The Truth About Temptation

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Today I'm going to share with you this Truth Network Podcast. If you will fall down and worship me Then Jesus said to him away with you Satan for it is written You shall worship the Lord your God and him only You shall serve then the devil left him and behold angels came and ministered to him Yes, Jesus has been there and done that when it comes to temptation and Yet he conquered sin and Satan and overcame by the power of God How did he do it and how can we do it as well? Well think with me about some truths Truths concerning temptation The first truth that I want you to think about is the period in which Jesus was tempted We're told here in the passage that just after the baptism of Jesus described in previous section of Scripture He was led by the spirits into the desert into the wilderness after 30 years on earth Jesus was prepared for his public ministry at His baptism the Father had affirmed his deity by saying this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased the Spirit of God had anointed him for his calling as the Messiah and now his life is aglow with the anointing of the Holy Spirit after 30 years of Obscurity he is now ready for three power-packed years in the limelight and The debt the Spirit of God leads them into the wilderness Into the desert how Anticlimactic after this great moment at the baptism Came the desert Interesting, isn't it? How so often in life we are tempted after great spiritual victories after Mountaintop experiences in our life when we think we're as close to God as we could be maybe it's in a time of prayer Maybe it says you're reading your Bible Maybe it's even in a worship service and you find yourself thinking thoughts that you ought not to be thinking Dealing with temptations that you thought were gone in your previous life in your BC years No matter where you go It seems you meet the enemy now Jesus went out into the desert to meet the devil not on the defensive but on the offensive to demonstrate his power over Satan and to establish his victory and To serve as our model, but someone called this the dove devil principle right after the dove comes the devil right after the baptism comes the Blasting and I want to warn you to be on guard because after your greatest spiritual experiences after your biggest Victories in the Christian life you will often face Satan because Satan Satan loves a shining mark We are vulnerable after victory and when God opens the windows of heaven to bless us God Satan will open the doors of hell to blast us and Every spiritual commitment that you make in life every time you want to move forward in your Christian life Satan will be there to challenge you and to challenge your commitment because remember this Satan never takes a day off He doesn't and therefore you must always be on the alert Jesus said watch and pray lest you enter into temptation He taught us to pray in that model prayer Lord lead us not into temptation We dare not coast in the Christian life or bask in Spiritual victory let him that stands take heed lest he fall Yet every experience of temptation offers us the opportunity to grow in Christ and in our faith and experience the faithfulness of God You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and today's message the truth about temptation You have a God-given calling to take the gospel to the world That's why we've put together a special bundle of resources to help you grow in your love of the gospel and share it with others This evangelism bundle includes three of Pastor Jack Graham's books the hope of Easter life book and God's promises for doubt-filled days this evangelism bundle is our thanks for your gift today and Thanks to a generous matching grant your gift today will be doubled This is the last week to have your gift doubled so call today call 1-800-795-4627 That's 1-800-795-4627 You can also text the word PowerPoint to 59789 and don't forget to visit Jack Graham Dot o RG where you can shop our e-store give a gift online or sign up for dr. Graham's free daily Email devotional our website again is Jack Graham dot o RG now Let's get back to today's message the truth about temptation Jesus was led by the Spirit of God into the desert it was the wilderness He was alone in a barren place and in this desert in this desolate place Jesus would have been more alone on earth than in anywhere else on the planet and yet He was not alone because he was fasting and praying and spending time with the Father just before his three years of ministry before the fulfillment of his Messiah ship and His cross and his resurrection. He must now take time in his humanity to collect his thoughts To ready his mind and his body and his spirit to plan his strategy and to brace himself for the challenges ahead What a reminder that is to us That we will never know Victory public victory until we know private and personal victory in Christ God uses people who are willing to spend time alone with him.

Moses had his 40 years in the desert Elijah the great prophet had his Brook careth Paul had three years in Arabia now the Lord himself after these 30 years Living in an out-of-the-way place in Nazareth. He is now spending 40 days in the wilderness alone with the Father and Yet someone else is there Satan shows up and Then the battle Begins as the father of lies Offers Jesus seductive and powerful temptations wave after wave and the indication is when you read the New Testament text that These temptations just kept coming and coming at him And I want you to see How the devil came after Jesus for the way Satan came after Jesus is the same way. He's going to come after you. I mean his mo his method of operation hasn't changed in all these years from the beginning of time when Satan slithered his way into the Garden of Eden to this moment when Jesus was tempted to this very day as we face our Enemy that the the strategy of Satan is still the same. It's not changed Really Satan has three kinds or types of temptations Temptations that are directed at the physical appetite Temptations that are directed to our personal ambitions and temptations that are addressed to our spiritual allegiance First he came at Jesus as he comes at us with a temptation concerning physical appetite When God said this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased Satan was listening around the corner and So after all of these days of fasting in the wilderness, Jesus is tired. Jesus is hungry Satan moved in and took advantage of his weakened physical condition and Said something like this according to the scripture Jesus. I you know, I've just been listening And your father said That you are his beloved son in whom he is well pleased I've just been noticing Jesus that you're tired and you're hungry you're starving out here and Since you're the Son of God Why don't you? just turn these stones to bread and Satisfy the craving of your flesh Now there's nothing wrong with a physical appetite it is natural it is normal to desire food in Fact you could describe or define temptation in this way Temptation is the opportunity or the solicitation to satisfy or fulfill a God-given desire in a God forbidden way Satan comes and says takes our desires our physical appetites and says satisfy yourself It doesn't matter That you step out of the will of God or do it your way rather than God's way God has given you this desire If it feels good Do it God has given us these desires for intimacy for approval for acceptance for love for creativity And the devil was saying Jesus you're the Son of God you deserve better than this you're starving out here God is not meeting your needs. God's not going to take care of yourself So you better satisfy yourself if God really loved you he says He would take care of you, but God's holding out on you. God's not giving you his best So what you need to do Satan says is to grab for all the gusto you can get right now Had Jesus yielded to this temptation he would have broken his fast before time and he would also indicated that he was no longer depending upon God to satisfy I want you to remember this When it comes to physical appetites Satan sin can gratify but never satisfy Because God has given you these certain desires and inclinations and Needs in your life and he has promised to fulfill those needs in his way in his time So we must never yield to the temptation to step outside the plan of God to step outside the will of God to disobey God in any way simply to satisfy ourselves with some physical appetite I mean it was just bread. It was just stones into bread perform a miracle take the bread eat it It's just one time Jesus. How many times does Satan come at us and say just do this one time?

