You are listening to the sermon podcast from Rocky Creek Church. Find more resources online at Rocky Creek dot church. Well, I invite you to turn with me to my favorite passage of scripture. We're going to be in Luke chapter four verses one through thirteen and we're going to talk about how to stand when Tim Tate, when we're tempted, how to resist temptation, what does that look like in our own life.
Now, I'm so very thankful for you guys. I know that this is not a normal thing, but it's good to look at the group of people in our church who typically do not have plans on a Friday night. So it's good to see you. Okay.
You have nothing to do and we have provided that for you. If you guys have been around me, you know, I am stubborn as it gets. I just want the church together on the Lord's Day every single week. As much as we possibly can, obviously we don't want to endanger anybody, but that's why with some people, you all know in South Carolina, sometimes people will call it like on Monday, you know what I'm saying?
It's going to snow. We might be able to gather on Sunday. It'll call it on Monday. It'll almost end like Sunday.
It's like completely beautiful outside. And so we just kind of delight as long as we can. We think it's very important. So as we were gathering together as staff, these four guys and gals that work with me on Wednesday, I gather everybody together and say, okay, look, here's the deal.
I see four possible scenarios. I want to run through all those scenarios and make sure we have a plan and a Thursday we'll make the plan and make the call. Okay, cool. I'm going to be on Thursday morning.
I came up with a fifth idea this morning and they're like, what do you mean? I said, hey, it looks like there's a small chance we could gather on Sunday, but I know that we could potentially do it on Friday night because it's not cold enough and it's not raining. And I would rather if COVID has taught me anything, I'd rather gather together on a Friday night than try to do this online any other time of the week. You know what I'm saying?
I think we need each other. And so it does look like it's going to be kind of rough a couple of days. I'm just so thankful that you guys are here. It's a wonderful privilege to be able to do this together.
And as you do that, I know you guys are probably then like my house and you're looking at your phone and looking at the app and what's going to happen, you know, how much ice and this kind of stuff where we are regarding I-85, all that kind of stuff, right? And how many of you have probably gone to Lowe's or Home Depot and got some extra stuff, you know, you've got all kinds of things and I'm hoping everybody is kind of taking care of. But as we're talking in our homes and as you are kind of interacting, have you guys realized maybe before this event, even that sometimes our cell phones are listening to us? Have you realized that?
Has anybody had this experience where like you're talking about, hey, I'm out of toothpaste here. When you go to grocery store, can you remember to get toothpaste? You open up your phone and there's what? There's an advertisement for toothpaste, right?
Okay. And they're like, we're not listening. They go, yes, they are. Okay, everybody is listening, right?
Okay, you'll have these moments and you kind of just go through life casually and then you realize like, okay, maybe our phones are listening. If you go to their conspiracy theory, yes, they are. Okay, it feels creepy. Kind of if you think about it, but honestly, it's not a kind of magic kind of scenario.
All it is, is patterns like timing and targeting. Basically, something is paying attention to what we're talking about and what we're lingering on and most likely what we're to give into and they just kind of help us connect the dots to what we want or say what we want. Did you realize that scripture tells us that we have an enemy who likes to watch and listen and observe? And that's a strategic attack that I'm not one of these guys who believes that there is a devilish encounter under every single rock, but I do believe that there is under some rocks.
You know what I'm saying? I believe that there's a real God. I believe that there's a real devil. I don't think that real devil can come close to the strength of the real God, not at all, but I do believe that we have an enemy who likes to listen in, take notice and sometimes have a strategic attack of how he'll cause you and I to stumble.
Temptation is rarely random in our life. Okay? For example, you might have something that tonight, you say, okay, we're all leaving and we're going somewhere and something happens in front of you and maybe half of the group might be tempted by something happens and the other half it really doesn't bother them at all. And I believe there's an enemy that kind of observes and watches and knows our patterns and this is why it's so important.
And what does the enemy? If there's a real God who wants us to succeed in life, what do you think if we have a real enemy? What is his goal in life? It's cause us to fail, isn't it?
So this is where I want us to see tonight that when the enemy sets you up to fall, let God's word set you up to stand. We have a real enemy who sets you up to fall. That is his job. He loves to be able to watch anybody fall, but especially God's people fall.
Some of you have never felt so much attacks in your life until you started making progress and you're like, why is all this happening right now? You're starting to make progress and so the enemy wants to see you fall because not only is it great for his work if you fall, but typically what happens we think that the enemy is playing checkers and he's typically playing chess. What I mean by that is, let me ask you a question. Would it affect anybody in this room tonight?
If Pastor Travis did something really stupid and had a moral failure, would it affect any minus room? Probably would, right? Okay. And so checkers is make Pastor Travis do something stupid tonight, but the chess move is it's going to hurt your fate as well and go, well, if my pastor struggled like that, then why do I need to put up a fight anymore?
