Bayside Baptist Church

James: Good morning, how is everybody doing today? I'm excited to preach this morning. If you haven't met me, my name is James. I'm the discipleship pastor here at Bayside and ready to teach God's Word. If you would take your copy of God's Word and turn to Matthew Chapter 4, we're going to be in the first 11 verses. We're going to talk about temptation and overcoming temptation today. Jesus gave us a great example here in how to live and I'm excited to dig into this passage of Scripture and how to overcome temptation.

I was reading a survey this week about Christians and temptation. In this survey, 80 percent of believers say that they are tempted on a daily basis between 15 and 20 times each day. All of this was for procrastination, overindulgence, material things, gossip, laziness, anger, and dishonesty. These are Christian people being tempted in this way. There's three things that they listed in how to overcome that: Scripture, prayer, and being with the people of God. If you're not in a small group, you need to get in one, and I can help you do that.

Take a look at Matthew Chapter 4, verses 1 through 11. Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry. The 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 not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.'"

Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, 'You shall 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 glory. He said to him, "All these I will 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 and him only shall you serve.'" If we are going to overcome temptation, it is going to require us to live by the Spirit. Notice verse 1 of chapter 4, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.

We often ask God to take away things in our life. Remove them. But sometimes he has different things planned for us. Sometimes we walk through things to become stronger in what he wants to teach us. That is difficult for us. If we are in tune with the Holy Spirit's leading, we will be able to recognize that he puts us in the right place at the right time. The temptation here in the text is that we want to find the path of least resistance. We begin to elevate and lift up minor inconveniences in our life. We just want to not be frustrated and have smooth sailing all the time.

Several weeks ago, I set out to run with my buddy, Tyler Shoals. We decided that we were going to run through the week and make sure we were going to get healthy. It was a Tuesday and I texted him early that morning and said, "Hey, Tyler, are you ready to run?" He said, "Absolutely ready to go." We set out to run that day. About 3:00 that afternoon, I got a text from him, and I could tell in the text he was extraordinarily frustrated. He said, "I'm so sorry, but I've got to have a Zoom meeting in my office with my coworkers from 4:00 to 6:00 tonight."

No problem, we can run after that. The earliest he could be at the park or pick him up was 6:30. I said, "No worries, I got you. I'll be there at 6:30. We'll push it back." Several days earlier, I had been to the doctor. The doctor told me that when I run, I need to slow my pace down. I was running at too high a pace and needed to build a bigger base. We started running at this slower pace. It was like a snail's pace. My Garmin was telling me that I was running too slow and needed to speed up.

He and I began to talk about how frustrating our day was. He hated that he was late because of the meeting that was put in front of him. After about 15 minutes of bantering back and forth about our frustration, we quit. We got in the truck ready to leave and I told Tyler that I had an errand I needed to run. As we left, something told me to go left. It made all the sense in the world to turn right. It was the quickest way home. Tyler and I live fairly close together, so he questioned me. I told him I needed to go left.

Joshua was with us and he rode his bike around while we were running. He was in the back and I could feel his breath as he realized it was going to take 10 more minutes to get home. He was ready to get home. I went left. God needed me to go left. I went down a road that I had not normally been on since I've lived here in Chattanooga. We crested this hill and as we got to the top, there was a little 18-month or two-year-old boy standing in the left lane. There was no adult around.

You ever see one of those things where you realize this should not be here? I laid on the horn, flashed the lights, and Tyler was waving his arms. We were all screaming in the vehicle because there was a car coming in the other lane. I knew that that car did not see that child standing in the road. I knew based on the rate of speed that they were coming. We were trying everything that we could do. That young lady stopped about this far away from that child. God orchestrates things if we're patient enough and listening to the Holy Spirit.

If anything in my day had changed, if Tyler's meeting had changed, or if we ran faster instead of listening to what my doctor had said, things would have been different. If I had gone right instead of left, we would not have been at that place at that exact time. As soon as we stopped and that car stopped, Tyler flung the door open, jumped out, picked up that little boy, and the dad was running up the driveway. He was looking frantically for his son and didn't know where he went. Tyler handed that little boy over to this man and shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ with him in the driveway.

