Sermon Tone Analysis
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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.
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:
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:
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
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
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
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,
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