See, what happens is not only is he trying for us to fall down in the process, he's trying to get other people to fall down in the midst of his well. We have just moved from Jesus's baptism, his genealogy, and we've heard God affirm Jesus and then he walked straight into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Now, if I knew there was a place where the devil was waiting for you, I would say do not go there. Okay.
Go the opposite direction. And Jesus says he's led by the spirit to go specifically there and his temptation is not evidence of spiritual failure. He is full of the spirit when it begins completely. The wilderness is always in the Bible, seen as a biblical place of exposure, dependence, and testing.
And Jesus has been fasting as we're going to read for 40 days. So he's spiritually prepared, but he's physically weak. And so he's going to reenact Israel's story as we see. And let me read this to us in Luke chapter four, looking at verse number one, that Jesus left the Jordan, that's the river where he was baptized, full of the Holy Spirit and was led by the who, spirit in the wilderness for 40 days to be tempted by the who, devil.
Okay. Now those two, like, are they working together here? Okay. This, this seems odd that the spirit is leading him to a place where the devil is going to tempt him.
Now, we've got to make sure that we understand does God set us up to fail? The answer is no. God knows that Jesus can be in this test and he's going to pass Satan wants to see him fall. God believes that he can stand and so he's full of the Holy Spirit.
He's led by the spirit in the wilderness for 40 days to be tipped by the devil. He ate nothing during those days. And when they were over, I love his line, he was hungry. Okay.
Right. Just in case you were wondering, okay. Now, while that seems kind of silly for any of you who think if I fasted for 40 days, I think I'd be more than hungry. I think I'd be dead.
Okay. I have two teenage boys in the house. They don't fast for 40 minutes without hearing rundlings of sort. You think an earthquake is going on.
You know what I'm saying? Like, we're going to eat, right? I mean, 40 days, what is it saying? Well, Jesus is fully God.
He is what? Fully man. So the hunger pains hit. He has the ability for his flesh to be weakened, right?
So he's eating nothing and he's hungry. And then verse three, the devil said to him, if you are the son of God, well, let's tell the stone to become bread. But Jesus answered him. It is written, man must not live on bread alone.
Now, Paul's here for a second because what we're going to see in these temptation experiences, there are three temptations that Satan are going to throw at Jesus in this moment. And they really are three common temptations that we look at. The first thing that Satan is coming in, I think is very appropriate. If you've been with us, we've been looking at how Luke continues to show that Jesus is the son of God, right?
So hey, I should be, I'm supposed to be my father's house. Jesus is baptized and God says, you are my beloved what? Son, we got this genealogy of son of son of son of all these people. And then all of a sudden say goes, well, guess what?
If you are the son of God, the way you're so hungry. If you are the son of God, show how impressive you can be by turning this stone into bread. So the need is legitimate in Jesus life. But the method that Satan wants him to employ is not.
So the first common temptation that we see is that of satisfaction. Satisfaction. There was a need that Jesus had a want that he had and in of itself a want is not necessarily bad. But the way that Satan wanted him to go about it was.
So think about it this way. Satan tempts Jesus to choose immediate gratification over patient dependence. Okay. So that's the goal.
Satan wants to tempt Jesus to this thing called to choose immediate gratification. That is, I want what I want and I want it when now right now. I don't want to wait. I don't want to wait five minutes.
I want to wait five years. I want this right now. We are built our entire lives. It's almost like we are geared in a certain way that you have a desire and you want it right now.
Satan is tempting Jesus. Are you hungry? Of course, I'm hungry. I haven't eaten 40 days.
And Satan does about the most horrible thing that you could possibly imagine as somebody who was starving starts waving breadsticks in his face, right? Okay. Hey, well, if you are the son of God, if you can't do it, he said, look, here are these rocks. Prove it to me.
Can you make these stones to come bread? Because I mean, obviously your father wouldn't want to leave you this hungry. What do you mean? Because if he cared for you, you wouldn't be hungry.
And if you really are his son, which I guess I'm not least sure. Now, all right, ladies, you may not understand this so much, but all the dudes in the room, if anybody says, can you do this, you're going to pull your back out trying. You know what I'm saying? Like, oh, yeah, like, is that a dare?
Is that what you're asking right now? Like, if I can do this, see, what's happening is he is tempting Jesus to prove himself to meet a need that he has to meet a desire that he has the core issue with Jesus, trust God's word more than be led by his hunger. Now, when this happens, if you're all the sudden God tells the stone to become bread, verse four says, but Jesus answered him, there's a three word response in the English. I think it's very important for us to understand Jesus.
