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The Temptation of Christ

 


"Immediately the Spirit *impelled Him to go out into the wilderness. And He was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by Satan; and He was with the wild beasts, and the angels were ministering to Him. Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel."
As He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men." Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. Going on a little farther, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets. Immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went away to follow Him."
 
Good Morning my beloved,
 
We welcome you to worship in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are so grateful that the Lord lead you join us today.  
 
In the light of the current campaign for sexual immorality in our nation, a major division over divine truth has surfaced in the church between those who are fully and faithfully committed to God's moral standards and those who claim to be Christians, yet refuse to have the Word of God intrude upon their sinful lives.
 
Romans 1:18, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness."  In our rebellion, the church has become a people so comfortable with our defiant sinfulness we have abandoned God and brought upon ourselves the judgement of God. When God turns His back on a people, they're going to get exactly what they want "no restraint." I believe that is exactly what we are witnessing in America today, from the highest positions of leadership in Washington, all the way down to the pulpit in the church, is the inevitable wrath of God coming from heaven against the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.
 
The church has reached the point that even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God. We are without excuse, the church has had the Gospel for all the years of our existence, yet we have progressively continued in the suppression of that truth in order to please man and in doing so, we have displeased God. When immorality dominates they will continue to plunge further and further into darkness, left to face the consequences of their own sinful choices. That's why so many denominations are literally imploding, collapsing on themselves. We are experiencing the removal of God's restraining grace. Sin is the cause and the effect is God's wrath. 
 
Just look at our society, nobody wants to talk about it, but we all see it; the horrendous abuse of innocent children being trafficked, millions of pornographic images of every kind, every sexually immoral behavior one can imagine is being normalized, all to satisfy a culture driven by it's own insatiable lusts.
 
Let us pray
 

Heavenly Father,

Father, thank You for Your Word, for graciously confronting us with the Truth, warning us about sin and temptation with such clarity and power. Lord, empower me through Your Holy Spirit to faithfully proclaim Your Word in such a way that people might listen and obey it before it's too late. Use this ministry to boldly and powerfully reach Your people in all nations that those who are facing eternal judgement might be saved from Your wrath. Lord, may our gratitude be revealed by our lives obedience and service to You in proclaiming the glories of the Gospel far and wide. 
In Christ's name we ask and pray
Amen
 
 
Today's Message: The Temptation of Christ
 
I was asked several years ago if I ever got tired of studying the Bible, the answer is no, I can never get enough of our Lord Jesus Christ, in fact, I believe knowing Him is what all of our hearts should long for. God desires us to have a holy reverence for His Word and to apply it. I do however, find that I never seem to have enough time and energy to study as much as I would prefer. I thank God that Scripture is totally inexhaustible, I find that no matter how much I ready and study the Word, the more the Holy Spirit reveals the majesty and wonder of His person. Each of the four Gospels under the direction of the Holy Spirit, enrich us profoundly by giving us different relevant perspectives to help us to grow and mature into God-Centered Living. 

Contrary to the popular name it and claim it prosperity teaching today that the Lord wants nothing more than fulfill the desires of your hearts, in following Christ we will encounter severe suffering. When you confront sinners and tell them that their deeds are evil and damning, like Jesus Himself did, you're going to hated and on the the same road to receiving persecution.
 
One would think after the incredible coronation of His baptism, and the Father exclaiming from heaven, "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased," that the angels would had broken out into the Hallelujah chorus, ensuring Jesus would experience an easy ministry. However, Scripture teaches immediately after His baptism, before His ministry would begin, Christ would face forty days in the wilderness and being tempted by Satan. Mark gives us no record of what the temptation was. Thankfully, Matthew gives us a very detailed presentation of the various temptations that came against Christ and how He responded to them. Mark's approach is different, giving us wider view of things, he frequently uses the word "immediately" to make sure we keep moving at a faster pace. In fact, he uses it about a dozen times in chapter 1. Remember, Mark writing primarily to Roman Christians and non-Christians, so gives his readers a condensed version, so that can be easily understood and hold the interest of his readers.
 
Open your Bibles to Mark chapter 1, I invite you follow along with me as I read these verses to you to set the text in our minds. I pray that the Lord would help us to hear and apply what He has to say to each of us today and strengthen our faith.  Mark 1:12-20.
 
"Immediately the Spirit *impelled Him to go out into the wilderness. And He was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by Satan; and He was with the wild beasts, and the angels were ministering to Him. Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel."

As He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men." Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. Going on a little farther, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets. Immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went away to follow Him."

