“Secret Battles”
…alone in the wilderness
(Luke 4:1-4)
Dr. Richard S. Koole
Chapel Pointe
September 13, 2009
I. Introduction
A. Your secret battle
1. Meeting with _____________
a. Crushed
b. “How could I have been so stupid?”
c. The impact of one bad decision
2. Would hear those same words from many others
a. With tears flowing down their faces
b. Their spirits crushed
c. “How could I have been so stupid?”
3. The “Secret Battle” we all fight against temptation
a. A three-part series
b. Being fought this morning
c. Unseen by the people around you
1. Deep in the recesses of each mind
2. You may be losing even as I speak
4. Each of us is only one bad choice away from a devastated life
B. God understands what you face
1. Menachem Begin
I learned from him and from other Israeli officials that the secret is in the bravery of their soldiers and especially the troop commanders. As a battle is entered, there are two words no Israel military leader will use: “Forward march!” Instead, the soldiers hear, “Follow me!” In other words, Israeli troops are not sent into battle…they are led there.
2. Jesus never asks us to endure temptations and tests he did not suffer
a. The 40 days of temptation
b. Alone in the wilderness
c. Colossal struggle between Jesus and the devil
1. Between good and evil
d. No human eyes saw it
C. Here’s what we know about Temptation
1. Jesus faced the same temptations you struggle with
a. Hebrews 4:15
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are….
b. Therefore, being tempted is not sin….yielding is
c. “You can’t stop the birds from flying over you, but you don’t have to let them build a nest in your hair”
2. Jesus never yielded to temptation
a. Hebrews 4:15
“but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.”
b. Nor could he sin
1. His impeccability
3. God always provides a path of victory for every temptation
a. I Cor. 10:13
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
b. The devil can’t make you do anything
c. You’re not the first to face such a temptation
4. Temptations are tests
a. “tempt”
1. peir azo (pi rad’ zo)
2. to tempt or to test (prove)
b. The two sides
1. Satan tempts you to fall
2. God uses that same temptation to test you to prove your worth…and cause growth
c. Both may occur simultaneously
II. The Setting
A. Jesus about to begin in 3 years of ministry
1. Immediately after his baptism
B. But first, one final act of preparation
1. God wanted to prove Jesus’ ability to withstand the ultimate temptations
a. The “test”
b. Proving the worthiness of Jesus to the angels and Satan
2. While Satan was making an intense effort to spoil Jesus
III. Text…Luke 4:1-4
A. Background….v.1-2
(1) Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, (2) where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
1. Jesus was prepared for the temptation….v.1
(1) Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit,
a. He was “full of the Holy Spirit”
b. The danger apart from the power of the Holy Spirit
2. It was the Holy Spirit that arranged this confrontation
…returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert,
a. To prove his ability over Satan
b. the Spirit led him to be tempted…tested
3. Alone in the desert, the “wilderness of the temptation”….v.1
“Between Jerusalem, on the central plateau which is the backbone of Palestine, and the Dead Sea there stretches the wilderness. The Old Testament calls it Jeshimmon, which means “The Devastation,” and it is a fitting name. It stretches over an area of 35 by 15 miles.
Sir George Adam Smith, who traveled over it, describes it. “It is an area of yellow sand, or crumbling limestone, and of scattered shingle. It is an area of contorted strata, where the ridges run in all directions as if they were warped and twisted. The hills are like dust heaps; the limestone is blistered and peeling; rocks are bare and jagged; often the very ground sounds hollow when a foot or a horse’s hoof falls upon it. It glows and shimmers with heat like some vast furnace. It runs right out to the Dead Sea, and then there comes a drop of 1200 feet, a drop of limestone, flint, and marl, through crags and corris and precipices down to the Dead Sea.”
The Mt. of Temptation
1. Mt. Quarantania
2. 6 to 8 miles from the point of baptism
3. 1500 feet above the Jordan River
5. Jesus was under assault the first 40 days…..v.2
(2) where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
a. We don’t know what happened during those first 40 days
b. But we know Satan was unsuccessful
c. And Jesus did not eat
6. Culminates with three final and intense assaults
a. The three major forms you face in your life
b. He knows how effective they are
c. One each of the next three Sundays
*the first today
B. The 1st Temptation….v. 3-4
(3) The devil said to him, “If you are the son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” (4) Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone.’”
1. “If you are the Son of God”….v.3
a. Best translated “Since you are the Son of God”
1. First class conditional with the particle? (article or participle?) “ei” in Greek does not presume doubt.
b. Satan and the demons knew he was the Son of God
1. Satan is orthodox in his theology
c. “Since” you’re the Son of God….make some bread
d. To get Jesus to act apart from the Father
e. The “kenosis” or self-emptying
1. Part of Jesus’ humiliation was to set aside the independent use of His own deity and operate only under the Father’s will in perfect submission
2. Tempting Jesus to doubt the Father’s love and care
a. Why should Jesus have to go through this hunger?
b. Trying to divide the Trinity
3. When we are tempted to doubt God’s love
a. Tim Keller’s book, “The Reason for God”
1. Why people doubt there is a God
2. Why would a loving God allow such suffering?
b. Examples in your life
1. If God really loved me I wouldn’t have this illness
2. If God really loved me I wouldn’t have lost my job
3. If God really loved me He’d change my husband
4. Jesus answered with scripture…..Matthew 4
(Matthew 4:4) “Jesus answered, ‘It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
a. Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 8:3
*Israel in the wilderness
*grumbling about manna
b. It’s not about material things
c. Sacrifice is worth it
C. Satan always seems to use the same tactics
1. Satan is out to tempt you to sin
(Ephesians 6:11) Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes
2. Satan has three proven ways to tempt you
(I John 2:16) “For all that is in the world...the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life...is not of the Father but is of the world.”