He says what? It is written, okay? And then your Bible wants you to notice something, so it's very key. So you see this all throughout the New Testament.
Your Bible probably has the next kind of set of words, either bold or italics or maybe it's kind of indented somewhere. And you probably have somewhere like a little reference, it's like a little point where you say, A or one, something beside that, and it's trying to tell you in our world you understand the word hyperlink, right? Okay? There's a hyperlink here, say, hey, if you're looking for something, press this and you can find where this comes from.
So if you look through your Bible, what is Jesus doing? He's quoting, what? He's quoting scripture. He's quoting actually Deuteronomy, right?
Now listen, if you quote John 3 16, I'm proud of you. If you're quoting Deuteronomy, you mean business. You know what I'm saying? Like this is serious.
Jesus is quoting from the law, Deuteronomy chapter eight verse three, and what does he say, man must not live by bread alone. Jesus, his mind had been made up. There's a temptation that's here, but God's word says this, so I'm not going to do it. Isn't that simple, everybody?
Isn't that just gloriously beautiful and the way things ought to be? And is it ever simple like that in my life? The answer is no. I wish it was, but I just can't say what the Bible says it's so therefore I'm not going to struggle.
This is a challenge here. So here's what Jesus quotes scripture when Satan tempts him, and do any of us fill the danger to shortcut God's timing to meet satisfaction in our lives? Yes or no? Of course we do.
It's a common temptation for us. We are tempted to want the right things in the wrong ways. We are tempted to want the right things in the wrong ways. So let me ask you a simple example.
Is it wrong to want to eat food? Anybody? No, it's not wrong. Is it wrong to be able to work out of deal with the devil to try to impress him to get that next meal?
I think we got a problem. You know what I'm saying? Is the desire for you, especially if you are a single young person, I want to be able to experience intimacy with one person. Is that a bad desire?
The answer is no, it's not a bad desire. But the way that you go about that, and if you disobey God's rules, that's the problem. It's a good desire. It's a right thing, but going about the wrong way.
So for example, how many of you have been testing out your fireplace over the last few days, raise your hand, okay, right? Some of you have been testing that thing out. I always say this way, fire in a fireplace, good, fire, outside a fireplace, bad. Okay, makes sense?
Like one thing is good for everybody. It warms the home. It brings comfort. It brings security.
But you take that good thing outside of the environment and where it's supposed to be and what happens. The whole house burns down and maybe even neighbors are endangered. This is a picture of where God gives us good desires. But if we go about fulfilling them in wrong ways and Satan is tempting Jesus just like this.
Legitimate desires, they're sinful though, if they are pursued apart from God and his timing. Israel, by the way, the nation of Israel failed this test miserably because I want you to see something. Jesus is in the wilderness for how many days again? 40.
Israel, the nation of Israel was in the wilderness for how long, everybody? 40 years. Jesus is about to do something in 40 days that they could not do in 40 years. And so many of the temptations that Satan is throwing at Jesus are the same temptations that Satan threw at the Israelites in the wilderness and they kept disobeying and that's why it wasn't a 40 day trip.
It was a 40 year trip. So to give you an example, did Satan ever tempt the Israelites in the wilderness and the same temptation? Well, you do remember in Exodus chapter 16, they are just outside the Red Sea. So some of us on our Black Power Regent plan, you're going to read this passage tomorrow.
Today we talk about how they rescued out of Egypt. They have celebrated the Passover, they go to the Red Sea, they have just literally been rescued from Pharaoh. They're on the way to the Promised Land and at the 16, they look at Moses going, did you bring us out here to die because we're starving? Starving.
It's food. Moses is like, um, so you remember how God provided and rescued you and got all this stuff and that actually the water is actually parted and you walked through and dried ground and then the water came down and actually completely overwhelmed. You remember that? Yeah, but we're starving.
Did you bring us out here to die? And so what did he say? I'm going to give you daily bread. The next morning they woke up and the Hebrew word is manna, which means what is this?
What is it? It doesn't mean it's not like you go to like the grocery aisle, like I'm getting manna bread today. It is what is this? Or pick up this like flaky kind of bread stuff and they're like, I don't know, it's all over the ground.
You think that has anything to do with God's name you provide for us? I don't know. What do we do with it? Somebody needs to try it.
I'm not going to try it. I'm not going to touch anything off the ground and start eating it. Let's find Johnny. He'll eat anything.
You know what I'm saying? Somebody in the Israelites decided they'll test this thing out. He's like, hey, I mean, it's not the best thing in the world. It's pretty good, right?
And they start picking it up, right? And God says, pick up enough for when? Today, don't pick up any for tomorrow, right? And they went, yeah, right.
No, this is a trick. I know I'm supposed to be wise. I'm, he goes, no, no, if you store it, it's going to get really nasty in the morning and you're not going to be able to eat it. Well, then how are we going to eat tomorrow?
