The Church of Eleven22 - Lent Devo Episode 4: In the Wilderness

Episode Date: March 5, 2020

Matthew 4:1-10

But what is it? Jesus, some of the miracles, Jesus has all the Lord. The Church of 1122 is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. Welcome to our Lent podcast. Hey, how you doing? My name is Greg Knapp. In this Lent season, we're working through some of the miracles of Jesus shared with us across the gospel accounts. We're looking at how each of these miracles points us to the greatest of all miracles,

which is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The miracle of Jesus were focused on today is found in Matthew 4 1 through 10, where Jesus is tempted by the devil. Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry, and 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 and 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

text is important here. Jesus had just been baptized by John the Baptist. The heavens were open to him, and the Spirit of God descended on Jesus like a dove and came to rest on him, and God said, This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased. Right after that, Jesus is tempted by the devil. So Jesus was fresh off an amazing spiritual high with God, the Father, and the Holy Spirit. He was fortified to face temptation. And then look at what the scripture says. Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He had fasted for 40 days and he was hungry. Yet miraculously, Jesus was still able to resist the devil.

Now, the devil used the location and circumstances to tempt Jesus, and the devil does the same to us. Jesus, fully man and fully divine, was led up by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil to show us he knew what it's like to be tempted as we are, so we can see His holy character, and so we could show us, through his victory over Satan, how we should respond to the temptations we face. And if even Jesus with no corrupt nature was tempted,

we can be assured we will be tempted. The temptations Jesus faced are the same ones we face, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. We need to put on the armor of God and get super familiar with Scripture for those battles that come. Each time, Jesus rebuked Satan with Scripture, saying it is written. But notice that the devil tries to tempt Jesus with the Scripture as well, saying it is written. And this shows how we need to really know the Bible.

We've got to know the context of Scripture, so we know when it's being twisted. To resist temptation, we can turn to the power of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and His Word. These are things we can do. Jesus led the perfect, sinless life, and yet he was tempted. And that's really great news for us because it shows us that being tempted isn't a sin, as long as we resist it with God's help. And this part is really encouraging. When Jesus finished resisting the devil, the angels came and ministered to him.

Jesus, knowing what being tempted is like, ministers to us and our temptations too. And we need to remember that and turn to him when we are tempted. the devil tempted Jesus to do things he could have done. I mean, Jesus could have turned stones to bread. He could have used his power for selfish reasons, but that would have gone against his father. Jesus was tempted the same way at the cross. He could have used his power to avoid that horror,

but he was obedient to the father and willingly died for our sins. Jesus was victorious over the devil in the desert, and he was victorious over the devil in his resurrection. I love how Jesus finally gets rid of the devil. He commanded the devil to leave. It's the same way we can. It is written.

Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Let's pray. Jesus, thank you for suffering for us, for being tempted by the devil, for showing us how to lean on you and your word to resist him, for understanding what we go through and being there to support us before, during and after the times we are tempted.

You lived the perfect life. You were sinless. You resisted all temptation, and you willingly went to the cross for us, for our sins, to wipe those sins away. You made us your sons and daughters and have an eternal reward prepared for us that we don't deserve. You gave us the Holy Spirit to counsel and comfort us. You gave us your Holy Scripture to hear from you, obey you, lean on you, and

use to resist the temptations that will come. Thank you so much. We love you. We are in awe of your holy character and goodness. Please lead us out of temptation and deliver us from evil. In your name we pray. Amen. Thanks for listening.

Our prayer is that this podcast will help you deepen your relationship with Jesus. For more resources, go to C-O-E-22.com forward slash lent.