February 24, 2025 • 20 mins
Experience the transformative power of scripture as we explore the gripping tale of Jesus' temptation in the wilderness with Pastor Lee and myself, Pastor Jim. Discover how Jesus, after His divine affirmation at baptism, was led into a time of profound testing, facing temptation at His most vulnerable. Together, we unravel the critical lesson that spiritual vigilance is essential, especially after moments of triumph. Let us guide you through how Jesus’ steadfast reliance on the Word offers a timeless blueprint for overcoming our own trials, illustrating the profound strength found in prioritizing spiritual nourishment over physical need.
In this enriching discussion, hear how Jesus skillfully wielded scripture to counter Satan's deceptive tactics, teaching us the importance of context and deep biblical understanding. We delve into the nuances of resisting the allure of immediate gratification and the peace that comes from trusting in God’s provision. As we conclude, we invite you to embrace the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit in your daily life, fortifying your journey with scripture and faithful perseverance. Join us in a heartfelt prayer, seeking divine strength and inspiration as we confront life's challenges, until we meet again in our next episode.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Beyond Sunday, the podcast that takes
you deeper into the Word of Godthroughout your week with your
hosts, pastors Lee and Jim.
It's time to inspire, upliftand dig deeper.
Beyond Sunday starts now.
Hey, everybody, welcome back toour podcast, beyond Sunday, and
(00:26):
if it's your first timelistening, well, we're glad to
have you with us.
I'm Pastor Jim and, as always,I'm here with Pastor Lee.
We're the pastors of ChristFamily Outreach Church, amelia,
virginia, coming to you todaywith a powerful message to study
.
We're going to be in the bookof Matthew We'll start in
chapter 4, and we're going to belooking at the verses 1 through
11.
Jesus is going to be temptedhere by Satan in the wilderness,
(00:48):
and it's one of those storiesthat, of course, we've all heard
.
But there's so much depth herethat can speak to our daily
lives that, no matter where youare in your life right now, we
can glean from the words and thetext that we're going to talk
about today.
So we're excited that you'rehere with us.
We're excited to get into theWord of God.
I believe and we believe thatit is His Word that is the most
(01:09):
transformative thing that we canreceive, and when we apply it
to our lives.
So, pastor Lee, you ready toget into it?
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Absolutely, absolutely what's going on
everybody, I hope you got yourBibles with you.
As Pastor Jim just mentioned,we are turning to Matthew,
chapter 4, beginning with thefirst verse, and I'm just going
to read the first four versesand then we'll break it down and
we'll talk about it and we'llsee how we can apply it into our
own personal lives right now,today.
So here we go.
Then Jesus was led up by thespirit into the wilderness to be
(01:37):
tempted by the devil and afterfasting 40 days and 40 nights,
he was hungry and the temptercame and said to him 40 days and
40 nights, he was hungry andthe tempter came and said to him
If you are the Son of God,command these stones to become
loaves of bread.
But he answered.
It is written man shall notlive by bread alone, but by
(01:58):
every word that comes from themouth of God.
Pastor Jim, I'd like to pointout right off the bat something
to our listeners.
You know what happened justbefore this trip to the
wilderness, brother.
It's found in Matthew, chapter3, 13 and 14.
We see, jesus is baptized byJohn the Baptist and the Spirit
of God descends down like a doveand rests on him and God said
(02:18):
this is my beloved son, withwhom I am well pleased.
So from that baptism, with whomI am well pleased, so from that
baptism, jesus is led into thewilderness and he has fasted and
prayed for 40 days and 40nights.
What a powerful moment, right?
What a powerful time.
And all of that has happenedand taken place, and then, all
of a sudden, satan shows up withtemptation.
(02:40):
So I just want to remind ourlisteners to always be on guard,
to always be a watchman on thewall looking out, so when the
enemy does decide to sneak upand attack you've seen him
coming long before he got there.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Yeah, I love that you kind of completely stole all of
my points there.
It's awesome because that justmeans that we're listening to
that same Holy Spirit.
Amen, brother.
I love reflecting and kind ofillustrating out scenes that I
read in the Word.
And so you know, we have Jesus,the Son of God, and he's being
led by the Holy Spirit into thewilderness, and I love that it
(03:17):
says the Holy Spirit's leadingHim into a specific place.
It's not a random place thathe's going, right, it's this
desert, it's this place oftesting, it's a place of
isolation, and I think that allof us can say that we have been
there, right, I know that I'vefelt alone, I've been on an
island, I've been isolatedbefore, which makes this
immediately relevant to each andevery single one of us.
(03:39):
And remember, he's been fastingnow for 40 days, for 40 nights,
and that's an important detail,because Jesus, in his flesh,
suit right that he came down andtook on as God.