I'm going to do the same thing tomorrow. And the next day after that, and the next day after that, you're going to have to trust me for your daily, what bread? And they're like, I don't believe that. They ate enough.
And they started packing some of their Tupperware cases. You know what I'm saying? Put it in their tent. Next morning they get ready to kind of make it together for kind of make shift waffles or something.
And they open it up, just nasty stuff, just crawling all out of it. And God's like, yeah, why don't you go look outside the tent? Oh, man, it's here again. That's how this works.
Our father will provide for your needs. You don't have to test them in this. So Jesus, now you understand why this is bread at this moment, don't you? Just turn it to bread.
Show us you can do this. Prove to me that you work this. But they were showing Israelites that they distrusted in God's care. God provided man a daily to teach dependence on him on his word, rather than immediate satisfaction.
It was the path of obedience. But they were overwhelmed and they did not follow and could not trust God's word because they were physically weak. Jesus even said, the disciples want the spirit is willing, but the flesh is what? Weak.
How many of you know that at some points in your life you were more prone to temptation when you're physically weak? Some of you when you're not sleeping well enough, we don't want to be around you. You know what I'm saying? You're not in a nice person.
Okay? You're like, hey, happy to see you. You're like, you know, it's really angry and moody. Some of you all move from hungry to hungry in about three minutes.
You know what I'm saying? Your spirit might be willing. Your flesh is weak and you're more prone to justify disobedience. And note, this is where Satan goes, I'm going to get him now.
He's weak physically. I can get him to fall. But Jesus did what we could not do or what the Israelites did not do. So this issue of satisfaction, the second temptation is all about significance.
Let me show you in verse five. It says, so Satan then took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. The devil said to him, I will give you their splendor in all this authority because it has been given over to me and I can give it to anyone I want. If you then will worship me, all will be yours.
And Jesus answered him, same phrase. It is what? It's written. And then he was quoting Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 13, worship the Lord your God and serve him only.
So this temptation, the temptation of significance is very key here because Satan tempts Jesus to gain glory at the cost of obedience. This is the temptation that in the same way of significance, you and I can be tempted in the same way. He is tempting him, gain glory at the cost of obedience. Satan offers Jesus the kingdoms of this world.
And as he do it, says he took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. Now, I've never been to the Holy Land. I've never gone around this area where Jesus was. But I have done my research and I've found this out.
There is not a mountain peak that is so high that you can see every single kingdom from that area. Okay? You can't see it. So what's taking place here?
I have no idea what type of voodoo weird kind of thing that's going on here. But I believe that in some type of supernatural demonic power, whatever Satan is allowing Jesus to see some type of vision to go, Hey, look, I got authority over all these places. Now, let me go. Whoa, does he?
Well, Ephesians 2 says that Satan is the prince of the power of air that God has given him certain authority. And guys, all you got to do is just turn on the news and realize he's kind of in control of a lot of stuff right now. Okay? He's doing a lot of kind of, he's got a jurisdiction over what's happening in this world.
Now, does Satan have all power in this world? Yes or no? No, does he have some power? Oh, yes, absolutely.
And so Satan has an I say, Hey, look, I've really got to control in a lot of areas. You got to this region and you got to that country, this person. Oh, and that government, a leader, man, I got him right where I want him. I can show you all this.
And you know what? Jesus, I know what you're about. You're about everybody seeing you for who you are and getting glory to your father and let you shortcut this. I think I know what the plan is, right?
And you really don't want to go to Calvary. You really don't want to go up to the cross. You don't want to go through all this. Let's just shortcut the next three years and those three days and all this stuff.
Now, did he know all the plan? I don't know, but I understand this enough that Satan at least knew if Jesus continues down his path, that's what he's going to get, right? He is going to get the splendor and the authority of the nations. Now, what did Jesus say in Matthew 28 verse 18 after his resurrection?
All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Something about what happens at the cross in the empty tomb. Jesus gets this and Satan going shortcut. I know what you want.
And I can get you there quicker. I can get you there quicker. The authority is real, the path is wrong. And once again, this is glory without the cross.
This is Jesus quoting Deuteronomy 613 and his allegiance was revealing the Lordship. Now, how are we tempted the same way? We are tempted to compromise conviction for recognition. Every single one of us are craving significance.
Are we not? Every single one of us, you may not want to admit this, but you'll admit this by the person sitting next to you. They are a glory hog. They want the glory.
They want everybody to recognize them. They want them to see how incredible they are, to bow down and just be so impressed by who you are in the enemy as he's offering this to Jesus offers us influence without wanting to be faithful. How many times in your life have you felt tempted to compromise what you know to be right in order to be recognized, to be valued, to be approved by someone? When I was younger, it was say this or do this when I'm with this crowd and I'll be accepted.
