PASSING THE ULTIMATE TEST
Today’s message is about overcoming the ultimate test of temptation in our lives as Jesus did when he was tempted for 40 days in the wilderness by Satan. Jesus displayed how any Christian can defeat Satan’s crafty tactics through prayer, fasting and the power of the Holy Spirit.
Luke 4:1-13
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 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.
The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”
The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.
And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours.”
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”
The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here.
For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
Introduction
The ULTIMATE TEST in our life is how we deal with Satan’s schemes/ploys (temptations) to get us to partake in SIN: Missing the Mark, falling short of God’s righteousness in our life.
The very first sin in Genesis 3:
Satan clothed himself as a serpent, one of God’s good creatures, and convinced Adam and Eve to partake of the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil in a perfect place called the Garden of Eden.
Temptation is not sin – as Jesus was tempted but lived a perfect life without sin – but temptation presents an open-door opportunity to sin. And sin, without true repentance and God’s forgiveness, leads to death. So overcoming temptation is the ULTIMATE TEST!
5 Things to Know about Passing the Ultimate Test like Jesus:
- Our ultimate test of overcoming temptation ALWAYS presents itself shortly after a high moment with God (spiritual high). Jesus was led by the Spirit, Luke writes to start his fourth chapter, into the wilderness (desert) to be tempted for 40 days by Satan directly after being baptized in the Jordan by his cousin, John the Baptist. Jesus’ baptism was highlighted by God speaking down from Heaven, “You are my son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
- During our ultimate testing phase, temptation comes in 3 apsects as we read with Jesus’ temptations:
- When we’re feeling low/easy to give up: Jesus was obviously hungry and physically fatigued during his 40-day fast so Satan tempted him with food to get Jesus to stop his fasting, taking Scripture out of context.
- Appealing to our ego/what feels good: While we’re doing great things for God and in our personal Christian walk, Satan will build you up like he did with Adam/Eve in the Garden by making you feel you don’t need God as much anymore, that you’ve got your life under control and you can let off the gas pedal of commitment to Christ. Satan tried to get Jesus to worship him by promising him all the splendor of the world.
- Challenging God’s love for us with half truths: Satan loves to humanize God by acting as if our Christian lives are some kind of tug-of-war game that we should we be able to dictate to God what’s best for us instead of the other way around, that if God really loved us He would give us what we want.
- Knowing the Word of God/Bible is vital to overcome the ultimate test of temptation. Jesus quoted Scripture to destroy Satan’s temptations! Keep in mind that Satan is a fallen angel from Heaven so he knows the Bible enough to distort it and skew it. The Bible is “a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path” but we must know it so we can overcome Satan’s distortions of it in order to avoid being deceived. Satan uses our secular culture to distort what God’s Word really says.
- Fasting FAST-TRACKS the power of your prayers. Fasting enables you to pass your ultimate testing the way Jesus did. It’s not easy, but it’s SO REWARDING! Fasting combined with prayer enables us to look outside our selfish worlds and our own desires to walk in God’s good and perfect will for our lives. Overcoming temptation that we have previously fallen prey to requires fasting as we show God and Satan how serious we are.
- Passing your ultimate testing is not the end result. It’s what comes after that where you see the AMAZING power of the Holy Spirit in your life! After Jesus came out of the wilderness for 40 days of intense testing, he had power to deal with those from his own hometown who still questioned his Messiah authority, he drove out an evil spirit from a man, he healed many of various kinds of sickness while driving demons out of people and he called his first four disciples: Peter, Andrew, James and John. Jesus left the wilderness testing “in the power of the Spirit” Luke writes in the 14th verse of his fourth chapter.