market. The enemy wants us to try to stand in authority over the word of God instead of standing under the authority of the word of God. And I'm just telling you, if you ever find yourself at a church, because I know everybody's not going to live here forever. If you ever find yourself in a church that stands in authority over the word of God, be like, well, I know this is what it says, but that's not what it means. And if you'd kind of look through it with one eye and don't read that one part, here's what it means. get up get your stuff get your kids leave don't ever go back that's not a church it's a cult okay because the church stands on the word of God and to move away from the word of God is to move away from Jesus this is where life is found and this is what the enemy's tactic has been from the beginning he says is that what really is that what God really said did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden and the woman said to the servant we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden but God said you should not eat of the fruit of the tree that's in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it lest you die. She added that last part. That's classic legalism. And in this time, the reality is, is God's for you, he's not against you. There was only one thou shalt not. There was a bunch of thou shalts. He's a good God. And the servant said to the woman, you won't die. Well, that's a lie. For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good from evil. Here's what he's saying. You don't need God. you got this it's a lie and so when the woman check this out this this if you got hair this will blow it back ready and so when the woman saw that the tree was good for food that's lust of the flesh that's what it is i deserve this and it was a delight to the eyes that was not that was not hard to figure out it's right there that's the lust of the eyes that's satisfaction i want this and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise that's a pride of life. I tell me what to do. She took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband. Who was? What does it say there, fellows? Just as quiet as Adam. That's what got us into this problem. That's all right. No, don't worry about it. Sorry to wake you up. We just did a whole year on it, but we'll come back, okay? Sorry. Was with her, and he ate. Okay, so all of that was just set up so that we can understand what's happening in Matthew chapter 4. Why is temptation so tempting? How in the world does the enemy keep coming back to us? What is going on here? Because it's a dirty war campaign of the mind. He lies to us to try to question our identity and question the word of God and question the worth of God and question the work of God. And if he can get us to think a thing, we can feel a thing. And if we think and feel a thing, we'll do a thing. And he leads us on a path to destruction. You see, right and wrong will never sustain you when it comes to temptation in your life. But when we begin to understand that he's a good shepherd and every single time we obey his voice, especially when we don't completely understand it, it leads to abundant life because it leads to him. And every single time we say, forget you, God, I got this, it leads to death and destruction. Matthew 4. So then Jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil And after fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, if you are the son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. So I wish I had time to show you exactly how Jesus is greater Israel. Because when Jesus, when the people of God were let go out of Egypt and they were brought into the promised land. And God gave them bread, gave them manna. Every day they complained about it. And so Jesus is going to fulfill all the things. Remember, that was the whole point of Matthew. but I don't have time to get into it. But that's what's going on. And he says, all right, if you are the son of God, then command these stones to become loaves of bread. This is lust of the flesh. Does he have the ability to turn rocks into bread? If he can do water to wine, he can do stones into sandwiches. No problem. And so here's the lie. Here's the lust of the flesh. You deserve to feel this way. don't trust God to be your prince of peace you handle it yourself now here's what's crazy here's what's crazy the vastness of this temptation is is all over the place it could be everything from sexual immorality to you you binge eat because it makes you feel good in that moment and And ultimately, now, the consequences aren't always the same. There's a difference between, like, crack and ice cream, all right? But the core of it's not. The core of it's like, I don't like the way I feel, and I deserve to feel a different way. And I'm not looking to you, God. I'm not looking to you. I'm looking to comfort myself. I'm going to self-medicate me. That's what it is. So here's how Jesus responds. But Jesus answered, this is so important, it is written. Here's the giveaway. In all three temptations, Jesus is going to say it is written. I think I heard Pastor Britt say this about 10 years ago. He says the three most important words in all of eternity are it is finished. The three most important words in living your life today is it is written. Every single time, what Jesus himself is going to do is he's going to root his life in the word of God. He's not going to be ruled by his feelings, and he's not gonna believe the lies of the enemy. And so Jesus answered, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. You see, what Jesus is saying is my faith in God is greater than the feelings of my flesh. if we if american christians could get a hold of that one the whole world changes don't believe all your feelings feelings make a decent guide but they make a terrible god and we live in a world that says you do you obey your thirst feel whatever you feel and let that drive you this what this world tells us and it is a lie the bible says it is written man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God you see this word it's well here's what the bible says Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12 for the word of God is a living and active it is sharper than any two-edged sword piercing to the division of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart so what Jesus is saying here is regardless of your feelings God's word is true your feelings are going to be all over the place and God's word is going to remain true. And if your feelings don't line up with it yet, you proclaim the word of God and over time, not overnight, with the help of the spirit of God in you, then maybe your life can be aligned with the word of God. And so now the devil's gonna change tactics. Verse five, the devil took Jesus to a holy city, set him on the