He's physically weak, he'shungry, he's tired, he's
vulnerable, and in that moment,when he sat at his most
physically drained Satan, that'swhen he shows up and that's
(04:00):
when he decides to tempt him.
But I think, like you said,something that's very worth
considering is what had happenedjust before this moment was the
Spirit of God was falling ontohim.
He heard God's voice affirminghim as his son and yet, right
after that incredible moment,he's led into the wilderness
right away to face temptation.
(04:21):
And that's a good reminder forall of us that even at our
spiritual highs, we can expectto face these battles.
The truth is, I really don'teven think it takes that much to
knock us off our mountains.
If I'm being honest, I know forme it's day to day.
One day I'm on top of the worldand in the very next moment,
from listening to a comment orsome specific unexpected outcome
(04:43):
, some betrayal, all of a suddenit seems like I'm just tumbling
down this hill into a pile oflike oh, my life stinks, but I
was just on the mountain.
And it's in that moment thatthe enemy often comes in and
works his hardest on us whenwe're at our weakest.
But I love the story that we'reabout to dive into, really,
because it's in this wildernessthat Jesus begins to teach us
(05:07):
that this is a place that we canbe refined Right.
It's where we can grow closerto God and ultimately, he's
teaching us how to respond.
Temptation is a part of ourspiritual journey, but we can
avoid it.
And how do we do that?
It's by following his examplethat we're about to learn about
today.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yeah, man, I want to take a look at this first attack
on Jesus from Satan,because—and I feel like it's
important, right?
Because the first attack onJesus from Satan mirrored what
Satan did to Eve in the garden,which was what we talked about
in our podcast last week.
You know, Satan went fromsaying did God actually say to
Eve in the garden, right?
Did God actually say?
And now to Jesus, he says ifyou are the son of God?
So here Satan is trying to getthose whom he is tempting to
(05:54):
question both the plan andpurpose of God in their lives,
and he does the exact same thingtoday.
And so we've got to be thatwatchman on the wall.
We've got to be looking out forthese types of attacks.
But there's another play that Ibelieve Satan is trying to make
.
Satan is tempting Jesus to usehis divine powers, the divine
(06:18):
power of God in flesh.
Satan is tempting Jesus to usehis own divine powers to provide
for himself and meet hispersonal needs, you know.
So here's what we cannot do.
We do not want.
We do not want to place ourphysical needs before our
(06:38):
spiritual needs.
If we do, it could lead us intotrouble.
So Jesus responds to thetemptation of creating food for
himself, and quotes fromDeuteronomy, chapter eight and
verse three, that man does notlive from bread alone, but by
every word that comes from themouth of God.
(06:58):
So notice what the devil isdoing.
He has attacked his hunger, thehunger, the physical hunger of
Christ, Because oftentimes andI'm just making this personal
here with my own self oftentimes, when I get hungry right, I
become weak, and not justphysically weak, but what can
happen is that we can becomementally and emotionally weak.
(07:22):
I think this is where that termhangry comes from, right, when
we're both hungry and angry.
I've been hangry a time or two,Absolutely man.
So we've got to be carefulbecause, you know, we all handle
it differently.
And so here Satan is attackingJesus when he's physically
hungry, you know.
And some people, when theybecome hungry, they don't lose
(07:45):
focus, maybe right away, buteventually they're going to
start to lose some focus.
Other people, when they gethungry, they rush through
whatever it is that they'redoing until they can satisfy
their desire to eat, you know.
So Satan attacked his hunger.
So something to consider herebe careful what you hunger for,
because it just might be offeredto you.
So think about that for amoment.
(08:07):
Be careful what you hunger for,because it just might be made
available to you.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
I love how he reminds Satan and really all of us,
that our lives aren't justsustained by physical needs,
right, we're truly sustained byGod's Word, and that's how he
responded to them In Deuteronomy8.3, as you said, pastor Lee,
he used God's Word to respond.
It's the only thing.
God's Word is the only thingthat can fill us up in the
(08:35):
deepest sense.
And here's the thing.
We live in a world that'sconstantly telling us that we
need more stuff, you need morefood, you need more of
everything.
But Jesus is showing us throughan example here that true life
comes from God's Word.
It's not about what we can grabfor ourselves, but it's about
trusting God to provide what wetruly need.
(08:56):
Here's the deal.
The first temptation is Satantrying to get Jesus, like you
said, to use his power forpersonal comfort, and that could
be a major struggle for all ofus.
How many times do we seek thecomfort or seek the satisfaction
in things that don't trulysatisfy us?
How often do we try to takematters into our own hands
instead of trusting God for whatwe truly need?