Now middle school, I'm not in anymore, but it's the same temptation, right? The same temptation for every single one of us. Some of us change who we are based upon the crowd that we are with, wanting deep down, desiring significance. And he is tempting this because of the Indians felt costly.
Now, how do the Israelites do this? Do you remember chapter 32? Moses has in excess. Moses has been up on the mountain.
He's receiving the Ten Commandments. And all of a sudden the people come up to Aaron and say, he's taken too long. By the way, in patience always gets us in trouble. Doesn't matter.
He's taken too long. And who even knows? I mean, we really haven't seen this guy. We see a lot of clouds up there.
He's probably blowing up. I got an idea. How about we do this instead? Instead of following this guy that we cannot see, let's just create one that we can see.
What do you think it looks like? Well, you know, I really like that statue that we used to worship in Egypt. So let's just make one of those. And so they take off all the gold that they got and they put it into the fire and then what did they carve it into?
Do you remember? It's a golden calf, right? Which was this weird type of belief in Egypt about this animal that would give you a whole lot of good luck and fortune and you name it, whatnot. And what's so wild about it is these guys are all former slaves, are they not?
Do you think a lot of slaves have a whole lot of gold jewelry on them? Typically they don't. So why did a bunch of slaves have a lot of gold jewelry? Because through God's deliverance, the Egyptians are taking it off them, throwing it at them and saying, please go away.
So they took a gift from God and replaced God. Here's a gift. It's a good gift. And they replaced it.
They replaced him in a minute. So now what's taking place is Moses on the mountain, Israel's growing impatient, they craft the golden calf and they called it. This is what's crazy. They didn't say this is a different God.
They said, this is the God who brought you out. And they start worshiping this calf before rescuing them from Egypt. And they're blending idolatry with religious language. That's the most dangerous thing.
It kind of sounded spiritual. Just tweaked enough. And so what are they seeking? Visible security.
They're seeking significance apart from obedience, trading faithful worship of the unseen God for a substitute that can fit their desires. And God's name is actually attached to their disobedience. But the kingdom cannot be gained apart from obedience. And every temptation at some level is going to ask us this issue of significance.
Who do you worship? Saying, when I give it to you, just worship means that no, no, no. Scripture says, I have one person to worship and it's not you. So he refuses about out.
So then here we go with the third temptation, which is the temptation of security. Verse 9. So he took him to Jerusalem. Had him stand 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 what?
Okay, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, pause. Who's saying this now? Satan. Satan is like, all right, I'll tip you with this.
Jesus go, it is written. All right, I'll tip you with this. It is written. Satan goes, okay, I got a verse too.
Do you realize that about every single heresy out here today has a Bible verse attached to it? We're supposed to love one another. Who we did judge? Oh, we've got a Bible verse.
And they're quoting it like Satan did. Take a verse out of context, twist it for your advantage and forget everything else. And now you got something to stand on. Satan quotes from Psalm, chapter 9.
He says for it is written, he will give his angels orders concerning you to protect you and they will support you with their hands so that you will not strike your foot against his stone. I got a verse. Come on, Jesus. Just jump.
See how far you balance, right? And Jesus answered him. It is said, do not test the Lord your God. He quotes Deuteronomy 6, chapter 16.
And after the devil had finished, listen to this haunting phrase, every temptation, which either means these three or these are the only three Jesus told us about. They're not going to hold host of things. He ended every temptation. Scripture says, he departed from him for an opportune time.
Basically this, I'm coming back. I'll be watching. I'll see when you wait and I'll be back. This last temptation, security, what we see is pretty shocking because Satan twists scripture so Jesus will test the Father rather than trust him.
Satan twists the scripture. He's using it for his own agenda and trying to make it say what he wants it to say so that it can encourage Jesus to sin. One of the greatest examples in my past I can think of was when someone was telling me pastor, I'm getting a divorce. And I know what you're going to say.
God is going to be against this, but I got a verse to prove. I need a divorce. I said, please tell me. Okay, right?
I said, well, then you're going to tell me that it's because of this or this or this, because that's the only reason why Bible will say it was like, well, no, it's not that reason. But I was reading the book of Acts where it says that Paul and Barnum has gotten a disagreement and they stop going on a mission trip together. And that's where we my life are. Okay, friends, let me just take something.
If you feel like you need to get a divorce, will you please email me at Travis at Rocky Creek.church and we will sit down and we will talk about why you need to try to stick it out. And sometimes I know things happen, but I can guarantee this. Looking at why two dudes couldn't be on a mission trip does not mean you need to leave your spouse because you are looking for scripture and you're wanting everybody to back off. And so what you're trying to do is this is what I want to do.