and it won't matter and How many times does that one time turn in turn into a habit or an addiction? how many times does just one time or rebellion against God turn into a lifestyle of rebellion against God how many times does just one Disobedience concerning sin and Satan and and lust and and and greed and power How many times is just one time turn into a lifetime of regret and sorrow and sadness? Because with every kick there's a kickback First Satan fascinates and then he assassinates He Said Jesus You're hungry you need food do it your way forget about God's way That's the first kind of temptation that we all face just as Jesus faced it we face it as well But then came another kind of temptation when Jesus responded and resisted that temptation There came a another kind of temptation and that was in the realm of personal ambitions Personal ambitions Satan took Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple and Satan says alright Jesus You're the Messiah. You're the Son of God Prove it jump off this pinnacle of the temple.

I stood where the pinnacle of the temple now It still exists to this day and it's a dizzying height than to jump would be certain death. So he said jump off and when you do the angels will bear you up and Everyone in Israel will know that you are the Messiah because you are the man that the angels delivered do something spectacular Jesus draw attention to yourself take the shortcut cut jump and God will take care of you Just name it and claim it Now do you see how? Satan is reversing the strategy here in the first temptation Satan was saying God's not going to take care of you turn the stones into bread God doesn't love you. You better love yourself So when Jesus said no to that temptation then Satan reversed his field and He says Jesus God's gonna take care of you no matter what you do Jump off the temple mount do something silly do something spectacular do something crazy God's gonna take care of you Anyway, how many times does Satan tempt us to presume upon the goodness of God to presume? upon the grace of God This is a temptation to put God to the test Now had Jesus jumped and been delivered by the angels He would have immediately been accepted as the Messiah Satan was saying Jesus you do this and immediately the whole world is going to know who you are and You will be accepted But remember Jesus did not come to this earth to be Accepted but rather to be rejected and to give his life on the cross To rise again on the third day so that mankind could be saved and have a hope and a future with him and So this you see would have been a shortcut For Jesus it would then have been instantaneous applause and acclaim and acceptance But it would have been rejection of the will and plan of God for his life Now do we get temptations like this one sure we do Often Satan comes to us and says things like take the shortcut on this do the easy thing Cheat a little bit over here lie a little bit over there Step out of your your marriage bonds and Just one time See what it's like God's gonna forgive you anyway if you fall the Lord's gonna pick you up or You know do something spectacular so that you can attract a bigger a claim to be noticed and the world Will love you and the world will applaud you and the world will think more of you You know, we should never get ourselves in a position of compromise with sin and Temptation and then expect God to get us out how many times do we do foolish things or put ourselves in a position of failure and Then presume That We'll get out of it and Yet this is a temptation That is so devastating Don't ever tempt God's power By deliberately putting yourself in a situation that you know is wrong You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and today's message the truth about temptation 3.2 billion people in our world still have no access to the good news of Jesus and we must do whatever it takes To reach the lost with the hope of Christ That's why we're excited to tell you about a matching grant that will double whatever you give today to help reach more people through PowerPoint Your support will help broadcast the gospel into some of the most spiritually dark corners of the earth We'll say thanks for your gift by sending you three of Pastor Graham's books to help you share the gospel right where you are This evangelism bundle includes the hope of Easter life book and God's promises for doubt-filled days This is the last week to have your gift doubled. So call today call 1-800-795-4627 That's 1-800-795-4627 You can also text the word PowerPoint to five nine seven eight nine That's PowerPoint to five nine seven eight nine and don't forget to visit Jack Graham Graham dot o RG where you can shop our e-store give a gift online or sign up for dr Graham's free daily email devotional our website again is Jack Graham dot o RG Pastor what is your PowerPoint for today? It doesn't matter how old you are where you live or what your social status may be Temptation finds us all and if you're a believer, you've definitely had to deal with temptation in your walk with Christ, you know Scott There's no place we can hide from temptation But we can certainly fight it in the power of Christ and as a result win over sin Whenever you feel like the temptation you face is too much to handle Just remember that Jesus was tempted even as you're tempted and yet through it all He lived without sin by the power and the grace and the strength of God in 1st Corinthians 10 13 We're reminded that no temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man But God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able But with the temptation will also make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it Remember that temptation is the seduction to fulfill a God-given desire in a God-forbidden way Also, always be aware that Satan is watching to trip you up and his goal is to get you to give in to temptation So be ready stay on the alert because sin may gratify momentarily, but it never satisfies Jesus said to his disciples in mark 14 38 Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak when Satan tries to entice you with temptation whether it's your physical appetites your personal ambitions or your spiritual allegiance Run to God's Word for strength stand on his truth and rest in the promises of Christ and that is today's PowerPoint Remember when you give a gift to PowerPoint your gift will be doubled by a matching grant call 1-800-795-4627 1-800-795-4627 You can also text the word PowerPoint to five nine seven eight nine And join us again next time as dr. Graham brings a message about how to follow Christ's example To experience victory over temptation. That's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint ministries