(09:16):
Jesus comes in and he teachesus here that the spiritual
nourishment is far moreimportant than physical
nourishment, and so the word ofGod is our lifeline.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Yeah, that's right, man.
You know, man, I, just asyou're talking right there, bro,
I just want to holler outpreach.
You know.
Like it's just so good, man,because it comes down to the
word.
You know what I mean.
Like it just comes down to theWord.
And we're going to see PastorJim with all three temptations.
This is exactly what Jesuscombats the temptation with is
(09:48):
the Word.
You know he's fighting it withthe Word of God.
So that brings us to the secondtemptation.
So we're going to dig a littledeeper with our listeners here
into the second temptation, fromSatan to Jesus.
And it's found in Matthew,chapter four, verses five
through seven, and this is whatthe word says.
Then the devil took him to theholy city and set him on the
(10:09):
pinnacle of the temple and saidto him if you are the son of God
, throw yourself down, for it iswritten, he will command his
angels concerning you and ontheir hands they will bear you
up.
And so see, with the firsttemptation, jesus fought back
with Scripture.
So now, in the secondtemptation, we see Satan
(10:31):
starting the temptation,starting the fight.
And he's starting the fightwith what Scripture.
You know what a dirty devil heis, man Of all the things to use
as his weapon of choice.
The devil is using the word ofGod In the garden.
As I referenced earlier, hesimply twisted the word to make
his point, but now we see himquoting the word.
(10:53):
He's using the word of God, butusing it in an effort to pull
Christ away from the plan thatGod has for him while he's here
on this earth.
So, pastor Jim, this is whyit's so important we, as
Christians, study the Word ofGod, stay connected to God
through prayer, so we know whensomeone is taking the Word of
(11:13):
God out of context or trying topull us away from the path that
God's Word has us on.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Yeah, see, satan's temptation here is to get Jesus
to demand that he prove himselfor that God proves himself.
It's almost as if Satan'ssaying if you really trust God,
make him prove it.
And Jesus says no, no, no, no,no.
That's not how this works.
No way, I will not test God.
I trust him completely.
And how many of us do thisright?
(11:40):
We've all been in thosesituations where we want to
force God's hand.
God is if you really love me,you'll do this for me.
But God is not a genie in abottle.
I don't know how many timesI've said that to people in my
lifetime.
But he doesn't operate on ourtimetable.
He doesn't operate by ourdemands.
Jesus shows us that faith meanstrusting God even when we don't
(12:02):
have all the answers.
And it's not just about testingGod to prove his faithfulness,
it's about trusting that he isfaithful no matter what.
Yeah, that's right man.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
That's right.
This is going to lead us intothe third temptation, right?
And so when we get into thethird temptation in the
wilderness, we're going to pickup reading together, my friends,
in Matthew, chapter 4,beginning with the eighth verse,
running through the 11th verse,and this is what it says Again
(12:32):
the devil took him to a veryhigh mountain and showed him all
the kingdoms of the world andtheir glory.
And he said to him all these Iwill give you if you will fall
down and worship me.
Then Jesus said to him be gone,satan, for it is written you
shall worship the Lord, your God.
In him only shall you serve.
(12:53):
Then the devil left him and,behold, angels came and were
ministering to him.
Man, you know like, look at thedevil, right he?
He's kicked out of heaven.
He's kicked out of heavenbecause he wanted to be greater
than God.
And here we see Satan wantingJesus, god in flesh, to bow down
(13:16):
before him and worship him.
You know, it's like here's anewsflash, folks.
Nothing has changed.
Nothing has changed.
Satan still wants the people ofthis world following after him
and away from God.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
I think it's silly that he even thought he had the
power, or he didn't.
I know he didn't think he hadthe power, but he offered it
anyway.
Where he said here, Jesus,here's all the kingdoms of the
world, I'm going to give them toyou if you would fall down and
worship me.
All Satan's trying to do hereis offer Jesus power and glory,
one that he already has, butthen two a shortcut to the crown
(13:52):
.
Basically, what he's saying isyou could do all of this without
having to go to the cross.
But Jesus says no, no, no, no,no.
Be gone, Satan, for it iswritten you shall worship the
Lord, your God, and him onlyshould you serve.
Here's the heart of the matter.
Satan offers Jesus a way out ofsuffering, the suffering that
lies ahead.
(14:12):
He's offering him an easy pathto victory.
Jesus knows that worshipinganything other than God is not
an option, and we got to knowthat, too.
The path to glory.
Jesus knows that worshipinganything other than God is not
an option, and we got to knowthat, too.
The path to glory is throughthe obedience of the Father,
even if it means the cross.
Jesus is teaching us thatnothing is worth more than our
allegiance to God.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Yeah, man, look at the devil man.
It's just like you know.