Let me take a verse, twist it and get God put his stamp of approval on what I want to do. You're breaking the third commandment to take God's name in vain. You're throwing him around basically to try to get your agenda done. Satan is twisting scripture here.
He doesn't want to trust God. He wants to test him. Now, it's partial truth, by the way. That's where he always gets us.
And he's trying to manipulate. I want you to see something, by the way. I don't know the last time you quoted Psalm 21, but if you haven't ever quoted the scripture, I at least want to give you one potential way to think through this. Satan knows the Bible better than you.
He knows it better than you. He knows it better than me. He has so much of it memorized. He knows exactly how to use it.
And he knows how to twist it and make us all think a certain type of way, right? Now, I want you to see how important this is. No one's scripture is not enough. You've got to make sure you know how it's supposed to be applied, how it's supposed to be interpreted.
Satan is quoting the scripture and now this temptation has moved from the wilderness out to Jerusalem. So they're moving around and Satan is urging Jesus, just test God's hand. Make him prove himself to you. Jesus responds by quoting, Deuteronomy 616, his faith that Jesus has trust God does not need to test him.
And as this lays into our life, this is what we see. We are tempted to demand proof rather than rely on God's promises. We want God to prove it to us rather than trust. He's already proven himself time and time and time again.
All right, fine. God, if you really want me to do this, prove it to me. If you're in my harmonics course, this semester one of the things we're going to get to is one of the most misinterpreted Bible verses in scripture. And I know this is going to really bother some of you.
But in churches, we a lot of times like to talk about throwing out your fleece, right? You know what I'm talking about? Somebody are like, what exactly is that? I got a fleece jacket.
Okay, I'm glad you do. Okay. In the book of Judges, this is God, I'm Gideon. And God's telling him what to do.
And he doesn't want to listen. And so he says, okay, if I throw this fleece out tonight, and if all the ground around it is wet and this is dry, I don't know you're speaking to me. Well, that happens the next morning. He goes, okay, let me just make me warmer time.
Okay. And tonight, I'm going to say if the opposite happens, I don't know you're speaking to me any exact opposite happens. And sometimes in church we go, I'm just throwing out my fleece and seeing if God is doing that. Just because the Bible describes Gideon do that, he's not prescribing.
You need to. It says of Gideon, a very unfaithful, immature person, basically continued to back up from God, not wanting to listen. He's one I've told you once. I've told you twice.
I've told you three times. And I'm just very glad that God was gracious and patient with him because sometimes he's not that patient. Just because Gideon throughout his fleece does not mean you need to throw out your fleece. You know what you need to do?
Trust God's word the first time. He said it. Do it. You have, I need a sign.
No, you need obedience is what you need. If it's clear in the Bible, you need to do exactly what he said. Here we go. He's trying to do this.
We want to demand proof. God just show me again, rather than what does God's promise to say? What does the word already taught me? Do I see this?
We confuse faith with spectacle. We want guarantees instead of trusting him. Did Israel struggle with this? If Jesus is sitting in their place?
Well, if it's chapter 17, they're at a place called Masah in Meraba. And Israel demanded water as a proof that God was among them. They even said, is the Lord among us or not? Prove it to us.
They need to prove rather than trusting that the man I had fallen, water had always been there. They wanted something else. How often does that reveal the temptation? We have, we want evidence from God rather than just resting in his word of what we know to be true.
Jesus answered him with his quota scripture and then verse 13 says, after you finish, every single temptation. I'll be back. I'll come back. So if those are the three significant temptations we've seen, we can be three important reminders before we're through here today.
As you see that Satan waits for an opportune time, I want you to see he also attacks at the point of vulnerability. Jesus does not argue with Satan. He's not negotiating. He's not reacting emotionally.
He's very straightforward. If God's word has said it, I don't care what Satan tempts or what I want to do, I'm going to do what my father has asked me to do. That's just it. Notabate.
There's no kind of deliberation about this. It's very clear. Now, can you and I do that perfectly? The answer is no.
Will all of us mess up probably in the next 24 hours? You better believe we will. Okay? 24 minutes.
I don't know. Okay. I mean, every single one of us is going to struggle. But this is what we see.
Did Jesus fall in this temptation? Oh, he's sitting in the devil packing. The devil's like, this is ridiculous. I make everybody fall.
Like, I know this. This has been working since Adam. This is so easy. It's textbook.
And I can't get him to budge. Jesus did what you and I could not do. So when he goes to the place that he went to, we don't have to. Jesus' victory over temptation qualifies him to stand in for us where we are falling.
So there's something beautiful about Jesus' victory in temptation. One is, because you and I failed, we can trust in his sufficiency and perfect obedience for salvation. But the other part is, he shows us how to at least put up a fight. You know what I'm saying?
