Live with Lon-How to Fight Temptation

Well, good morning, everybody.

This is Lon and we are doing live with Lon this morning. And this is our study in the Gospels. And we are excited about this.

We are going deep. We are doing a exegetical study. We are doing an expository study.

We are doing a study with applicability to our lives. And we're excited about this. And so we're going to dig in today. We're going to move on from John the Baptist and we're going to dig in today to Matthew chapter four. But just before we do that, let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you that we can study your Holy Word today. And Father, I pray that you would open our hearts and our minds so that the Word of God would be able to go deep inside of us and change our very behavior, our very attitudes, our very actions. Lord, we also want to take a moment to pray for the coronavirus situation. Oh, God, protect us, we pray, and our families as we look to you. And God, we pray for those who are sick that we know, our friends, co-workers, relatives. Oh, God, have mercy on them, we pray. Have mercy. And Lord, we pray that you would have mercy on the human race. We don't deserve it, but nonetheless, Lord, we beg thee for mercy.

Help us to find something that works against this virus or, Lord, just stay this virus, stop this virus by your mighty hand. Father, we beg you for that mercy, and we wait on you for that, and we look forward to seeing how you're going to answer that prayer. And we now, as we open the Word of God, we pray that you would use it in our lives. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Okay. Well, here in Matthew chapter 4, we're going to meet a new personage. We're talking about the devil. Now, the devil is called a number of different, by a number of different names in the Bible. He's called Lucifer, coming out of Isaiah 14. He's called the accuser of the brethren in the book of Revelation. He's called Satan, which in Hebrew simply means the adversary. And here he's called the tempter in Matthew chapter 4.

And the reason for that, of course, is because he and all of his evil demons, one of their primary goals is to tempt members of the human race into sin, to use our sin nature against us and to put it on steroids, to inflame it, and to cause us to sin and to give in to those impulses of our sin nature. And this is what he's going to try to do to the Lord Jesus Christ. So we're going to pick up Matthew chapter 4 and we begin. We're using, of course, the New King James Bible.

And let's begin the translation. Let's begin in verse one of chapter four. Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit. Notice this.

We'll come back to that. The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Now, why would the devil want to tempt the Lord Jesus Christ to sin?

Very simple. And if you've been with us in our study of the plan of salvation for four weeks, several weeks ago, you hopefully know this. And that is that Jesus went to the cross as our substitutionary atonement for sin. And in order for God to accept him as a substitute for our sin, his death in substitute for our death, we saw that he had to be blemishless. He had to be sinless.

As Hebrews 4 says, he was tempted in always as we are, every way we are, yet without sin. So if Satan could get the Lord Jesus Christ to commit even the tiniest sin, he would destroy the plan of salvation. He would ruin the Jesus as a substitutionary atonement. The plan of salvation would be completely annulled. It would be kaput.

Yeah, that's right, kaput. And so this is what he's trying to do. Now, the Bible goes on to say, verse two, that when Jesus had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, afterward he was hungry. Well, I guess so. And when the tempter, there's that name for the devil in this chapter, came to him, he said, if you are the son of God, command that these stones become bread. Now, friends, is there anything wrong with the Lord Jesus Christ turning stones into bread so that he could eat? No. Is eating sin?

No. You say, well, then I don't understand. What's the temptation here? If eating is not sin, why is this a temptation? Oh, remember we said that Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Spirit, remember, the Holy Spirit. And so what he did in the wilderness, fasting in the wilderness, that was the will of God for his life, because the Holy Spirit had led him to do this and so to create bread, even though eating is no sin. But if God by the Spirit had led the Lord Jesus Christ into the wilderness to fast and he chose in his own prerogatives as deity, as the second person of the Godhead, Philippians 2 says that the Lord Jesus emptied himself of his own prerogatives as the second person in the Godhead.