Let's look at verses 12 and 13, "Immediately the Spirit *impelled Him to go out into the wilderness. And He was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by Satan; and He was with the wild beasts, and the angels were ministering to Him." Having read Matthew's account, right away you notice there are a number of omissions in Mark's little vignettes, there are many events he skips over, indicating all Mark wants to do is lay the groundwork for these series of events.  First, in verse 1, he established that Jesus is the new King. Then he establishes that John the Baptizer is the fulfillment of prophesied forerunner for the coming King. Next is the new King's coronation, His baptism. Then, the Holy spirit descends upon Him granting Spirit-empowered divine authority and the Father says, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
 
In order to keep us moving rather quickly, Mark goes right to establishing His authority over Satan, by demonstrating the new King has the power and authority to conquer Satan and temptation. Which Mark does by showing Jesus was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan and He was with the wild beasts. He uses the word immediately to demonstrate that you are never more vulnerable than when you’re on the heels of a great victory. Notice Mark uses the word impelled, meaning to be thrown out by force, driven out by strong compulsion. Now that He is identified as the Son of God, the new King, Satan launches his assaults. It's same word is used by Matthew in chapter 21, when Jesus was driving out the money changers from the temple. 
 
Again, Mark skips over the details of Satan's temptation, the desire to satisfy flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. The most deadly threats to our faith are when our desire for the pleasures of earth becomes necessary for our happiness, diminishing our appetite for God and our spiritual needs. When we begin to choke the Word in our life, is His mercy, God deals with us just as He dealt with Israel, sending them into the wilderness which stretched for forty years, and in His kindness the Giver of bread took away bread to strengthen man’s heart, reminding us where true life comes from.
 
Deuteronomy 8:3, "He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord." And Deuteronomy 8:15 speaks of the terrible great wilderness with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there is no water. The Holy Spirit intended to dramatize the contrast of Adam falling into temptation in paradise, the Garden of Eden, while Christ was alone for forty days in devastating isolation, without food or comfort. Even at His weakest moment and physical condition, while in isolation in an uninhabitable place where wild beasts live, Christ has the power to overcome the most alluring selective temptations designed by Satan to satisfy the desires of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. Demonstrating He will always triumph over anything that Satan throws at Him! This strikes a devastating blow to the prosperity gospel, that God only wants to give you the desires of your heart; God will allow His own to suffer temptation in order that victory may triumph.
 
What a paradox, the new King is also the suffering servant, "If You’re hungry, turn those stones into bread." It was never about giving up His sovereignty, He was tired, weak and hungry; it was about keeping Him from the cross. Each time He quoted Scripture, rejecting the temptation, in the end Satan left Him and God sent angels to minister to Him, meaning they met His need, by giving Him something to eat.
Keep in mind, Satan also loves to assault us when we're isolated and alone, when we're mentally and physical weak, with no support system to encourage us to diminish our faith. We won't triumph over sin and temptation perfectly as Jesus did, but we can triumph as a faithful servant walking in obedience to Christ.


Then Mark quickly moves ahead to demonstrate His authority over sin and its dominion affirming the authority of His preaching as He preaches the Good News that if you "Repent and believe, and you will be forgiven and I will take you into the Kingdom of Heaven." In Mark's brief record, the Holy Spirit establishes His power and authority over Satan, the kingdom of darkness and His ministry that He is about to launch, and His message, He has the authority to destroy the evil works of the adversary, which is sin.

Verses 14-15, "Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel."
 
Mark moves right from Christ's temptation to His ministry in Galilee, skipping over more than a year of Jesus’ ministry. Which interestingly enough was the district of Herod. Jesus didn’t shy away from confrontation either, in fact, he moved right into the danger zone. Prior to John being taken into custody, their two ministries overlapped, John was preaching his message of baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin and Jesus was in Judea. After John was arrested, which is a fascinating story in itself, but Mark says Jesus came into Galilee, , which lasted roughly a year and a half, preaching and teaching the gospel of God, "The time is fulfilled, and kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel." I believe this must be the model for effective ministry even today, "The kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe, and your sin will be forgiven." That's the good news of salvation! That's our job, to preach the message that came from God, without adding to it or subtracting from it. The Gospel is not a you're good enough pep talk or uttering platitudes of self-help
 
Why on earth would anybody alter the best news the world has ever heard. Jesus Christ, the Son of God will pay the penalty for your sin and provide salvation for those who will turn from their sin, believe God's message and obey His commands? How foolish it is for pastors today to succumb to the latest trends of popular preaching, easy believism and cheap grace, advocating indulging their sinful desires, denouncing judgement of sin and the wrath of God seeking to please the culture, producing superficial converts for Christ who will only be damned, paying the penalty themselves!
 