If you're taking notes, writethese two words down dirty devil
.
I mean, that's what he is, bro.
You know he's a dirty devil man, you know.
And look at what he's schemingup, pastor Jim.
He's trying to destroy the planof God by offering Jesus and
(14:50):
this is what you had spoke of amoment ago by offering Jesus
that quick path to the crown.
You are so right, pastor Jim,offering Jesus that quick path
to the crown.
You are so right, pastor Jim.
He's trying to erase Jesus goingto the cross.
So let's take it a step further, right?
Because if Jesus doesn't go tothe cross, then you and I are
(15:11):
lost, bro.
That's right.
Like man, what do we put ourhope in, man, you know?
Like so, satan is trying toterminate that plan, that gospel
plan that God has for us, and Ijust want to remind the
listeners today I want to pointthis out to those that maybe do
not know it as well the devil isstill hard at work, trying to
(15:32):
do the same thing.
Jesus has already been to thecross, so we know that Satan
can't change that.
Amen, what's done is done, it'sfinished.
Jesus says it is finished whenhe was on the cross and
therefore it is.
But what the devil is so slickto do today is to try to, since
he can no longer disqualifyChrist going to the cross
(15:53):
because he already has, he triesto keep us from looking to the
fact that Christ has alreadygone to the cross.
The Bible tells us that, becauseof what Jesus did on the cross,
that the devil has already beendisarmed.
He's already been disarmed ofhis power, you know, which means
the only power that the enemyhas over my life and in my life,
(16:13):
and over my ministry and withinmy ministry.
The only power the enemy hasover all of that is that which I
choose to surrender to him inmy weak moments, you know.
So.
This is why it's so importantto be a watchman on the wall, to
remain strong and to rememberthat Christ yes, he went to the
cross, he lived for us, he diedfor us, he defeated death for us
(16:35):
, he rose for us and, pastor Jim, the good news is he's coming
back for us.
He defeated death for us, herose for us and, pastor Jim, the
good news is he's coming backfor us.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Yeah, Well, that dirty devil, right, is trying to
do back then is separate usfrom the Father.
Yeah, and he could not succeedbecause Jesus came and fulfilled
it and that we have victory.
But that doesn't mean that thedevil stopped trying, right,
he's still trying to separate ustoday.
That's right.
And this last temptation thatwe just talked about it speaks
(17:03):
directly to our modern world.
We're constantly offeredshortcuts to success and power,
but Jesus, he shows us that truegreatness is found in service,
not selfishness.
We're called to worship Godalone, not the things of the
world.
So something I really want topoint out in this is that these
temptations weren't just aboutJesus in the moment.
(17:25):
They certainly were about Him,but they're also about us.
How do we face the same trials,how do we face the same
temptations in our lives?
Jesus certainly showed us howto do it and he fulfilled it
perfectly.
But we have to face them thesame way Jesus did by knowing
the Word of God, by trusting inGod's provision and by resisting
all of these shortcuts andremembering that true worship
(17:47):
belongs to God alone shortcutsand remembering that true
worship belongs to God alone.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Yeah, you know, it's a great, great point and it is
the common thread through thisentire passage of Scripture
Jesus is going to God's Word.
He gets tempted back to God'sWord, gets tempted back to God's
Word, tempted a third time,right Back to God's Word.
And, man, I want that to be allof our go-to move.
You know, when we get temptedback to God's word, what did I
(18:16):
read this morning that's goingto help me get through today?
You know so that as I gothrough my day and I come across
temptation, I want to be ableto stand on whatever it was in
the Word that I received earlierthat morning, and that's why,
to me, my quiet time with theLord in the Word and studying
(18:36):
that's why it is so important.
I need it in order to thriveand survive successfully.
And, folks, I hope you have seenit along with us as you've
listened to this podcast.
You know that the importance ofstudying the Word of God is for
(18:57):
many, many different reasons inour lives, but today we've
simply chosen to look at reasonbeing to fight when it's time to
stand against the evil one, andso that you know the direction
of God's will for your life.
And see, that's how Jesus, godin flesh, he's not going to get
(19:18):
knocked off course, pastor Jim,because he knows the word right,
he is the living word and heknows the plan of action, he
knows the course that he'ssupposed to be on.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
And that's the good news, right?
Because Jesus has already facedthese temptations and he's
overcome them.
And because he did, we can havevictory over our temptations
too.
So, as you go through your week, remember that Jesus has
already won the battle.
We got to lean into his word,we got to trust his timing and
worship him alone.
Well, we want to thank you fortuning in to this episode of
(19:49):
Beyond Sunday.
We hope that this episode hasencouraged you to walk boldly in
your faith.
Let's pray, father.
