I preached this Sunday from Matthew 4:1-4 on Temptation and the Triumph of Christ (Lord willing I will preach again this Sunday from verses 5-11). Preparing for this was good for my own soul. A lot of things the Lord taught me. At the end, I said we should battle temptation by feasting on gospel truths. Here were the four I pointed out:
- You are not a slave to your desires anymore, no matter how strong your urges are, if you are a Christian
- God is your loving Father who provides all you need, when you need it.
- Jesus endured temptation, died and rose again so that he could be your faithful high priest.
- Your desires are strong, but in Christ, they are being transformed into the God-honoring desires they were originally designed to be.
And remember
, “Temptation is so strong in our lives precisely because it is not about us. Temptation is an assault by the demonic powers on the rival empire of the Messiah. That’s why conversion to Christ doesn’t diminish the power of temptation- as we often assume,- but actually, counterintuitively, ratchets it up.” (Russell Moore, Tempted and Tried, 21).
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