pinnacle of the temple and he said, if you are the son of God, notice what he's doing, just noodling at his identity. He says, throw yourself down for it is written. The devil's going to quote the Bible. Totally out of context. I mean, how are you going to out Jesus, juke Jesus? That's incredible that he even tries. He quotes from Psalm 91. You know what all of Psalm 91 is? Psalm 91 is how God takes care of his children when they trust him. And so he quotes this out of Psalm 91. It says, he will command his angels concerning you, and on their hands they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against the stone This is the pride of life He like all right Jesus if you are who you say you are then why don you make much of yourself Did Jesus come to make much of himself No, he said, I didn't come to be served, but to serve and give my life a ransom for many. Because when we make the world all about us, at the end of the day, all we'll have is us. And it leads to a narcissistic idolatry where we worship at the throne of our own self-esteem. It's not good. what the enemy is doing is saying make God prove to you how much he loves you and Jesus saying I don't have to neither do you by the way because Romans 5 8 says that God demonstrates his love for us in this that while we were yet still sinners Christ died for us verse 7 Jesus says to him again it is written you shall not put the Lord your God to the test he rejects the lie he stands on the truth verse 8 and again the devil took him to a very high mountain and he showed him there's a clue as to which temptation this is and you only got one left to pick from and he showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their glory and he said to them all these i will give to you this is the lust of the eyes if you will fall down and worship me and then jesus said be gone satan for it is written you shall worship the lord your god and him only shall you serve and the devil left him and behold angels came and were ministering to him and here's what jesus is saying This stuff is never going to fully and finally satisfy me. I don't worship stuff. I worship God Almighty. And this is why we say worship is war. But what I want you to see here over and over and over is that Jesus rejected the lie of this world. He did what Paul said to do in Romans 12. That he was not conformed to the pattern of this world. When the enemy came along with lies, he said, no, no, no. I reject that. I reject the lie. And I'm standing on the truth of God's word. and this is the reality. God has given us his word, the Bible, not to defeat the devil, but to remind us that he's already been defeated and this is a constant supernatural reminder that if you're a believer in Christ, then you and I should walk in that freedom and my hope for you and my prayer for you is that you would walk in that freedom. The battle has already been won. Colossians 2.13 puts it this way, and you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. This book reminds us of that in every area of your life. Here's the whole point of the sermon. Our enemy, the devil, is the father of lies. Do not believe the whisper, but stand on the truth of the word of God. not so that you will be victorious, because the Bible is a reminder of that. So how do you do this? I'm gonna give you some homework. And if you don't do it, then okay, see you next week. It's gonna be the same spot you're in right now, but I don't know, maybe you'll meet a friend or something. But if you're serious about this, what is the lie that you're believing? It's gonna be one of the three general categories. Lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, the pride of life. Identify that lie, okay? Identify that lie. And the more defensive you are about it, that's probably the one you need to go after. Yeah, but you, okay. And then find the truth of the word of God that speaks directly to it. There's a couple of ways you can do this. One is you can just Google it. What does the Bible say about lust? But get ready, it's gonna sting a little, okay? What does the Bible say about greed? What does the Bible say? Whatever the thing is. Also, there's a guy at our church heard this sermon years ago and created an app called Word of God Speak. And it's got categories. You can just go to there, click the thing, and it's going to say, here's all the verses about anxiety, you know, whatever. And then identify the lie and say, I'm not going to believe this anymore. And you need to have some it is writtens that you don't have to look up. And honestly, you don't even have to try to memorize it. You read this thing every day, and eventually the word of God is going to be lodged into your heart. And right when you need it, the spirit of God is going to bring this out. And you speak the word of God so that over time you can renew your mind and align yourself with what Christ has done for you. I'm going to give you the three biggies. Many people are believing the lie about money. And here's the lie that money tells you. Money says, if you love me, I'll love you back. You've never thought about it that way, but that's what it's saying. I'll either, I promise you, money says this. If money could talk, this is what money would say. Come here, come here, come here. It'd say it like, it wouldn't sound like me. Sound real sexy, whatever it sounds like to you, okay? I don't sound like that. I sound like Larry the Cable Guy, so whatever. But money's like, if you love me, I'll love you back. And here's the two things I'll promise you. I'll promise you satisfaction. You have that boat, it'll do it for you. or I'll promise you security. I'll let you log on to this bank account, and you'll make you feel all secure. And it's just a lie. Now, the good thing is, that's the easiest one to find verses about because Jesus talked about money more than anything else. Shocking, isn't it? And so in Matthew chapter 6, he says, Don't lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. Maybe you could just memorize Matthew 6, 21. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. And you just begin to ask yourself, do I want Jesus to have my heart? Do I want the enemy to have my heart? Because where my treasure is, my heart is going to follow. You could memorize another one from the same sermon, same chapter. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you. So maybe that's you. That one's going to be a hard one to identify. You know why? Because nobody knows they're greedy. So I dare you to ask somebody that will love you enough to tell you the truth. Here's another lie. Here's a big one in our culture. Sex is only physical. Like it's not a big deal. This could be fornication. That means having sex with somebody you're not married to. And again, according to the Bible, marriage is one man, one woman, one lifetime. And the Supreme Court is not supreme. God is supreme. He made up marriage and he gets to define it. And I ain't hating on you, man. I love you, okay? I love you. I want you to have freedom. And listen, even there, I know the people clapping are married Christians. You know what I mean? I know some of you having sex outside of marriage is like, you get them. Oh, wait. Nah. So hear me there. I just know this is one so many people in church have tried to stand in authority over the word of God. and you know, you know it's the temptation that the enemy's just wearing you out on. 1 Corinthians chapter six says, flee sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own. You were bought with a price, so glorify God with your body. If you struggle with lust, Job 31.1, I have made a covenant with my eyes that I will not look lustfully after a woman. Hopefully this isn't too much. Do you see me look that one up? You know what you have to make covenants about? Stuff you struggle with. The Bible said Job was the most righteous man on the earth and he's making covenant with his eyes that he will not look lustfully after a woman. Why? Because his brother had a problem. So you memorize this. One of the biggest lies that are crippling believers right now. And it's actually a pride of life issue. Because ego and insecurity are really just rooted in the same thing. You don't know who you are. And one of the biggest lies that the enemy tricks us with all the time is this. You are your sin. You can't be loved by God because of some thing that you did. And see, he knows you. He's seen you. So he's got the tape on you. So he digs in deeper. and he goes to that place that hurts you the most. No, you are your divorce, and you are your abortion, or the one you paid for, and you are your addiction, and you are your failed career, and you're your bankruptcy, or your eating disorder, or your affair, or your whatever that thing is. That's what the enemy wants you to believe. And the Bible would say, no, no, no, no, no. Only Jesus gets to tell you who you are. And if you could believe the truth of the word of God, it would change everything about the way you live. 2 Corinthians 5, 17. This is a famous verse. It says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, and behold, the new has come. And so in the end, he starts spitting his lies about you. You're like, whoa, whoa, whoa. You're talking about the old dead me. I don't have to do the things I used to do because I'm not the person I used to be. I'm alive in Christ. I'm a new creation. And when Paul gets to the end of his gospel presentation in the book of Romans, it's a bunch of verses, but he says this, what then shall we say to these things? These things are the things that the enemy is trying to use to keep you separated from God. He said, what should we say to these things, these lies? If God is for us, who could be against us? He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against the elect? And you're like, well, the devil's bringing a charge. Well, great. The Bible answers, it is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised, who was at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? Or might I say your past sin or that thing you're embarrassed about or your shame or your guilt or that junk the enemy keeps trying to bring up? And then Paul answers the question, no. in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us for I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels or rulers nor things present or things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord that's who the Bible says you are that if you really want to go advanced, the reality is that desire, that lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is actually only going to be found in Jesus. The lust of the flesh is the desire to feel. Jesus says, I am the Prince of Peace. Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest for your soul. That's better than a pill. lust of the eyes oh you want to live in a nice neighborhood guess what put your faith in Christ he says I'm gonna go prepare a place for you and when Jesus is your real estate agent it's sweet man no HOA in the whole place praise God and maybe yours is the pride of life you want a blue check you want to be somebody how about a son or daughter of God and co-heir with Christ Jesus It's what we're actually looking for. It can only be found and fulfilled in Him. When we get our eyes fixed on that, fixed on Him, the things of this world grow strangely, strangely dim. So I'm going to invite you to stand up, and I'm going to pray for you. And we're going to respond after I pray. And the only people that need to sing and the only people that need to bring and the only people that need to pray are people that need Jesus to walk this world out. If you think you got this, then you do whatever you want to do. But for those of us that say, oh, Lord, I need you. I mean, I need you. I need your help. I need to believe your word. I need to quit believing the lie. I need to quit going down the same roads over and over and over and expect different results. Lord, I need you. I need you. And we're going to sing and we're going to bring and we're going to pray. Let me pray for you. Good and gracious Heavenly Father, Jesus, I thank you. That, God, you have given us your word. God, not just as like a guide, but it's a supernatural revelation of you and your will for us. And it ultimately tells the story that we can't do it on our own, that we need you. And so, God, that's what we do. We fall on our face before you and say, Lord, when the enemy comes, we need you. and Jesus I thank you that you didn't just leave us advice but you left us with the helper the paraclete the the spirit of God in us the same spirit that resurrected you from the grave now lives in us so may we be able to say like you said devil be gone and then have angels minister to us Lord I pray that even today standing on the truth of your word that we would say devil be gone and then we would be those messengers that would minister to one another God I pray for victory Lord I pray that chains will be broken I pray that men and women Will walk in a manner worthy of the gospel Of Jesus because we would no longer believe the lies But we would stand on your truth We pray this in Jesus name Amen So folks we're going to sing Worship is war against the devil himself He wants to rule over you And when we worship what we're saying is You don't rule me, God does And I'm singing to him We're going to bring our tithes and our offerings we're going to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness say I'm not putting my love in this stuff God I love you and where my treasure is my heart will follow and I treasure you above all things have all of my heart God and we are going to pray let's respond