I'm so grateful for anopportunity to be able to read
your Word every single day.
Father, I'm grateful that yourWord teaches us and the Holy
Spirit will guide us throughthese things.
And, father, as we gothroughout our day and as our
listeners go throughout our day,father, we just ask that you
(20:11):
would remind them of this whenthey reach temptations or when
they are being tested.
Father, that they would leaninto you and your word.
And, father, that they wouldfollow your example.
And, father, just keep themstrengthened throughout their
week and we look forward toseeing them next time.
And it is in your name that wepray, amen.
Welcome to Beyond Sunday, the podcast that takes
you deeper into the Word of Godthroughout your week with your
hosts, pastors Lee and Jim.
It's time to inspire, upliftand dig deeper.
Beyond Sunday starts now.
Hey, everybody, welcome back toour podcast, beyond Sunday, and
(00:26):
if it's your first timelistening, well, we're glad to
have you with us.
I'm Pastor Jim and, as always,I'm here with Pastor Lee.
We're the pastors of ChristFamily Outreach Church, amelia,
virginia, coming to you todaywith a powerful message to study
.
We're going to be in the bookof Matthew We'll start in
chapter 4, and we're going to belooking at the verses 1 through
11.
Jesus is going to be temptedhere by Satan in the wilderness,
(00:48):
and it's one of those storiesthat, of course, we've all heard
.
But there's so much depth herethat can speak to our daily
lives that, no matter where youare in your life right now, we
can glean from the words and thetext that we're going to talk
about today.
So we're excited that you'rehere with us.
We're excited to get into theWord of God.
I believe and we believe thatit is His Word that is the most
(01:09):
transformative thing that we canreceive, and when we apply it
to our lives.
So, pastor Lee, you ready toget into it?
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Absolutely, absolutely what's going on
everybody, I hope you got yourBibles with you.
As Pastor Jim just mentioned,we are turning to Matthew,
chapter 4, beginning with thefirst verse, and I'm just going
to read the first four versesand then we'll break it down and
we'll talk about it and we'llsee how we can apply it into our
own personal lives right now,today.
So here we go.
Then Jesus was led up by thespirit into the wilderness to be
(01:37):
tempted by the devil and afterfasting 40 days and 40 nights,
he was hungry and the temptercame and said to him 40 days and
40 nights, he was hungry andthe tempter came and said to him
If you are the Son of God,command these stones to become
loaves of bread.
But he answered.
It is written man shall notlive by bread alone, but by
(01:58):
every word that comes from themouth of God.
Pastor Jim, I'd like to pointout right off the bat something
to our listeners.
You know what happened justbefore this trip to the
wilderness, brother.
It's found in Matthew, chapter3, 13 and 14.
We see, jesus is baptized byJohn the Baptist and the Spirit
of God descends down like a doveand rests on him and God said
(02:18):
this is my beloved son, withwhom I am well pleased.
So from that baptism, with whomI am well pleased, so from that
baptism, jesus is led into thewilderness and he has fasted and
prayed for 40 days and 40nights.
What a powerful moment, right?
What a powerful time.
And all of that has happenedand taken place, and then, all
of a sudden, satan shows up withtemptation.
(02:40):
So I just want to remind ourlisteners to always be on guard,
to always be a watchman on thewall looking out, so when the
enemy does decide to sneak upand attack you've seen him
coming long before he got there.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Yeah, I love that you kind of completely stole all of
my points there.
It's awesome because that justmeans that we're listening to
that same Holy Spirit.
Amen, brother.
I love reflecting and kind ofillustrating out scenes that I
read in the Word.
And so you know, we have Jesus,the Son of God, and he's being
led by the Holy Spirit into thewilderness, and I love that it
(03:17):
says the Holy Spirit's leadingHim into a specific place.
It's not a random place thathe's going, right, it's this
desert, it's this place oftesting, it's a place of
isolation, and I think that allof us can say that we have been
there, right, I know that I'vefelt alone, I've been on an
island, I've been isolatedbefore, which makes this
immediately relevant to each andevery single one of us.
(03:39):
And remember, he's been fastingnow for 40 days, for 40 nights,
and that's an important detail,because Jesus, in his flesh,
suit right that he came down andtook on as God.
He's physically weak, he'shungry, he's tired, he's
vulnerable, and in that moment,when he sat at his most
physically drained Satan, that'swhen he shows up and that's
(04:00):
when he decides to tempt him.
But I think, like you said,something that's very worth
considering is what had happenedjust before this moment was the
Spirit of God was falling ontohim.
He heard God's voice affirminghim as his son and yet, right
after that incredible moment,he's led into the wilderness
right away to face temptation.
(04:21):
And that's a good reminder forall of us that even at our
spiritual highs, we can expectto face these battles.
