Resisting the Devil’s Attacks
Matthew 4:1-11; 1 John 2:15-17
As we open in our Bibles to Matthew 4, we look today at Christ’s temptation.
Jesus was tempted and resisted sin; we do not.
We are tempted and sin because we have sin dwelling within us.
Sin Still Dwells in Us
Paul testified that sin still dwells in us, in his greatest doctrinal epistle, Romans 7:20.
Paul affirms that horrible truth,
after his glorious conversion on the road to Damascus,
after his personal tutelage by Christ in the wilderness,
after his years of ministry as an apostle preaching, planting churches, and
after writing almost half of our New Testament under the inspiration of God, for almost 20 years: Paul declares: “…sin [still] dwells in me.”
Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. (NJKV)
Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. (NIV)
But if I am doing the very thing I do not wish, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. (NAS)
We Need God to Deliver Us
This morning we are to regularly ask for God’s protection (the sixth petition, Mt. 6:13) because sin is still in all of us who are saved, and that is why we still sin.
We are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners.
We are thieves at heart though we may not steal;
We are liars at heart even when we do not lie;
We are murderers at heart even when we do not kill;
We are adulterers at heart though we may not commit adultery.
But just as bleak as that truth may be, the glorious truth is that salvation united us to Jesus Christ—and He defeated sin not only once and for all as our substitute on the cross, but also he triumphed in the wilderness, facing Satan.
That brings us to our target in God’s Word today. We are seeking:
Lessons from Christ’s Temptation for Our Resisting the Devil’s Attacks
(SWS-09)
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