The Power to Overcome

“The Power To Overcome”
Matthew 4:1-11 (NLT)

1


(1) Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into
the wilderness to be tempted there by
the devil.

(2) For forty days and forty nights He
fasted and became very hungry.

2


(3) During that time the devil came and
said to Him, “If you are the Son of God,
tell these stones to become loaves of
bread.”
(4) But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures
say, People do not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the
mouth of God.
3


(5) Then the devil took Him to the
holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest
point of the Temple,

4


(6) and said, “If you are the Son of
God, jump off!

For the Scriptures say,
‘He will order His angels to protect you.
And they will hold you up with their
hands so you won’t even hurt your foot
on a stone.
5


(7) Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also
say, ‘You must not test the LORD your
God.’ ”

(8) Next the devil took Him to the peak of
a very high mountain and showed Him
all the kingdoms of the world and their
glory.
6


(9) “I will give it all to you,” he said, “if
you will kneel down and worship me.”

(10) “Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told
him. “For the Scriptures say,
‘You must worship the LORD your God
and serve only Him.’ ”
7


 I believe that the majority of us had to fight
off temptation at some time in our lives.
Someone enticed you and tried to make you
do something that was foreign to your
moral values. They chipped away at
you, searching for your weak spot so that
they could take advantage of you. They
tempted you with promises that caused you
to salivate with anticipation as you waited
for those promises to become realities. 8


 Sometimes you wake up and discover that
you have been tricked by the devil. He
appears when he thinks you are most
vulnerable. Many people fall prey to the
devil because they are looking for someone
in a red costume, with a long tail and a pitch
fork in his hand. That’s an image that has
been created by an artist. The real devil is
that evil spirit that is characterized by an
evil personality that seeks to find whomever
he can destroy.
9


 You must be careful not to become one
of his victims. He has been trying to
destroy righteous, God -loving people
for a long time. He tempted Adam and
Eve, the first human beings that God
created and placed in the safety of His
garden. God told them not to eat from
the fruit tree in the garden. Genesis 3:1-
4 says:
10


“(1) The serpent was the shrewdest of all
the wild animals the LORD God had
made. One day he asked the
woman, “Did God really say you must
not eat the fruit from any of the trees in
the garden?”

11


(2) “Of course we may eat fruit from the
trees in the garden,” the woman
replied.
(3) “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the
middle of the garden that we are not
allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not
eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will
die.’”
12


(4) “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to
the woman.
 When you look further in the Bible at Job
1:6-10, you see what the devil did to Job a
man who loved God with all of his
heart, soul, and mind. The text says “(6)
One day the members of the heavenly
court came to present themselves before
the LORD, and the Accuser, Satan, came 13


(7) “Where have you come from?” the LORD
asked Satan. Satan answered the LORD, “I
have been patrolling the earth, watching
everything that’s going on.”
(8) Then the LORD asked Satan, “Have you
noticed my servant Job? He is the finest
man in all the earth. He is blameless—a
man of complete integrity. He fears God
and stays away from evil.” 14


(9) Satan replied to the LORD, “Yes, but
Job has good reason to fear God.
(10) You have always put a wall of
protection around him and his home
and his property. You have made him
prosper in everything he does. Look how
rich he is!
15


 We learn from both texts that when the
devil realizes that you have God’s
favor, he will show up, and he will test
you and try to wear you down.
 The Devil wanted to stop the ministry of
Jesus, the Son of God who came to take
away the sins of the world.
16


 The Devil knew that he could not defeat
God. In fact, God banished him from
Heaven. He was frustrated, but
determined that somehow, he could
defeat JESUS, the one who God loved.
When the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the
wilderness, and Satan assumed that a
forty day fast would have left Jesus
spiritually and physically weak.
17


 And so he went into the wilderness
where Jesus was to test and tempt Jesus
to fall away from God and lose the
authority that God had given Him. He
wanted Jesus to sin!
 What the devil did not understand was
that Jesus was God in the flesh. He was
divinity wrapped in humanity – although
He was tempted, He did not sin.
18


 As we read in this 4th chapter of the
GOSPEL OF MATTHEW: “(1) Then
Jesus was led by the Spirit into the
wilderness to be tempted there by the
devil.”
 Luke says that Jesus was full of the
Spirit, and was led by the Holy Spirit to
go out into the wilderness where the
devil tempted him for forty days.
19


 The Gospel writers prove that Jesus did not
come into the wilderness as weak as the
devil thought he was. Their testimony is
that he was filled with the HOLY SPIRIT.
In the previous chapter, we see that He had
been baptized in the Jordan River, and the
Holy Spirit descended on Him in the form of
a dove, and a voice from Heaven said: “This
is my beloved Son in whom I am well
pleased.” 20


 So, Jesus had the Holy Spirit and He had
God’s approval. At the end of the 40
days and nights, the devil tempted
Him, but he would not give in to
temptation.
 The tests that Jesus had to suffer are the
test and temptations that we all face in
this life.
21


 Satan will always test:
1. Your belief in God’s Word.
(Matthew4: 3-4)
“(3) …the devil came and said to Him, ‘If you
are the Son of God, tell these stones to
become loaves of bread.’
(4) But Jesus told him, ‘No! The Scriptures
say, People do not live by bread alone, but
by every word that comes from the mouth
of God.’ ” 22


 Jesus knew the Word and His belief and
commitment to the Word of God made
Him strong.
2. The degree of your spiritual and emotional
stability
(Matthew 4:5-7)
(5) Then the devil took Him to the holy
city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the
Temple,
(6) and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump
off! For the Scriptures say,
23


‘He will order His angels to protect you.
And they will hold you up with their
hands so you won’t even hurt your foot
on a stone.’ ”
(7) Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also
say, ‘You must not test the LORD your
God.’ ”

24


3. The seriousness of your worship
(Matthew 4: 8-10)
(8) Next the devil took Him to the peak of
a very high mountain and showed Him
all the kingdoms of the world and their
glory.
(9) “I will give it all to you,” he said, “if
you will kneel down and worship me.”
(10) “Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told
him. “For the Scriptures say,‘You must
worship the LORD your God and serve
only him. 25

The Power to Overcome

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