And he lived instead by the power of the Spirit, the third person in the Godhead. If Jesus had overruled the third person in the Godhead to do what he felt like doing to satisfy his carnal needs, he was hungry, then it would have been sin. Do we understand what I'm saying? Friends, there's nothing wrong with the desires, many desires of our flesh, hunger, thirst, the desire for companionship, the desire for sexual relations. These are normal desires that God has put in us as human beings. However, when we know God's will regarding these things, let's just take sexual activity, for example, when we know that it's God's will that we only practice and allow that expression of our human desire to be actually fulfilled in a certain way, like in marriage is what I'm saying, when we jump over that and fulfill that desire by exempting ourselves and disobeying the way God says we can legitimately fulfill it, then that is sin.

And this is what was happening here. Nothing wrong with food, nothing wrong with bread, but it was the will of God that he be fasting and for him to jump over that because he was hungry would have been sin. Do we all do we all see that? OK, now the Bible goes on to say, but Jesus answered and said, it is written. Where is it written? Well, in Deuteronomy Chapter eight in the Old Testament, it is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Jesus said, no, well, what I live by is the will of God. Now, every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, that's what I live by.

Bread's important, but it's not more important than that. Given the choice, I obey God, not my human hunger. Now, Satan moves on. Let's look at verse five. Then the devil took him up to the holy city, Jerusalem, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple. Those of you who've been with me to Israel know this is the southeast corner of the Temple Mount, where he would have a fall of a couple hundred feet down into the Kidron Valley, just outside the temple wall, just outside the city wall. And Satan puts him here and he says, if you are the son of God, throw yourself off here. Throw yourself down. For it is written, Satan quotes scripture to him.

Look at this. Psalm 91. He, God, will give his angels charge over you, and in their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. Now, Satan quotes scripture to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's pretty amazing that he knows the Bible, Satan does, and he can quote it.

And this is one of his many tactics is to quote the Bible to people, but to give them the wrong interpretation of it. These verses do say what they say. However, by comparing scripture to scripture, the Lord Jesus says, yes, you're right, Satan. The scripture does say that, but that is not what it means.

That is not what it's telling me to do. Look, Jesus says to him, yes, you're right, but it is also written. You shall not tempt the Lord your God. Satan, you quoted scripture, but you twisted it. You distorted it to try to make it something that would cause me to sin. And I can counter that by knowing the Bible well enough to know there is other scripture that says to me, no, this is not the correct way to interpret this piece of scripture.

Now, we're going to talk about this more next week. Satan's tactics that he uses to try to tempt us. And one of them is to use the scripture, but to use it wrong.

So we'll come back to this, but let's move on. Jesus said, yeah, you quoted the Bible, but you got it wrong because it says don't tempt God. And that's what you're trying to use the scripture to get me to do. And so finally, again, the devil took him up verse eight on an exceedingly high mountain and showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world in their glory and said to him, all these things I will give to you if you will fall down and worship me. Now you say, well, that that seems a little strange. I thought God's the one who's in control of the whole universe and gives, you know, kingdoms to whoever he wants.

Yeah, well, we'll talk about this more next week. God has given Satan. He mentions that Satan does in Luke four in the temptation of Jesus, he says, which is my right in this age.

Satan says he is the god of this world. Second Corinthians four says. And so he I don't know how all this works, but apparently he has the authority, at least during this limited time in space. He has the authority to do this. What he said. Jesus never argued and said, you don't have the authority to do that. So I don't fully understand that.

We'll talk about it more next week. But look what Jesus says to him. And Jesus said to him, away with you, Satan. Verse 10. For it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.

Now, let me tell you how this is a temptation to sin. If we look at Psalm Chapter two and do that with me. Look at Psalm Chapter two, if you would. In Psalm Chapter two, here's what the Bible says.

God speaking. He says he, God the father, said to me, the Lord Jesus Christ, you are my son. Psalm two, verse seven.

Ask of me. And I will surely give you the nations for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession. Now, we know this is a messianic song. We know this first applies to the Lord Jesus Christ because it's quoted in the New Testament today.

