Title: Overcoming Temptation / Matthew 4:1-11
Contents
Overcoming Temptation / Matthew 4:1-11
It is easy to lose in games or sports. If you make up your mind to lose, you lose. If I don't show my skills to lose this time, I lose the game. Losing because of lack of strength is inevitable, but if you are determined to lose even if you have the skills, you will lose in sports games. But winning is not easy. If we want to win the game, we must have the conditions to win. You have to have the stamina and you have to have the skills. Also, you have to be resilient and you can only win by playing the game with good condition for the day.
The same is true in spiritual warfare. One time, there was a person who consulted for a tobacco problem, but since I had never smoked, I didn't know how I felt, and in fact, I had no idea. The truth is, the smoker has all the answers. No matter how much you ask someone for a tombstone, it will not come out. Why is quitting smoking a problem? It shouldn't smoke, but that's a problem because it doesn't work well. We must break our habits, stubbornness, and habit, in order to achieve spiritual victory in our character. Without breaking my stubbornness, without abandoning my habits, and without changing any of my habits, I should not try to win personally or spiritually.
Temptation is, in some ways, a positive thing. Being the target of temptation also has its advantages. Temptation can be there. But being tempted is not a problem. There are many benefits and progress in overcoming temptation. We do not need to hope that there will be no temptation. There are many temptations, but overcoming them one by one brings us many benefits. The younger generation is a generation with many temptations in its own way. It is also a time of great temptation. In Matthew 4, Jesus is being tempted by the devil, and if you look closely, he describes the nature of temptation in three ways.
physical temptation
Jesus did not make bread out of stones. Jesus made wine from water, not the God who makes wine out of wood or stones. Even if God works miracles, He performs miracles according to the order of creation. Even when he fed 5,000 people, he did not make bread with stones, but made them eat with fish and barley rice cakes. The Lord did not conceive Jesus Christ through Joseph, but through Mary. It would be a greater miracle if a man gave birth to a baby, but it is not a miracle, it is against the order of creation, and God does not go against the order. Making bread with stones is a crime against creation.
How does this principle apply to us in practice? It is saying that no matter how much we need money, we must not make money in a way that goes against the Word of God. No matter how much money I need, I can't steal. No matter how much money I need, I cannot cheat. If you make money doing that, it's like making bread out of stones. This is a method that God does not allow. Before the temptation of bread, Jesus said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." The basic weapon that overcomes the temptation of bread is the Word. Jesus says these words are a weapon that overcomes the temptations of the flesh. The term body is a philosophical term. Among the needs, basic needs, wanting to sleep, feeling sexual desire, and feeling possessiveness are the most basic needs of the body. In other words, the resources to control your personality and control your desires come from the Word of God. Therefore, you must listen to these words and eat them.
mental temptation
The second temptation is to "jump off the top of the temple." To classify this is a mental temptation. I want you to jump from the top and show that you are omnipotent. It's honor. This sense of honor, resonance, is a spiritual vanity. If you look at our society, there are many temptations in this area. Everyone is succumbing to temptation in an empty state of mind.
Not long ago, there was a HOT group performance at Jamsil Main Stadium, and even though the fans had a week left, there were three hundred teenagers who were sleeping with blankets on the cement floor. The students who have been waiting for weeks since they said they would sit in the front of the concert hall were not children imported from abroad, but our sons and daughters. I feel that there is something spiritually empty about those innocent children rather than being innocent. Just because they are teenagers, it cannot be said that all mental conditions are pure. There are more injuries than adults in this area. Children are weak in the face of spiritual temptations because of the immature digestive power of civilization.
A few years ago, Michael Jackson came from my country to perform. The guarantee is 2.4 billion won for a one-night performance. And the system fee is separate. The group had 10 assistant clerks, 7 makeup artists, 70 staff members, and 170 bodyguards, cooks, and musicians. And the required equipment weighs a whopping 1,000 tons. Looking at the scene when Michael Jackson was performing, how heavy would the tank be? I calculated it that way, and it would be a thousand tons. Because there is so much equipment, only the party comes by charter plane, and to move equipment, a dedicated boat is used to travel around the world. Also, Michael Jackson signed a contract with a Japanese record company with a contract of 1 billion dollars (1.2 trillion won). That person makes unimaginable money with just one body.
But seeing Michael Jackson's face on the news or on the screen has never, for a moment, felt like a happy face. His face is more like a whitewashed face rather than a healthy one, and he has a haggard and anxious impression, his smile is not pure, and he doesn't seem to be a happy person in this age, where it's hard to tell whether he's a man or a woman. In addition, his song lyrics are even sung by pop singers, including songs that praise sex and praise Satan.
What is the highest honor and value of human beings? What do you seek? What did Jesus say when Satan told him to jump from the top of the temple? "Do not put the Lord your God to the test." The highest value is not to test God, but to please Him and glorify Him. The life we live as children of God, and the life that gives glory to God, is greater than any honor on this earth and greater than any spiritual value. You have to overcome mental temptation. Now, on the outside, many people struggle with material things and what they see, but deep down, they are mentally ill.
spiritual temptation
The third is spiritual temptation. Satan said to Jesus, "If you fall down and worship me, I will give you the glory of all the kingdoms of heaven." This devil is referred to as ?쐔he King of the world??in John 12:31. To worship me means to compromise with the devil. It is to compromise with injustice. This is spiritual temptation. For the kingdom of God, the purpose, method, and motive must be good. You shouldn't use methods to achieve your goals. We cannot do missionary work by selling alcohol. Even if you can't do missionary work because you don't have money, you can't do it. Also, you can't build a chapel because you're a drug dealer. You can't do good things with that money by smuggling. There can be no spiritual compromise. It is whether or not everything is permissible in the name of God. It is impossible to do anything without any means in the name of Jesus Christ. The Lord's answer was, "Go away, Satan, and worship the Lord your God and serve him only."
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