The danger here is to go, well, Jesus was successful in temptation. I don't need to worry about it. Or the danger is, I've got to be perfect and always obedient. No, no, no.
What this is about is Jesus did what we could not do. So when he goes to the cross, he dies for our sins, not for his sins. So our sins can be paid for by him. We can trust in the good news of Jesus Christ.
And we can be redeemed by his blood that was shed for us. And then it gives us the motivation to fight the temptation. We will not resist temptation perfectly, but Jesus did. And Hebrews 2.18 says, because he's able to sympathize with us, because he's been tempted like we were tempted.
Okay, you go, like, what do you mean? It means that Jesus was tempted like we were tempted. Has anybody over the last week been tempted just to tell somebody what you really think about him? You know what I'm saying?
Okay. You're like tempted. I have given in to temptation. That's okay.
I'm very, very good at it. Let me ask you a question. Do you think Jesus, with the 12 guys that he lived with for three years, do you feel like he ever said, okay, the temptation? Now, rebuke is one thing.
Tearing down someone is a totally different situation, right? Do you think Jesus was ever tempted going, you bunch of morons, you know, like, I mean, just let him have it, right? I'm sure that had to be there. Was Jesus, was he ever tempted to dishonor his parents as a young man?
I mean, at some point he realizes, I mean, you know, most parents say, I brought you into this world, I can take you out of it. The opposite's true here. Like, Jesus is like, I kind of created you, mom. You know, I'm saying, like, don't tell me to clean my room.
Like, there would be an opportunity for him to be tempted to disobey, or did he ever disobey her? No. Did Jesus ever, was he ever tempted to lust? Fellas, if a woman breaks a vial of really good smell and perfume and starts taking her hair and wiping your feet with it, I imagine that'd be a difficult thing for a lot of guys to go, this is my sister, you know.
I love her because God has made her in his image and I'm not going to think any inappropriate thoughts and he never did. He saw her for who she was, not objectifying her for what she looked like. Jesus fulfilled and was successful in every single temptation. His obedience, his success, qualifies him to stand in our place.
And he did what Adam could not do. He's in the wilderness. Adam was where? The garden.
You see the difference, sir? Adam's got everything. Jesus says nothing. All right.
What does Adam have in the garden? Everything he wants to eat except one tree? Jesus has nothing to eat. Adam actually has a support system built in.
It's called his wife. And when he's weak, she should be strong or vice versa. Jesus is completely alone. Mark tells us that when Jesus was in the temptation, the child animals were surrounding and hovering over him at all time and Adam is in the garden and all the animals get along and play nice with him.
We see that throughout all these things, Jesus has actually pushed to where circumstances and is faithful even in the midst of it. Just because Jesus fought the temptation was victorious though, doesn't mean we give up a fight. Here's what we need to know. We have an enemy who studies our weaknesses and targets them strategically.
Satan will study. Enemies will study our weakness and our timing. The temptation is strategic. It's not random.
And as much as I can say this, if we had, let's just say that tonight, I started and we're like, OK, we're all stuck in here together. Let's get to know each other. You don't say anything. Hey, can I just spend like, hey, what's your biggest struggle right now?
You're like, I don't know. I just feel like a Lord all the time. OK, that's cute. What is your greatest sensation right now?
I don't know. I'm pretty good. I used to struggle. I don't know.
I'm good. Let me just say this way. If you don't know where you are weak, guarantee the enemy does. If you won't say what it is, you're really just giving him more ammo.
Papers 12 says there is a sin that easily entangles every single one of us, but it's different. It is. And I believe that the enemy knows where you're weak and where someone else may be strong. And so he's not going to hit that person.
The thing that always makes you fall. I think it's strategic. When I can remember one game playing high school football where I'm lined up against the guy and we get in the huddle and I I'm at this hike. This guy's about this size and I'm like, guys, just keep running it my way.
You know what I'm saying? I just identified the weakest guy. He looks scared and the more I kept hitting him, I mean, I feel bad. I felt like his mom was screaming at me in the stands like, stop being me to my boy.
I'm sorry. We're going to win today. You know what I'm saying? I found the weakest spot on the line and we just kept attacking it and that defense was completely broken down there and we just kept running straight through it.
And I think so. You can see exactly where we are. We can go. That's a spot.
I just noticed how to expose weakness and keep going in over and over and over again. And so if we had time on a little site, so where are you weak right now? Where are you struggling right now? And the best example that I can show you, I think from Jesus example, you want to know how to fight temptation like Jesus fought temptation?
Memorize the Bible. That's how scripture memorized before the battle equipses us when it's time to put up a fight. Jesus gave us the most practical example that we could ever think about. Now, Jesus probably had more work put into it than you and I have put into it.