You are my son. I have begotten thee. And so this is God the father talking to God the son and saying, I'm going to give you all the kingdoms of the world as your personal possession after the second coming of the Lord. And so you say, well, then what kind of temptation is this? I mean, Jesus was going to get all of the kingdoms of the world anyway, so he should have just taken them from Satan. No, no, no.

Wait a minute. Yes, God was going to give him all the kingdoms of the world. But friends, the way to that promise being fulfilled was by way of the cross. It was the virgin birth, the cross, the resurrection, the second coming.

Song two fulfilled. You get all the world is your inheritance. What Satan is trying to get the Lord Jesus to do is to go the virgin birth and jumping over all the rest of that. The agony of the cross, the resurrection jumping all over the process, going from A to Z and possessing the kingdoms of the world without going through the process that God had dictated had to happen. Jesus had to go not from the virgin birth to all the kings of the world, but he had to go through living his earthly life, doing his earthly ministry, going to the cross, suffering on the cross, dying for our sin, being resurrected.

The path to all the kingdoms of the world was part of the will of God for him. And what Satan is offering him is to be able to kind of hopscotch over the cross and the pain and the agony and the death and go right to the end result. That is a violation of God's plan for Jesus's life.

And therefore, for Jesus to opt out of God's plan for his life would be sin. And this is a common temptation that Satan offers you and me. He offers us a chance to get to the end result without going through the pain of the process and the learning of the process and the maturity of the process that God has outlined for us.

He gives us a cheap way to get to the end product. He gives us a disobedient to God way to get to the end product. And that is sin. And this is what he's offering the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord says, no, I won't worship you and I will not short circuit the plan of God for my life, even though it's a painful plan on the human level. I'm going to do it God's way.

I'm going to do it God's way. And this is a very, as I said, a very common temptation for us. You know, we want to get married, but God has a process for us to go through before he gets us to that right person. And Satan tries to tempt us to leapfrog that process and just grab somebody, not the person God has for us and marry them. We want a promotion.

We, you know, and so Satan tempts us. I remember when I was in seminary, I was working at a food store as a bag boy out front. It was called A&P Foods. You got to be old, older to remember A&P Foods.

And they've been bankrupt for years. But anyway, I didn't like working out front as a bag boy. I didn't like the weather out there. You know, it was cold.

It was rainy, whatever. Plus, I kind of thought I was a big shot. And I wanted, I felt I could work in there and I could work the cash register as good as anybody else and maybe even better than anybody else.

And I didn't want to be. I want to be on a cash register. And I talked to the boss about it and he said, we'll get you there. We'll get you there. But, you know, everybody has to start as a private.

Nobody starts on a cash. You have to start and work your way up. Well, I didn't want to do that. So I had a friend, Tom Titus, good friend of mine, who was managing a giant food store. And I asked him if he would put me on over there right as a cashier.

And being my friend, he agreed. And so I left A&P and I jumped. I wasn't willing to wait for God to do it his way and take me through the process. I was in a hurry.

So I jumped in the energy in my own flesh and my own impatience. And you know what was one of the worst mistakes in my entire life. The whole three years that resulted from that was a disaster in many different ways that I don't have time to tell you.

But it was a huge mistake. And I look back now and I say, you know what? If I had just stayed where I was and let God do it the way God wanted to do it, those three years would have been much different. What I'm saying is this is the kind of temptation that Satan was trying to talk the Lord into doing. And the Lord said, no, no, I'm not doing that. And so last verse for today, if you look, Matthew Chapter four, it says, And then the devil left him after three temptations. And behold, the angels came and ministered to Jesus.

And I love in Luke Chapter four, the Bible tells us I love what it says there. It says, And the devil left him until a convenient time, meaning the devil didn't leave him forever just because he resisted him once successfully. No, no, the devil was coming back and he did come back many times to tempt the Lord Jesus Christ. And yet he left him that time. And so remember, if we resist the devil successfully once, it doesn't mean that he or one of his his buddies are not coming back to tempt us again.