Jesus Christ has come to establish His invisible spiritual Kingdom in the hearts of all who believe, and He rules over all who belong to Him in divine authority, which is inseparable from Him. When you become a Christian, putting your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, the indwelling Holy Spirit enables you to turn your life around and go the opposite direction. In other words, until the issue of absolute Truth and supreme authority in our lives is resolved, everything else will stay in disarray! The Gospel is the power over sin for anybody who comes to Christ, genuinely repents and believes, submitting to His authority; the rebellion in us to do whatever we want is eliminated and we live according to God's Word, doing what is morally right! In a false conversion, the "believer" seeks to use God for his purposes rather than surrendering his life to God for His purposes. The true Christian says "God is my authority, and I will do His will and that which is pleasing in His sight." That's why it is incomprehensible for a Christian to continue to habitually sin against God!

However, spiritual terrorists, energized by Satan, have entered into the church representing a new kind of war, a war on Truth. The Truth which flows directly from God Himself and is consistent with the mind, will, character, glory, and being of God. Jesus came preaching the gospel of God, which we now have as the revealed the Word of God in Scripture. True pastors will preach the same Gospel, which is the only message leading to salvation. There should never be any confusion about what the message is!
 
Verse 16, "As He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen." Jesus is walking along by the Sea of Galilee, which is not really a sea, it's a lake only thirteen miles long at its longest point, and seven miles wide at its widest point, seven hundred feet below sea level. So, Jesus sees Simon and Andrew busy fishing, casting a net since they were in the fishing business, which by the way, was pretty big business since fish was the primary meat.  Keep in mind, according to John 1, He already knows them and they they already know that He is the Messiah, Andrew was present when John the Baptist said "Behold the Lamb of God,'" he went and found his brother Simon, and said to him, "'We've found the Messiah.'" They have already express their interest in Him, so this is some time later. Jesus is now beginning to collect His disciples, who we know will become His Apostles.
 
Verse 17, "And Jesus said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men." Jesus in sovereign authority, calls them to drop everything, abandoning their current lives the way it is and follow Him! This is very vivid picture of Matthew 16:24, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me." That's true discipleship, nothing like the "Keep your sin, enjoy your ungodly life and just add Jesus" evangelism we hear today. Tragically, weak minded believers desperate to hold onto their sin while claiming salvation easily fall prey to such false teaching. It's like the old adage, "If it sounds to good to be true, it probably isn't!"

Look at verse 18, "Immediately they left their nets and followed Him." They immediately dropped everything and followed Him. Did they say "OK, I will follow You, but I can't give up my only income, and leave my family behind, so I'll need to keep my life the way it is?" No, these men were thankful for the grace given to them and they left everything right then and there and followed Him. Salvation is not about you accepting Christ, it's about Him accepting you. If you don't repent, abandoning your old way of life, you'll perish! That's the message. Now Jesus has His first two disciples, Simon and Andrew. I believe we can all agree, Peter was no pushover, he surely had a mind of his own. Remember, it was Peter who took Jesus aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You," in Matthew 16:22. Mark wants us to know that the sovereign power that Jesus bears is the power of God.
 
That brings us to verses 19-20, "Going on a little farther, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets. Immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went away to follow Him." According to Luke 5, James and John were in partnership with their dad, Zebedee and Simon and Andrew, in the fishing business and they were mending the nets. Immediately they got out of the boat, leaving their father Zebedee and followed Him.
 
These guys are no easy pushovers either, I'm sure we all remember the nick name Jesus gave them,
"Boanerges," which means, "Sons of Thunder." What a glorious picture of what it means to be called to follow Christ and instantaneous obedience. Folks, we need to do the same. When Christ enters our life, we need to drop everything from our former and put Him first in our lives, committing ourselves, dedicating our lives to following Him. Nothing has been more important, more rewarding in my life than when in His loving kindness, He called me to drop everything and follow Him. The key is we must faithfully teach and commit ourselves to instructing others, entrusting them with this blessed treasure we've been handed, to one day carry on when our own earthly ministry comes to an end.

In Closing..
 
Even now, Satan, the tempter of men, is very active, we must recognize that his efforts to tempt Jesus did not end after that 40-day confrontation. After all, isn't that what the Garden of Gethsemane was about; the final struggle between Satan and Jesus? Just hours before His crucifixion, Satan attempted to break His humanity with weakness to keep Him from going to the cross. Satan couldn't stop Him from being King but he could try to prevent Him from having anyone to reign over. 

In the same way, our human propensities are almost always Satan’s targets; the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. In our weakest moments, he tries to divert us from fulfilling God's divine plans and purposes for our lives. Therefore, we must remember Jesus' example in overcoming temptation, so that we too might successfully triumph over the temptations we face today. Jesus understood that in order to withstand Satan’s temptations, He needed to be as close to His Father as possible, armed with the Word of God. We must utilize these same vital keys in resisting his temptations when we are at our weakest! God's grace is sufficient for all of us, His power is perfected in our weakness.
 

May it be so..


And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;

the Lord make His face shine upon you,

And be gracious to you;

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.

Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen

 
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The Brian Monzon Ministries

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