The truth is, I really don'teven think it takes that much to
knock us off our mountains.
If I'm being honest, I know forme it's day to day.
One day I'm on top of the worldand in the very next moment,
from listening to a comment orsome specific unexpected outcome
(04:43):
, some betrayal, all of a suddenit seems like I'm just tumbling
down this hill into a pile oflike oh, my life stinks, but I
was just on the mountain.
And it's in that moment thatthe enemy often comes in and
works his hardest on us whenwe're at our weakest.
But I love the story that we'reabout to dive into, really,
because it's in this wildernessthat Jesus begins to teach us
(05:07):
that this is a place that we canbe refined Right.
It's where we can grow closerto God and ultimately, he's
teaching us how to respond.
Temptation is a part of ourspiritual journey, but we can
avoid it.
And how do we do that?
It's by following his examplethat we're about to learn about
today.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yeah, man, I want to take a look at this first attack
on Jesus from Satan,because—and I feel like it's
important, right?
Because the first attack onJesus from Satan mirrored what
Satan did to Eve in the garden,which was what we talked about
in our podcast last week.
You know, Satan went fromsaying did God actually say to
Eve in the garden, right?
Did God actually say?
And now to Jesus, he says ifyou are the son of God?
So here Satan is trying to getthose whom he is tempting to
(05:54):
question both the plan andpurpose of God in their lives,
and he does the exact same thingtoday.
And so we've got to be thatwatchman on the wall.
We've got to be looking out forthese types of attacks.
But there's another play that Ibelieve Satan is trying to make
.
Satan is tempting Jesus to usehis divine powers, the divine
(06:18):
power of God in flesh.
Satan is tempting Jesus to usehis own divine powers to provide
for himself and meet hispersonal needs, you know.
So here's what we cannot do.
We do not want.
We do not want to place ourphysical needs before our
(06:38):
spiritual needs.
If we do, it could lead us intotrouble.
So Jesus responds to thetemptation of creating food for
himself, and quotes fromDeuteronomy, chapter eight and
verse three, that man does notlive from bread alone, but by
every word that comes from themouth of God.
(06:58):
So notice what the devil isdoing.
He has attacked his hunger, thehunger, the physical hunger of
Christ, Because oftentimes andI'm just making this personal
here with my own self oftentimes, when I get hungry right, I
become weak, and not justphysically weak, but what can
happen is that we can becomementally and emotionally weak.
(07:22):
I think this is where that termhangry comes from, right, when
we're both hungry and angry.
I've been hangry a time or two,Absolutely man.
So we've got to be carefulbecause, you know, we all handle
it differently.
And so here Satan is attackingJesus when he's physically
hungry, you know.
And some people, when theybecome hungry, they don't lose
(07:45):
focus, maybe right away, buteventually they're going to
start to lose some focus.
Other people, when they gethungry, they rush through
whatever it is that they'redoing until they can satisfy
their desire to eat, you know.
So Satan attacked his hunger.
So something to consider herebe careful what you hunger for,
because it just might be offeredto you.
So think about that for amoment.
(08:07):
Be careful what you hunger for,because it just might be made
available to you.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
I love how he reminds Satan and really all of us,
that our lives aren't justsustained by physical needs,
right, we're truly sustained byGod's Word, and that's how he
responded to them In Deuteronomy8.3, as you said, pastor Lee,
he used God's Word to respond.
It's the only thing.
God's Word is the only thingthat can fill us up in the
(08:35):
deepest sense.
And here's the thing.
We live in a world that'sconstantly telling us that we
need more stuff, you need morefood, you need more of
everything.
But Jesus is showing us throughan example here that true life
comes from God's Word.
It's not about what we can grabfor ourselves, but it's about
trusting God to provide what wetruly need.
(08:56):
Here's the deal.
The first temptation is Satantrying to get Jesus, like you
said, to use his power forpersonal comfort, and that could
be a major struggle for all ofus.
How many times do we seek thecomfort or seek the satisfaction
in things that don't trulysatisfy us?
How often do we try to takematters into our own hands
instead of trusting God for whatwe truly need?
(09:16):
Jesus comes in and he teachesus here that the spiritual
nourishment is far moreimportant than physical
nourishment, and so the word ofGod is our lifeline.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Yeah, that's right, man.
You know, man, I, just asyou're talking right there, bro,
I just want to holler outpreach.
You know.
Like it's just so good, man,because it comes down to the
word.
You know what I mean.
Like it just comes down to theWord.
And we're going to see PastorJim with all three temptations.
This is exactly what Jesuscombats the temptation with is
(09:48):
the Word.
You know he's fighting it withthe Word of God.
So that brings us to the secondtemptation.
