A Match Against Temptation

Muhammad Ali once said that he had come up with a way to resist temptation. Wherever he went, he always carried a small box of matches. “Whenever I go to a party and I’m tempted by a beautiful woman, I simply pull out one of the matches and strike it,” Ali said. “Then I put it out with my fingers and remind myself, ‘Hell is a lot hotter than this.’”

As a boxer, Muhammad Ali had a unique insight into temptation.

He understood that any fight requires thought, preparation, vigilance, and stamina.

He realized that Satan inserts temptation into our lives at every look, every word, every moment and he must match that intensity in order to successfully fight back.

Ali’s method of fighting temptation is certainly an interesting one, however we have at our disposal a much more effective weapon, one that not only prevents temptation but outright defeats it. God’s Word.

Let’s look at Matthew 4:1-11:

Matthew 4:1–11 (ESV)

The Temptation of Jesus

4 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written,

“ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone,

but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 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.’ ”

7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 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.’ ”

11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

Matthew 4:1–11 ESV

1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ” 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 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.’ ” 7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 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.’ ” 11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

Understanding the rules of engagement, Ali realized that temptation is not the random acts of a fool; Satan fights with a plan.

How Satan Fights

Satan targets our weakness (vv. 2 -3)

First, we see that Satan is always watching, always forming a plan of attack.

1 Peter 5:8

1 Peter 5:8 illustrates this for us:

1 Peter 5:8 ESV

8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Think about how lions hunt.

They do not target the strong adults amongst a herd of prey.

They target the young, the sick, and the weak.

These are the kills that have the best chance of success.

Once they have located their target, they seek to throw the herd into chaos and isolate their target into an unfair fight.

Now think about the whole of your personal attributes as a herd, the positive and negative.

The positive attributes you are good at, those are your strong adults.

Satan isn’t going here.

The positive attributes that you are trying to develop, they are your young.

He is trying to get to these, to prevent growth.

The negative attributes you are struggling to overcome, they are your sick and weak.

These are Satan’s prime targets,

his greatest chance for success,

his opportunity to make you feel isolated from God.

Satan targets our trust (vv. 5 - 6)

Do you have doubts? Are there things in God’s Word you have trouble accepting?

If your answer is no, I don’t think you are being honest.

We all harbor these feelings.

There are many tough teachings in the Bible that we would like to just agree to disagree with.

Satan is going to put these things front and center for you,

leading you to think thoughts similar to:

“If God really loves me, He will be OK that I don’t follow this ONE command.”

and “I don’t feel that is right, it just isn’t fair (or it’s hard, or requires sacrifice).”

2 Corinthians 4:4

2 Corinthians 4:4 illuminates Satan’s intentions:

2 Corinthians 4:4 ESV

4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Once you begin to dismiss God’s Word and think like this for one thing, the rest will surely follow;

you will begin to find reasons to casually dismiss God

and your lifestyle will plunge into sin and darkness,

leaving you feeling hopeless.

Satan targets our desire (vv. 8 - 9)

Satan’s saves his most promising attack for last.

The ability to give us all that we desire in this world.

Luke 4:5-6 gives explanation to Satan’s promise in verse 8 - 9:

Luke 4:5-6

Luke 4:5–6 ESV

5 And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, 6 and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will.

You heard that right, Scripture testifies that this world belongs to Satan and indeed he does have the ability to grant you anything you desire in this world.

These are potent attacks, however, we are not hopeless.

If you recall, we learned last week that we are disciples of Christ, His followers, and He leads by example.

By carefully considering how Jesus fights Satan in this passage we can learn how we should prepare ourselves to stand victorious each day.

How Jesus Fights

Led by The Spirit (v. 1)

In verse 1 the first advantage Jesus has is that he places His trust in the Holy Spirit and listens to His instructions even when it places Him in a challenging situation.

Jesus solidifies His righteousness not by making His own choices or determining what seems right and fair to Him;

but by listening to the Holy Spirit and being obedient to His call.