They'll be back tomorrow or they'll be back later this afternoon. They don't give up, but we can resist them successfully now and this afternoon and tomorrow. But this goes on and on as long as our earthly life lasts. And it did for the Lord Jesus Christ as well. He was tempted, I'll bet, every day by the devil, which is why Hebrews four is so important. He was tempted in every way, not just these three ways, but in every way as we were, yet without sin. OK, praise the Lord.

What a wonderful chapter. And, you know, just before we move on to so what just allow me to say that there are many scholars who argue about whether the Lord Jesus Christ could truly have been tempted. In other words, could he really have sinned? And so was this a genuine temptation for him or being the second person in the Godhead, could he not possibly have sinned? And did he go through this process just to demonstrate to you and me the weapons that he has given us that will work against the temptations of the devil and allow us to resist them and have victory over them.

As we practice and use those weapons. Friends, I have no idea which of those two is actually right. I see the arguments for both of them. And you know what? I have no clue which is correct.

This is above my pay grade. This is part of the mysteries of heaven that I don't understand. And it doesn't bother me because I just figure, hey, I'll let God worry about whether Jesus could really be tempted or not. That's God's business. My business is to pull out of this chapter the lessons that God has here for you and me about resisting temptation. Amen.

Amen. OK, now it's time for us to ask our most important question. So are you ready? Here we go. Come on now.

One, two, three. So what? Oh, yes, baby. You know, we know what Jackie Gleason said. How sweet it is. Yes, sir.

And you say, well, what's the so what here? I doubt very seriously if the if Satan himself, because there's only one of him, actually bothers to come and mess with me. Yeah, but he sends his buddies to mess with you and and and to stir up your sinful inclinations and to try to draw you into sinning so that in the process he can hurt and destroy your life and the life of the people you love.

Yeah, he does. And so how do we resist him? Well, the Bible says James Chapter four resists the devil and he will flee from you just like he fled from the Lord Jesus. Now, he'll be back.

Remember what we said? But he'll flee if you resist him the way the Bible tells us to resist him. And and how does the Bible tell us to resist him? Well, it tells us to resist him the way Jesus did.

Exactly. Jesus shows us the formula. Jesus three times said to the devil, what what did he say to him? It is written. It is written. It is written. And where is it written?

Friends, it is written in the word of God. He quoted Deuteronomy eight and then Deuteronomy six twice to the enemy. He quoted the scripture to the enemy, very likely.

Jesus was meditating on the Book of Deuteronomy when he was out there since all three verses come out of the Book of Deuteronomy. I don't know that for sure, but that's how Jesus fought the temptations of the devil is by quoting scripture at him and quoting scripture to himself. Now, this is not normally the way we resist temptation. Normally, the way we resist temptation is to try to do it in our human flesh. You know, we try to gut it out.

Well, we just try to make up our mind. We're not going to give in. We'd say things like I will not lust today. I will not gossip today. I will not say anything dirty or lewd today. I will not do this or that or the other thing today. I will not talk too much.

I will not eat too much. I will not and on and on and on like that. And we fail a lot like that.

Why? Because those are not the weapons Jesus has given us to fight the devil with and to fight temptation with. Those are human weapons. How much we can gut it out and human weapons will never defeat the supernatural enemy that we have. The Bible says that Satan goes around First Peter five like a roaring lion seeking who he can destroy. And you and I are not going to beat him in the energy of the flesh. And this is what the Bible says. The Bible says our weapon is the word of God. Look at these scriptures. Let's look at Ephesians Chapter six, where the Bible says that we're in a war with the enemy. And look what the Bible says here in Ephesians six. It tells us that verse 11 put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles, the temptations of the devil.

And then it goes on to say verse 17 and take the helmet of salvation. Watch and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. My friends, the word of God in all of the spiritual armor that Ephesians six tells us about is the only offensive weapon that and prayer. And so the word of God is meant to be used as an offensive weapon against the enemy. And this is what Hebrews Chapter four says. Look at Hebrews Chapter four, verse 12 for the word of God is living and active and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword.