So we're going to dig a littledeeper with our listeners here
into the second temptation, fromSatan to Jesus.
And it's found in Matthew,chapter four, verses five
through seven, and this is whatthe word says.
Then the devil took him to theholy city and set him on the
(10:09):
pinnacle of the temple and saidto him if you are the son of God
, throw yourself down, for it iswritten, he will command his
angels concerning you and ontheir hands they will bear you
up.
And so see, with the firsttemptation, jesus fought back
with Scripture.
So now, in the secondtemptation, we see Satan
(10:31):
starting the temptation,starting the fight.
And he's starting the fightwith what Scripture.
You know what a dirty devil heis, man Of all the things to use
as his weapon of choice.
The devil is using the word ofGod In the garden.
As I referenced earlier, hesimply twisted the word to make
his point, but now we see himquoting the word.
(10:53):
He's using the word of God, butusing it in an effort to pull
Christ away from the plan thatGod has for him while he's here
on this earth.
So, pastor Jim, this is whyit's so important we, as
Christians, study the Word ofGod, stay connected to God
through prayer, so we know whensomeone is taking the Word of
(11:13):
God out of context or trying topull us away from the path that
God's Word has us on.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Yeah, see, satan's temptation here is to get Jesus
to demand that he prove himselfor that God proves himself.
It's almost as if Satan'ssaying if you really trust God,
make him prove it.
And Jesus says no, no, no, no,no.
That's not how this works.
No way, I will not test God.
I trust him completely.
And how many of us do thisright?
(11:40):
We've all been in thosesituations where we want to
force God's hand.
God is if you really love me,you'll do this for me.
But God is not a genie in abottle.
I don't know how many timesI've said that to people in my
lifetime.
But he doesn't operate on ourtimetable.
He doesn't operate by ourdemands.
Jesus shows us that faith meanstrusting God even when we don't
(12:02):
have all the answers.
And it's not just about testingGod to prove his faithfulness,
it's about trusting that he isfaithful no matter what.
Yeah, that's right man.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
That's right.
This is going to lead us intothe third temptation, right?
And so when we get into thethird temptation in the
wilderness, we're going to pickup reading together, my friends,
in Matthew, chapter 4,beginning with the eighth verse,
running through the 11th verse,and this is what it says Again
(12:32):
the devil took him to a veryhigh mountain and showed him all
the kingdoms of the world andtheir glory.
And he said to him all these Iwill give you if you will fall
down and worship me.
Then Jesus said to him be gone,satan, for it is written you
shall worship the Lord, your God.
In him only shall you serve.
(12:53):
Then the devil left him and,behold, angels came and were
ministering to him.
Man, you know like, look at thedevil, right he?
He's kicked out of heaven.
He's kicked out of heavenbecause he wanted to be greater
than God.
And here we see Satan wantingJesus, god in flesh, to bow down
(13:16):
before him and worship him.
You know, it's like here's anewsflash, folks.
Nothing has changed.
Nothing has changed.
Satan still wants the people ofthis world following after him
and away from God.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
I think it's silly that he even thought he had the
power, or he didn't.
I know he didn't think he hadthe power, but he offered it
anyway.
Where he said here, Jesus,here's all the kingdoms of the
world, I'm going to give them toyou if you would fall down and
worship me.
All Satan's trying to do hereis offer Jesus power and glory,
one that he already has, butthen two a shortcut to the crown
(13:52):
.
Basically, what he's saying isyou could do all of this without
having to go to the cross.
But Jesus says no, no, no, no,no.
Be gone, Satan, for it iswritten you shall worship the
Lord, your God, and him onlyshould you serve.
Here's the heart of the matter.
Satan offers Jesus a way out ofsuffering, the suffering that
lies ahead.
(14:12):
He's offering him an easy pathto victory.
Jesus knows that worshipinganything other than God is not
an option, and we got to knowthat, too.
The path to glory.
Jesus knows that worshipinganything other than God is not
an option, and we got to knowthat, too.
The path to glory is throughthe obedience of the Father,
even if it means the cross.
Jesus is teaching us thatnothing is worth more than our
allegiance to God.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Yeah, man, look at the devil man.
It's just like you know.
If you're taking notes, writethese two words down dirty devil
.
I mean, that's what he is, bro.
You know he's a dirty devil man, you know.
And look at what he's schemingup, pastor Jim.
He's trying to destroy the planof God by offering Jesus and
(14:50):
this is what you had spoke of amoment ago by offering Jesus
that quick path to the crown.
You are so right, pastor Jim,offering Jesus that quick path
to the crown.
You are so right, pastor Jim.
He's trying to erase Jesus goingto the cross.
So let's take it a step further, right?