Paul speaks about the importance of this in Romans 8:5-6:

Romans 8:5-6

Romans 8:5–6 ESV

5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

Wielding The Word (vv. 4, 7, 10)

Next, We see something interesting in verse 6, Satan quotes Scripture to tempt Jesus!

This brings to our awareness that Satan knows Scripture well.

In fact, it is a primary tool of his.

He will twist and re-interpret Scripture to meet his needs.

This is why Jesus repeatedly warns us of false teachers, they are doing Satan’s work by quoting and twisting Scripture.

Jesus is able to out-match with Satan with Scripture because Satan knows and can quote Scripture but Jesus understands Scripture and how to properly apply it.

In this regard, we see something unique about the Armor of God in Ephesians 6:16-17:

Ephesians 6:16-17

Ephesians 6:16–17 ESV

16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,

In the entire set of tools God gives us in His Armor, only one is a weapon: His Word.

But, like any good warrior, we must put in the time to train ourselves to wield our weapon in order to fight effectively.

Jesus’ example teaches us that it is not enough to simply memorize and quote scripture;

our true pursuit needs to be to deeply understand the meaning of scripture

and how to wield it as a weapon against evil.

Submitted to God (v. 10)

Lastly, Jesus exemplifies to us how to withstand Satan’s attack on our desires in verse 10.

Here, Jesus rebukes Satan by confirming His whole-hearted submission to God;

re-affirming His greatest desire is to serve God.

Notice what happens next in verse 11:

Satan gives up and leaves defeated,

then angels come and tend to Jesus to strengthen Him.

Proverbs 14:26-27 tells us that there is strength, confidence, refuge and life in submitting to God over our own desires:

Proverbs 14:26-27

Proverbs 14:26–27 ESV

26 In the fear of the Lord one has strong confidence, and his children will have a refuge. 27 The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death.

When we submit to God and align our desires to His, Satan’s power is completely stripped away in our lives.

You see, Satan does indeed have authority over this world and all the material things it contains;

but that is the limit to what he has to offer

and even that was given to him.

Satan has no power over God’s plan and nothing to offer that is better than the blessings of God;

so when we submit ourselves to God’s plan and desire only the things of God,

Satan has no choice but to accept defeat.

With Jesus’ example in mind, we should form our own plan on how to prepare for our fight with Satan.

As a starting point, I’d like to share with you a routine I have come to call my daily John 3:16. It consists of three times during each day, lasting approximately 16 minutes each, dedicated to spending time with God:

Prepare for Your Fight Daily

Daily John 3:16

First 16 - Listen to the Holy Spirit

Our "First 16” should start out our day preparing our hearts to listen and follow the leading of The Holy Spirit.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be the first thing we do when we wake up.

Some may choose to do it that way,

while others may get up and do it while having their morning coffee or after they have dropped the kids off at school.

The main thing is to do it before you get going with your normal daily routine sometime before work, school errands, etc.,

because once we get into those things, time slips away from us.

Worship

Begin with worship.

This can be a prayer of thanksgiving

or sometimes I wake up with a praise song on my heart and I sing it to Him.

Your goal is to prepare your heart by reaffirming your confidence in God’s goodness.

Daily Devotional

Next, read through a daily devotional.

If you don’t have the You Version app, I highly recommend it.

Not only is it an awesome tool to have the Bible always with you,

but it has a massive library of daily devotionals by Christian commentators.

Carefully read the commentators words and how they apply the Scripture

and think about how you can apply the Scripture in your life throughout the day.

Pray in Reflection

Lastly, pray and reflect on what you just read.

The best way to open your heart to the Scripture is to re-state the message presented in your own words.

It is much easier to recall your own feelings throughout the day than to recall someone else’s words.

Fortitude 16 - Learn to Wield The Word

Our second session of the day, the “Fortitude 16” is where we will practice our strength and skill wielding the Word against sin.