This is our weapon. And that brings me to Second Corinthians Chapter 10. This is these are verses very few people know if you quoted this verse, these verses to them. But I want you to see them.

Look here. Chapter 10, Second Corinthians, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. I will not do it.

I will not do it. I will not know for the weapons of our warfare. Look, are not carnal, not fleshly, but mighty through God for pulling down strongholds and casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Satan, who brings arguments and exalts himself and is a high thing that tries to stand against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Friends, how do you bring every thought in obedience to Christ in your life, whether it's lust or greed or envy or gluttony or gossip or whatever it is? We bring it to obedience to Christ by using spiritual weapons. The word of God. And how do we do it? Well, we do it just so just what Jesus did. How? We quote scripture when we're tempted.

Let me give you an example. Let's talk about lust. OK, when I'm tempted with lust, here's what I do. I say no, for it is written. First Thessalonians 4 3. For this is the will of God, your sanctification that you should abstain from sexual immorality. Verse seven. For God has not called us to uncleanness, but to holiness.

All right. If you're tempted to do something unholy, to look at a woman, to look at a man, to listen to dirty jokes, to watch pornography, whatever it may be. Try quoting verse seven out loud to yourself 10 times and see how much you still want to look at that woman, look at that man or watch pornography.

For God has not. It is written. God has not called us to uncleanness, but to holiness.

No, it is written. God has not called us to uncleanliness, cleanliness, but to holiness. And you'll find a power there that will help you resist. Let's go on a couple more. How about fear? Isaiah 43. Fear not. Verse one. For I have redeemed you.

I have called you by your name and you are mine. And then God goes on to say, when you walk through the fire, you'll be safe. When you walk through the deep water, you'll be safe because I'll be there with you. Fear not. Quote that out loud.

No, Satan. I will not fear for it is written. And then quote this. How about gossip?

All right. Ephesians 4 29. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but only that which is good for edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. Try quoting that when you're tempted to gossip and to say things that later you'll feel terrible that you said. Ask yourself, will what I say communicate grace to the person that hears it or not? Ten times to yourself, five times to yourself. No, it is written. I'm not going to say that about that person.

A couple more. How about opening our big mouth? This is one that I have trouble with. I'm always open in my big mouth and saying things that I regret. Yeah, well, there's a verse for that, friends. Proverbs 17, 28. Even a fool is counted wise when he holds his peace, when he shuts his lips. He is considered perceptive.

And I use that all the time when I just when I go into a setting and I just say, Lon, Proverbs 17, 28, it is written, he who even a fool is considered wise when he shuts his mouth. Now, for the most part, you just keep your big mouth shut in here. All right.

On we go. One one or two more scheming. How about scheming? Oh, which all of us are tempted to do. And you're about to do it. You're about to try to do something, you know, that is a secret and and is wrong.

OK, how about this? Luke Chapter 12. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed nor hidden that will not be made known. Verse three. Therefore, whatever you have spoken in darkness will be heard in the light.

Oh, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops. Oh, you know, when I think of that verse and I do often, it reminds me, Lon, don't do it. Don't do it. You're going to think you get away with it. And, you know, but one of these days this is going to be shouted from the rooftops. You really want this shouted from the rooftops?

Don't do it. And finally, if you can't think of a verse. That applies to your temptation.

Here's the catch all right here. Second Corinthians 5, 10, for we must all these are believers appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one of us may receive the things done in his body according to what he has done, whether it is good or bad. The Bible says when you and I get to heaven, we're in heaven because of what Jesus did on the cross for us.

There's no doubt about that. But we're all going to have a performance review when we get there. And God is going to hit the rewind button and go back to the beginning of our Christian life. Not before we came to Christ.

The things that are B.C. before Christ are under the blood of Jesus and they're gone. But once we come to Christ, God's going to evaluate our behavior and what we did, good or bad. And so, you know, if you're thinking about doing something or I'm thinking about doing something that is not right, then we need to quote that verse and say, no, it is written.