3. In this passage
a. The stones to bread.................the lust of the flesh
4. Your daily walk
a. Lusting after wealth or possession
1. I Timothy 6: 9
“People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.”
b. Worry over material things
1. This financial meltdown has been quite a test
c. Doubting God’s care and concern for you
1. Sally L.
d. Sexual temptation
1. Surrounded by temptation
a. Like the birds flying overhead
2. But, are you allowing them to build a nest in your hair?
D. Lessons in the sexual wilderness
1. Sexual temptation is “Every Man’s Secret Battle”
a. The book
1. A fitting title
2. “Every Man’s Battle”
b. The secret battle is common to 90% of men
1. The bell-curve
*10% are not tempted
*10% are sexual perverts
*80% wrestle with sexual temptation
c. We are now surrounded on every side by sexual temptation
1. Men are bombarded in a million ways
2. Even the lingerie ads in the Sunday paper
d. Can light a fire in a man that burns hotter
2. Great temptation often comes on the heels of great victories
a. Just when things are looking good
1. After a personal commitment
2. After salvation
a. The attack on new followers of Christ
b. Stealing the blessing
c. Arnold Toynbee the historian
“It is clear that the most dangerous period for a civilization is when it thinks it is safe and faces no further challenges
3. Not having an affair is not proof of purity
a. The “Lust of the Flesh” takes place in the mind
1. The center of all sin
b. This secret battle will numb your walk with Christ
1. Feeling dirty
2. We rationalize
a. Pornography
b. Victimless
3. We compartmentalize
a. Jaycee Dugard and the secret backyard
1. A hidden place of horror
b. The hidden room in your heart?
d. Why your life feels unfulfilled
4. You can’t sample impurity and remain pure
a. Just because it is the lesser of two evils doesn’t make it good
b. A little porn is still porn
c. Will stunt your growth
d. Like shorting out an electrical line (Larry)
5. You’ll never outgrow sexual temptation
a. Age
1. ___________ ’s comments
a. 87, blind and impotent
b. Still the harshest temptation
2. Argument for impeccability
b. Stature
1. King David
2. A man after God’s own heart
a. A tender conscience
b. Amazing victories
3. It only took one look at Bathsheba
a. The sin was not in the temptation…but in David’s reaction
c. “Let him who thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall”
1. Be careful about condemning others…
2. When ____________ fell
a. My response
6. Getting married won’t cure you
a. Guys who think getting married will solve their problem
1. “Now I can have sex any time I want”
b. The biggest offenders are married guys
1. It’s every man’s struggle
c. Conquer lust before you marry
7. Each of us has different triggers
a. Fred’s confession in “Every Man’s Battle”
1. Lingerie ads in the Sunday paper
2. Female joggers in tight nylon shorts
3. Beer and bikini commercials
4. Receptionists with low-cut or tight blouses
b. If women really understood how men respond visually, they’d dress differently
c. Avoiding the “triggers”
d. What guys are willing to risk
1. Governor of South Carolina
8. Some of you have a brighter target on your back
a. The greater your potential for service, the greater the attacks you will suffer
b. Many Christians require little of Satan’s attention
1. Apathetic or already compromised
c. He attacks those with potential
1. Youth
d. Great men and women have all gone through great tests
e. The damage when a leader falls
1. A special role
9. Be especially alert when alone in the wilderness
a. Satan goes after the exhausted, lonely and discouraged
1 Satan waited until Jesus was hungry
a. Offered him what he craved most
2. Never make a major decision when you are emotionally, physically, or spiritually exhausted
b. When you are alone
1. Business trips
2. Alone in a room with a TV
3. A battle raging in your heart
4. The discouragement when you lose the battle
10. Each of us is only one bad choice away from a shattered life
a. Remember how high the stakes are
b. Those who think they are too smart to get caught
c. God is speaking to you this morning
F. How to achieve victory
1. It starts with a decision….a promise to God
a. All the filters in the world won’t stop a driven man
b. God is in the room with you
c. Accountability partners won’t work if not committed
2. Get so close to Jesus…you’d never bring him there
3. Make Jesus your accountability partner
4. Flee from temptation
III. Summary
A. Things to remember
1. Don’t give the smallest beachhead to Satan
a. John 14:30 Jesus said, “Satan has nothing in me”
*NIV “He has no hold on me”
b. Don’t give him an inch
c. Be filled with the Holy Spirit
2. Keep your eyes on Jesus
a. Albecht Durer’s painting “Knight, Death and the Devil” (#1513)
1. A great knight is surrounded by evil
a. Demons
b. Satan
c. Toads
d. Wolves
2. The knight rides straight ahead
a. His home lies straight ahead in the distance
3. He has on every piece of armor
4. He looks neither left nor right
5. His eyes are locked on God
Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.