Tyler got into the truck and we were crying. It's one of those things that leave you speechless. God was moving and was a part of our life. Sometimes we get so frustrated by the most mundane things. We get so frustrated about our life and all these little things that happen. Could it be that God is leading and directing? You could be in the most wilderness place in your life. I'm telling you from experience, God has something for you. You could be at the bottom of the barrel looking straight up at God asking where he is.

He has you in that place for the right season at the right time if we would only just listen and submit to the leading of the Spirit. Sometimes we push hard against that, wondering what's happening, when really God has us in a place. He wants to lead us, teach us, and show us. He wants us to recognize that he's moving in our life. If Jesus wasn't led by the Spirit and didn't go into the wilderness, his ministry wouldn't have started. Prior to temptation even happening, we've got to be led by the Spirit, meaning we have to walk with the Lord.

Sometimes God leads us to a place we didn't know we needed to go to teach us things we didn't know that we needed to learn. Demonic forces want to pull us away and tempt us, which draws us away from the Lord and what he wants for our life. But the enemy has a plan for your life too. Overcoming temptation will require us to actively and aggressively fight against self-gratification. Verse 2 seems like an understatement from Matthew. After fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry. I can't go two hours without thinking about my next meal.

During 21 days of prayer every year, Jason encourages us to take a day of the week and fast. I've extended that and I try to make sure that I'm participating in that spiritual discipline. This past week I did because I knew I was preaching and I wanted to make sure that I was listening to the Lord and being led by the Spirit. It's a challenging, hard, and difficult discipline, but it's one of those disciplines that are essential for our spiritual life. If you've never done that, I want to encourage you to do that.

Jesus was physically tired. When we're physically tired, we are spiritually susceptible to the enemy's attacks. If we're not careful, we'll say things to our loved ones that we don't really mean. We'll say terrible things all because we're hungry. This is the onslaught of the enemy's attack. We don't want to wait for stuff and we get frustrated, agitated, and annoyed. Our culture is all about if it feels good, do it. At whatever cost, you go and get yours because you deserve it. It's so challenging.

In verse 3, the tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." The devil not only tempted Jesus about food, but he was sowing a seed of doubt. The enemy does that to us and drops little doubt nuggets all the time. He makes us doubt our walk with the Lord. Some people struggle with their salvation and have little doubts here and there. He might have said in this setting, "Why are you out here in the wilderness serving, Jesus? Is your Father not caring or providing for you?"

He does this to us. Doubt is incredibly challenging, especially when we want to grow in our faith and take next steps and walk with the Lord. Jesus was in the wilderness all alone. Nobody else was there. Nobody else would have known. Doesn't that how temptation works? He loves to isolate us. Satan and demonic things love to isolate us and get us alone. Each of us have desires that God built within us. Eating food is good for nourishment. But what happens is we become self-gratified and it turns into desire after desire.

James 1:14 and 15 says, "But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death." James is talking about this self-gratification pattern that we create outside of God's design. We have to deny those temptations and push back hard against them. Jesus didn't stop teaching this principle. Matthew later records in Matthew 16:24, "Then Jesus told his disciples, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.'"

Deny yourself and follow after the Lord. We've got to push back against the enemy's cultural agenda to do what you want and not let anyone tell you that you should or shouldn't do something. If we're going to overcome temptation, we have to fight against this self-gratification tendency that says put me first. Jesus responds to this temptation by quoting Deuteronomy 8:3: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." This leads to our third thing. If we're going to overcome temptation, it will require us to know and properly apply God's Word to our lives.

The Life Journal is so valuable and so important to be in God's Word. It's a tool that we use to remain in God's Word to hear what God has for us every single day. I look forward to that time every single day where I open God's Word and I read and learn and hear God speak to me. Grab a Life Journal on your way out and get into God's Word. Satan used God's Word here in this second temptation. He implied, "So, you intend to live by the Scriptures, Jesus. I'm going to quote a verse and let's see if you will obey it."

Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, 'He will command angels concerning you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.'" Satan was being clever here. Not only was he trying to use Scripture to stump Jesus up, but in Psalm 91:11, he omits "in all of your ways." That phrase "in all your ways" means in all of God's ways and following God. Not in all of my ways and what I want to do, but in all of God's ways.

He omits a portion of Scripture. This is why it is so important that we know God's Word deeply because the enemy will take it and use it against us. He will throw that in our face. This is what he did with Jesus. I was looking at Instagram and Facebook this week and I follow a lot of godly accounts. On those social media accounts, I saw misquoting and misapplication of Scripture. If I didn't know the Word and what God's Word said, this would totally lead me down a rabbit hole far away from where I need to be.