Jesus was ready for any temptation. But if I were to counsel you tonight to be this, I would get honest with the Lord about your number one and number two, maybe your number three top temptations in your life and I've memorized three verses per temptation and I'd go to battle with it. Now, does memorizing a verse mean you're never going to struggle? No.
But it at least puts up a lot of defense, doesn't it? Like if I know that I struggle with this sin and all of a sudden that temptation comes and I'm ready to speak God's word into it and know I'm going to actually say out loud what the Bible says about this issue. Then guess what? I'm actually able to put up a fight in this.
Jesus answered every temptation with scripture. It's not a last resort. It's a first response for him. Scripture memorized and this becomes a scripture like deployed in a situation.
Psalm 119 verse 11 says it this way. I have hidden your word in my heart so that I may not what? Sin is it simple? Why do you memorize scripture?
I like to impress people. That's why you know. Why do you memorize scripture? I love being able to bring it in arguments.
No, you memorize scripture because you hate sin. I can't stand when I walk away from the Lord. So I'm going, this is a weak area. I'm going to memorize the top three verses in that area so that when that temptation comes, I'm going to say let me tell you what God's word says about that.
It is written. No, not going to do it. Well, that may somehow success every single time. No, but I guarantee it's got to help.
First, create the incentive. I love it. It says no temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man. That means what you're tempted with a bunch of other people are too.
You're not the other one. No temptation has overtaken you but such as a common man and God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able and with the temptation he will provide a way of escape also so that you can endure it. What does that mean? Every time you're tempted, there is a way out.
There's a way out somehow. It's like those fire escape things we have all of this building, right? Fireheads, you know, I've never seen anybody going, let me go to the map again. You know what I mean?
Which is my path but you're supposed to put it up there. If I'm in this room and there's a fire, this is my path out of here. Every time there's a temptation, Jesus is going, there's a way out. There's a way out.
And oftentimes it's about the scripture that we memorize, we put into it. Sin, Crouch is at the door but God provides a way out. Tonight on our Rocky Creek Dr. Church website, we have come up with a list of good Bible verses for about the top 10 or 15 temptations that we see in the world today.
Okay? So if you struggle in this area, you might say, all right, pastor, I struggle with lust and looking at pornography. Guess what? Joe 31 verse 1 says, I made a covenant with my eyes that I would not gaze at another woman.
It's just coming, right? You just make that decision up. So you say, well, I just struggle in my speech. Well, Ephesians 4 29 says, let no unwholesome word received from your mouth only such a word as good for edification according to the need of the moment so that it will give grace to all those who hear.
You go, I struggle things out of you. Hey, what's during the club? There's a lot of people here that do that. That's a very natural thing.
And when anxiety hits you go, I get it and all these areas of weakness, none of us ask for it. But what we do with it in the moment determines Philippians 4 6 says, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything with supplication and prayer, let your request be made known to what God. So when I'm anxious, that happens. I didn't ask for it, but what do I do with anxiety?
I turn it to prayer. So what are those areas in your life where you start looking at? I want to make sure that I know. And so do you know that you know that you know we're the week you're using your life and have you memorized scripture so that you can fight when the battle comes.
And just a couple weeks, we will be a time of year when the Super Bowl has come upon us. And since I have been here at this church, since we moved here nine years ago, which is hard to believe, the thing that I've done basically for the last nine years is me and my boys have gone over to the Overcomer Center every Super Bowl night. Okay. And so if you don't know this, overcomers are a group of guys that are in our church for a season as they're working through rehab.
So when you get a bunch of guys living the same place together, about 70 guys who typically have been struggling with alcohol or drug abuse or whatnot, you put them all in a house together, they laugh and they will say that the overcomers, you don't get the freshmen 15, you get the overcomer 40. You don't say, like, you got there's a lot of eating and so on that's like, okay, we're sitting here, we're not doing some of the things we used to, but we have to watch it. And so at Super Bowl night, I understand why the Overcomer 40 is kind of a joke, you know what I'm saying? Because we eat some food, y'all.
I'm telling you, like nachos and chicken wings, you name it, there's so much spice, it is amazing. I love going in there, I brought my boys in there since we were as young as they were, but I just love when I walk in there, there's a group of guys on the hall and all of a sudden you go, everybody watch your language, Pastor Travis is here, I love that. Okay, I love ruining everybody's night. I love sitting down, I love getting everything so rowdy in there, it's so funny how things will happen.
I love the excitement of everything, only in that situation. I remember one year we were sitting there, cheer leaders came across the TV and some dude beside me going, get behind me, Jezebel Bell, you know, he's just great. You know what I'm saying? I love it, it's wonderful.