Sermon Tone Analysis

*                         The Jesus Way: When I Want To Sin \\ **Pastor Eric Schall \\ **October 29, 2008*

*Matthew 4*

 

Today we are going to be looking at the subject of temptation.

As we look at how to follow the Jesus Way of life, we of course will face temptation that could draw us away from that life.

All Christians face temptation to deny Jesus every day.

There are a million different things that seek to capture our hearts, our attention, our devotion.

There are a million different battles each day as we seek to follow Christ.

The Jesus way is the way of the warrior.

We will be looking in Matthew 4 where Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist and then immediately led into the wilderness to be tested~/tempted.

*/Matthew 4:1 (TNIV) /**/Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil./*

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By the way, The same Greek word for tempting can also be used of testing.

And we do know that God does test people.

Testing by God is like boot camp, or like spring training drills.

God allows life's circumstances to push us beyond what we thought our limits were to mature our characters, and demonstrate the reality of our Christian claims.

So the Bible teaches that God may allow persecution or sickness, or loss, to come into our lives to push us to greater and greater maturity and greater and greater trust in God and his provision.

Something happens inside of us when we are tested and we pass the test.

When we don't give in to unbelief, when we don't give in to self-pity, when we don't throw in the towel, something happens to the follower of Jesus when they are tested.

Here is what we read in Romans 5:2,

\\ */Romans 5:2-4 (TNIV) /**/through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.

And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.

/**/Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; /**/perseverance, character; and character, hope./*

\\ See, here is the way it works.

You begin the Christian life hoping that you will be saved; hoping that you will one day stand and see the glory of God.

But you wonder inside about the reality of your Christian profession.

You say to yourself, "You know, I am so weak; I am so unreliable; I am the kind of person who turns tail and runs at the least threat to myself; I'm a compromiser; I lack self-control; how do I know that I really will make it all the way to God?"

\\ When we are tested.

And we find ourselves persevering in our tests.

We don't give up on God.

We keep hanging in there.

Oh, we fall, but we get up again.

So we find ourselves persevering and in our perseverance, our character is refined.

We discover that we can control ourselves.

That we do have the ability to resist temptation.

And this results in hope, a more solid hope, and a firmer hope that one day we will be with God that we will never fall out of the hands of our loving, strong Savior.

\\ We begin with hope, but it is an uncertain hope.

But through testing we end with a sure hope, a confident hope.

\\ Temptation is totally different than testing.

Satan's motive in tempting us is not to strengthen us, but to weaken us; not to cause us to be more dependent upon God, but to cause us to be more independent; not to build up our faith, but to tear down our faith in God; not to give us a certain hope, but to make us wonder if we are Christians at all.

God tests us to draw us near to himself; to make us more dependent upon him.

Satan tempts us, using the very same circumstances, to entice us away from God, to draw us away from fellowship with him, to cause us to violate God's commandments, and to seduce us to sin in a way that grieves and dishonors God.

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\\ We also need to remember that there is a difference between temptation and sinning.

The book of Hebrews tells us regarding Jesus in

 

 */Hebrews 4:15, "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-yet he did not sin."/*

Let me ask you this:  Do you like to sin?

Of course you do.

That’s why you do it!

No one trips into an adulterous affair… “Oops how did that happen???!!!”  It happens because that is where all those little steps you took led you to.

Jesus felt the pull of all those desires.

He felt what it is like to desire a woman outside the bonds of marriage.

He felt what it is like to want to escape the troubles of this life.

He felt the temptation to give in to despair.

What desire have you struggled with?

Scripture tells us that Jesus was tempted in EVERY way, yet was without sin.

Why is this important?

Because if Jesus wasn’t truly tempted, didn’t really feel the pull of sin’s desire, then He did not truly delve into the human experience.

He didn’t feel what you and I feel everyday.

\\ So often a thought comes into a believer's mind, a thought of doubt regarding God's goodness, or his existence, a lustful thought, an anxious thought.

And Satan whispers in the believer's ear: "Well, you might as well indulge, since you've already sinned because of this thought."

So many Christians are plunged into spiritual discouragement because they do not accurately distinguish between temptation and sin.

The enemy can intrude a thought into your mind.

He can tempt you to doubt, or to lust, or to be anxious, or self-pitying.

Jesus was tempted in every way as we are.

The issue of sin has to do with what we do with the thoughts once Satan whispers it in our ears.

Do we indulge it?

Do we get on the train and ride for a while?

Or do we reject it?

Do we shut the door and say, "no!

I'm not going there.

This will not produce in my life the life of the Kingdom Jesus promised.

This line of thinking will not produce in my life a sense of joy.

It will not produce closer intimacy with Christ.

It will not cause me to be Christ-honoring.

It will not make me the kind of person I want to be.

I slam the door on it."

\\ If you don’t want to follow Jesus in your life, tune out; go to sleep.

However, if you have ever longed to be used by the Lord in your life; if you have ever wrestled with how to know, how to discern the will of God from your own will, then pay attention.

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~*~*~*Prayer~*~*~*

 

*/Matthew 4:1-11 (TNIV) /**/Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

/**/After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.

/**/The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

/**/Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘People do not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” /**/Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.

/**/“If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down.

For it is written: /**/“ ‘He will command his angels concerning you, /**/and they will lift you up in their hands, /**/so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

/**/Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

/**/Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.

/**/“All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” /**/Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan!

For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”

/**/Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him./*

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\\ *The Way of The Wilderness*

First we see Jesus being led into the wilderness BY the Holy Spirit.

In Mark, he says “immediately” after the baptism Jesus was led out.

Have you ever had great challenge or a really low time right on the heels of a great victory?

It seemed as if as soon as you began to celebrate the breakthrough in your life, you found yourself isolated and alone facing hardship.

You see here we find Jesus beginning the Jesus Way.

This is the beginning of His ministry.

There were no miracles before this point.