The enemy will use all kinds of things to misinterpret Scripture to pull us away from walking with the Lord in his design for our life. It's relentless. The onslaught of the attack of the enemy is just in our face. We've got to know God's Word. This is the power of God's Word: "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." God's Word lights the way and illuminates things in front of us. God's Word is going to light our path and show us where to go, but we've got to be in his Word.

Second Timothy 3:16 through 17 says, "All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." I want to be equipped for everything God has in front of me. All of Scripture is there to teach us, show us, correct us, and train us so that we're ready no matter what the world throws at us. As Jesus prays in John 17:17, "Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth." I want to know the truth because there's so much false junk out in our world.

The only way that I know the truth is in his blessed Word. Colossians 3:16 says, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God." Let the Word of Christ dwell in us. It will teach us, admonish us, and help us encourage one another. One of the most beautiful things I love about Tyler when I run with him is he's always got a new verse to quote to me. It's a friendship where he says, "Hey, I read this. What do you think about this verse?"

Hebrews 4:12 says, "For the word of God is alive and powerful." It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. It's alive and powerful. Don't you want to follow something that's alive and powerful? God's Word is not dead. These words are not dead. They're alive and they're powerful. I need God's power in my life every single day. If I'm going to do what God's called me to do, I need his power. The only way to get that and understand that is to properly apply his Word in my life.

Isaiah 40 verse 8 says, "The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of God will stand forever." If God's Word directs our path, teaches us, corrects us, trains us, equips us, is truth, inspires us, is alive, is powerful, and it lasts forever, why would the enemy not attack us with that? He will misuse it, misquote it, and manipulate it. Jesus exposes the enemy here. We've got to rightly apply God's Word to our life. Fourth and final, if we're going to overcome temptation, it will require us to worship God alone.

In verse 8, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. He said to him, "All these I will 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 and him only shall you serve.'" The enemy will show you all kinds of things and he will tempt you in your life. If this doesn't work, he's going to try it here. It's a consistent onslaught of things happening all the time.

What about this morning keeping you from corporate worship? Did anybody have trouble this morning? Everybody's morning was awesome, that's great. This used to happen all the time when my children were little. I would head to church usually early and Karen would say it's been a morning. Usually, that text means the enemy was using my children as pawns. There's all kinds of disruptive things that happen on Sunday morning because he doesn't want you in this seat where you are right now. He doesn't want you to hear God's Word preached to you.

He doesn't want you to be encouraged by the family of God. He doesn't want you sitting here learning and worshiping and gathering together. He will do everything in his power to annoy you and manipulate you to push that away from you. It's just easier to stay at home and look online, isn't it? Instead of being here, there's nothing like being in the presence of God with his people. When we gather together, it is our desire that you hear God's Word preached and that we have an open opportunity for you to pray.

We pray so hard that we create a prayer culture where it's okay. There's no judgment here, but there's a place where we can grow. We create small groups where you can gather together with other believers and get encouraged and learn and grow and take a next step in your life. It's so important for us. Here the enemy is attacking this very thing with Jesus. If Jesus had bowed down and worshiped him, but he said no, he would not give in to that temptation. We have to do that too.

Hebrews 4:15 says, "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin." Jesus has been tempted in every way that we have. We have a high priest that understands what we're going through. This is even an attack the lie of the enemy. Sometimes we get to that point and we look up to God asking where he is and what's going on. The Lord's been tempted in every way that we have and he knows and understands.

He wants us to cry out to him with arms open wide and hands open wide. Lord, I need you. He wants us to worship and the enemy will attack that relentless. We often talk about the gremlins in the sound system here. That's an attack of the enemy oftentimes. We've had conversation as a staff because we know there's all kinds of things happening from all kinds of different angles. The enemy wants to pull us away from worshiping with our fellow believer and worshiping the Lord. But we can overcome temptation.

Maybe you're here this morning and you've given up. You've given up and you're just going to be here. Brother, sister, I want to tell you to come back to the Lord today. If you're having a hard time with temptation, whatever is going on in your life and you've given in so much, God wants to meet you in that place this morning. He wants to meet you in that spot. He will help you overcome whatever it is that you've got going on in your life.