We must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ to receive what we've done in our body, whether good or bad. No, Lord, I don't want to see this again in front of you. I don't want to have to rewatch this with you there standing next to me.

And so I think I'd rather just not do it now. You said, well, on how this is great, but I don't have time when I'm being tested to run to my Bible or to run to Bible gateway or to pull out a concordance and go look up a verse. I know you don't. Of course you don't.

And neither do I. This is why we memorize scripture. This is why we pick out those temptations that we are especially prone to. And we find verses here in the Bible that apply to that. And we memorize them so that when we need them, we don't have to go looking for them.

We've got them in our head and we can pull them right out immediately for that temptation. Scripture memory is a spiritual discipline. I'm afraid it's a lost spiritual discipline for the most part. But it is an incredibly important spiritual discipline to memorize scripture. And this is what David said, Psalm 119. He said, Thy word have I hidden in my heart. I've memorized it hidden in my heart that I may not sin against thee. Want to sin less? I want to sin less than hide more of memorized scripture in our heart so we can pull it out and use it when we need it as the devil tempts us. Friends, when I came to Christ and with this I'm done. Bob Eckhart, the man that led me the Lord, told me I should start memorizing scripture.

And I said, really? How do I know what to memorize? He told me about this. Memorize things that have to do with your temptations. And then he said, as you read the Bible, if you come across a verse that just, you know, just really strikes you, write it down on a three by five card. This was the old days. We had three by five cards. Write the reference on the back, Romans 9 2 or whatever it is, and carry them around with you and memorize them. And I did that as I hitchhiked around the country after I got saved. I always had 10 or 20 cards in my pocket. And as I was waiting for a ride or riding in a car, I'd pull them out.

I'd go over them once a month. I would review all the verses I had learned up to that point. By the end of six months, I had a stack about this high of three by five cards that I had memorized with verses of scripture on it. And not only did that help me not sin against thee, Psalm 119, but it also Romans Chapter 12, verse two says it completely rebooted my mind.

It completely changed and reprogrammed my computer. Romans 12 2 calls it the renewing of my mind. And people often ask me, how come your life changed so fast when you came to Christ?

You know, I said it's not because I'm special. It's because I put hundreds of verses of the Bible, the living, active Word of God into my mind. When you put that much of the Bible into your mind, what's going to come out is change life. So let me conclude by saying I want to challenge you to do scripture memory and then to use it.

Use it as a weapon so that you might not sin against God. Learn to pull it out and go, no, it is written. It is written. It is written.

And I try hard to do that. And it's amazing when you say it is written. God has not called us to uncleanness, but to holiness. God has not called us. It is written to uncleanness, but to holiness. Be holy as I am holy. Suddenly looking where I shouldn't look is just not that much of a temptation anymore.

Why? Because the word of God did its job. And that's part of the job of the word of God is to be the sword of the spirit that enables us to fight back against the tempter. Now, next week, we're going to talk more about the tempter and what the Bible teaches about his strategies for trying to tempt us.

He just doesn't come along willy nilly and just say, oh, it seems like a good no, no. He has a strategy and tactics to try to make his temptations more effective on you and on me. And we see them in Adam and Eve and we see them in the Lord Jesus Christ temptation. We're going to talk about that next week before we move on, because if we understand his tactics and his strategy better, we can resist him better.

OK, let's pray. Dear Lord Jesus, thank you that even though we live in the world, we don't fight with fleshly, worldly weapons, but we have spiritual weapons, supernatural weapons to fight the enemy and bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. And how do we do that? We use the word of God. It is written, it is written, it is written.

We memorize it and then we use it. Oh, Jesus, help us to become men and women of memorization, men and women who hide the word of God in our heart on a regular basis. Let it be a spiritual discipline that we begin if we've never done it or that we resurrect if we've stopped it. And God, may we be people who are able to pull that scripture out and use it for the edification of others and for the protection of ourselves. Use your word to change the way we live today. And we pray this in Jesus name.

And everybody said, amen, amen, amen. See you next week. God bless you. Have a safe week. Take care. You.