This can be a mid-day, lunch routine or an evening routine.

I typically do it after the kids have gone to bed and things settle down.

However, it is important not to wait until you are tired and ready for bed to do this,

we want to be focused during this time with God.

Pray for God to reveal Himself to you

Start this session by praying for God to reveal His Truth to you as you study His Word.

Isaiah 6:9-10

You have heard me pray in this class for God to “open our eyes to His glory, allow our ears to hear His instruction, and soften our hearts to doing His will”.

This is from Isaiah 6:9-10 where God tells us we need these things in order to turn to Him.

You don’t have to repeat this mantra, but this is a good example of what your intentions should reflect during this time of prayer.

Bible Study

After our prayer, we enter our time of Bible Study.

I have a few suggestions here:

First, if you are in a class or group going through a Bible Study, like ours; do your personal study during this time.

For example, our weekly chapters typically have 5 to 6 questions for you to reflect on each week.

Instead of sitting down and doing them all in one session,

do one question a day;

taking the time to read carefully through the Scripture in context

and form your own thoughts on it

and then answering the question honestly.

If you are not in a Bible study group, I would suggest a second daily devotional.

However, I would like you to treat this one differently from your morning devotional.

Typically devotional begins with a word of application or explanation from a pastor and then gives you Scripture in support.

Instead, I would like you to read the Scripture first, spending the majority of your time there,

forming your own personal thoughts and feelings on the Scripture

and then read the comments to see if they agree.

Our primary goal in this time is to form our own understanding of Scripture and how to apply it, not just digest someone else’s understanding.

When the fight gets tough, you won’t remember what someone told you about Scripture but you will remember Scripture that you took the time to personally connect with.

“Prayer Warrior” - Pray for yourself and others in light of what you have learned

Last, Close out this session by becoming a Prayer Warrior.

Pray against the struggles with sin you face using the Scripture you just studied.

Pray for others by applying the power of Scripture to their lives.

I typically pray for myself and my immediate family by name,

then my Christian family and their prayer requests,

then my country and it’s leadership,

and finally the world as a whole.

A warrior does not become great by simply reading about their weapon, they must practice wielding it in a variety of situations, every day.

Final 16 - Submit Yourself to God’s Will

Our final session of the day is our “Now I lay me down to sleep” time, where we reinforce our submission to God.

This should be the closing thoughts and prayers of our day.

You can do this before you go to bed or after you are already in bed.

I typically get ready for bed, kiss my wife goodnight, close my eyes, and direct my thoughts and reflections on the day to God as I fall asleep.

The main purpose here is to lay your struggles, needs, and desires at God’s feet and submit all these to the working of His will in your life.

Just as we began the day in worship to reaffirm our confidence in God’s goodness;

we close out the day in reflection to strengthen our resolve to solely rely on Him in our lives.

Talk to God about your day:

Express your struggles and shortcomings that day

Ask Him to fill your needs

Tell Him about your desires

Satan is fully committed to his cause. We must match him with our commitment to God.

This plan is not meant to be a rigid regiment.

You do not have to keep a stop watch to make sure you are spending exactly 16 minutes in each session.

Honestly, the number 16 minutes came to mind simply because it matches well with the mantra of “John 3:16”.

You do not even have to keep this schedule,

though I do think it is a good template and you should have each of these elements in your day somewhere.

I have personally seen real, tangible change in my heart, personality, priorities, and life.

The idea I want you to leave with is to commit yourself to pause life throughout the day and take the required time to connect with God.

If there is any virtue that can be attributed to Satan, it is that he is fully committed to his cause.

He bombards us 24/7, 365 through

social media,

the news,

our favorite TV shows,

and the false teachers all around us.

Satan spends 168 hours every week giving his best effort to tempt us into sin;

it is folly to think we can combat him with a few hours in a pew on Sunday morning.

We must be committed to Spending Time with God

through His Word

and prayer

to prepare for our daily Match Against Temptation.

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