Because if Jesus doesn't go tothe cross, then you and I are
(15:11):
lost, bro.
That's right.
Like man, what do we put ourhope in, man, you know?
Like so, satan is trying toterminate that plan, that gospel
plan that God has for us, and Ijust want to remind the
listeners today I want to pointthis out to those that maybe do
not know it as well the devil isstill hard at work, trying to
(15:32):
do the same thing.
Jesus has already been to thecross, so we know that Satan
can't change that.
Amen, what's done is done, it'sfinished.
Jesus says it is finished whenhe was on the cross and
therefore it is.
But what the devil is so slickto do today is to try to, since
he can no longer disqualifyChrist going to the cross
(15:53):
because he already has, he triesto keep us from looking to the
fact that Christ has alreadygone to the cross.
The Bible tells us that, becauseof what Jesus did on the cross,
that the devil has already beendisarmed.
He's already been disarmed ofhis power, you know, which means
the only power that the enemyhas over my life and in my life,
(16:13):
and over my ministry and withinmy ministry.
The only power the enemy hasover all of that is that which I
choose to surrender to him inmy weak moments, you know.
So.
This is why it's so importantto be a watchman on the wall, to
remain strong and to rememberthat Christ yes, he went to the
cross, he lived for us, he diedfor us, he defeated death for us
(16:35):
, he rose for us and, pastor Jim, the good news is he's coming
back for us.
He defeated death for us, herose for us and, pastor Jim, the
good news is he's coming backfor us.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Yeah, Well, that dirty devil, right, is trying to
do back then is separate usfrom the Father.
Yeah, and he could not succeedbecause Jesus came and fulfilled
it and that we have victory.
But that doesn't mean that thedevil stopped trying, right,
he's still trying to separate ustoday.
That's right.
And this last temptation thatwe just talked about it speaks
(17:03):
directly to our modern world.
We're constantly offeredshortcuts to success and power,
but Jesus, he shows us that truegreatness is found in service,
not selfishness.
We're called to worship Godalone, not the things of the
world.
So something I really want topoint out in this is that these
temptations weren't just aboutJesus in the moment.
(17:25):
They certainly were about Him,but they're also about us.
How do we face the same trials,how do we face the same
temptations in our lives?
Jesus certainly showed us howto do it and he fulfilled it
perfectly.
But we have to face them thesame way Jesus did by knowing
the Word of God, by trusting inGod's provision and by resisting
all of these shortcuts andremembering that true worship
(17:47):
belongs to God alone shortcutsand remembering that true
worship belongs to God alone.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Yeah, you know, it's a great, great point and it is
the common thread through thisentire passage of Scripture
Jesus is going to God's Word.
He gets tempted back to God'sWord, gets tempted back to God's
Word, tempted a third time,right Back to God's Word.
And, man, I want that to be allof our go-to move.
You know, when we get temptedback to God's word, what did I
(18:16):
read this morning that's goingto help me get through today?
You know so that as I gothrough my day and I come across
temptation, I want to be ableto stand on whatever it was in
the Word that I received earlierthat morning, and that's why,
to me, my quiet time with theLord in the Word and studying
(18:36):
that's why it is so important.
I need it in order to thriveand survive successfully.
And, folks, I hope you have seenit along with us as you've
listened to this podcast.
You know that the importance ofstudying the Word of God is for
(18:57):
many, many different reasons inour lives, but today we've
simply chosen to look at reasonbeing to fight when it's time to
stand against the evil one, andso that you know the direction
of God's will for your life.
And see, that's how Jesus, godin flesh, he's not going to get
(19:18):
knocked off course, pastor Jim,because he knows the word right,
he is the living word and heknows the plan of action, he
knows the course that he'ssupposed to be on.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
And that's the good news, right?
Because Jesus has already facedthese temptations and he's
overcome them.
And because he did, we can havevictory over our temptations
too.
So, as you go through your week, remember that Jesus has
already won the battle.
We got to lean into his word,we got to trust his timing and
worship him alone.
Well, we want to thank you fortuning in to this episode of
(19:49):
Beyond Sunday.
We hope that this episode hasencouraged you to walk boldly in
your faith.
Let's pray, father.
I'm so grateful for anopportunity to be able to read
your Word every single day.
Father, I'm grateful that yourWord teaches us and the Holy
Spirit will guide us throughthese things.
And, father, as we gothroughout our day and as our
listeners go throughout our day,father, we just ask that you
(20:11):
would remind them of this whenthey reach temptations or when
they are being tested.
Father, that they would leaninto you and your word.
And, father, that they wouldfollow your example.
And, father, just keep themstrengthened throughout their
week and we look forward toseeing them next time.
And it is in your name that wepray, amen.
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