Victory in Surrender

In Matthew 4, Jesus enters the wilderness to be tempted—but this is more than a story about resisting sin. It is a story about reordered desire, surrendered will, and victory through union with the Father. Join us as we trace the path from Eden to the desert and discover how true freedom is found not in grasping, but in surrender.

Transcript

Gospel according to Matthew, chapter four. The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter four. Now, you may have seen already this church calendar year, which we call the lectionary calendar, the turgical calendar, that we've kind of bounced around already in Matthew a little bit. We were in the Sermon on the Mount for a little while, and now we're back a little bit before that. In fact, one chapter before that.

And so join with me when you have found Matthew chapter four. Go ahead and stand with me for the reading of the gospel text this morning.

Notice these words found in Matthew 4, and we'll start with verse 1. Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted 40 days and 40 nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, if you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. But he answered, it is written, one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, if you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written, he will command his angels concerning you, and on their hands they will bear you up so that you will not dash your foot against a stone. Jesus said to him, again it is written, do not put the Lord your God to the test again. The devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. And he said to him, all these I will give you if you will fall down and worship me.

Jesus said to him, away with you, Satan. For it is written, worship the Lord your God and serve only his Him. Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.

Lord Jesus, we thank you for your holy word. And we pray now that your Holy Spirit would come to teach us, to show us another way, Lord, and then strengthen us to walk in that way. We pray in your name. Amen. And you can be seated.

Well, here we find Jesus in the desert, in the wilderness. But according to our readings this morning, in the sequence of those readings, as Derek indicated moments ago, we actually start not in the desert, but rather in a garden. In fact, the Garden of Eden. Okay. And that, you know, terminology is like an idyllic place, right?

A perfect sort of environment. And so where I think we are being directed to first, before we ever get down into the scarcity that is the desert or into temptation, is to proclaim this one thing and that is human. Humanity is born of, created out of God's generosity and not scarcity. In other words, we begin with an original blessing before we ever get to the original sin. And unfortunately, sometimes in our anthropology, even in theological terms, or in our kind of biblical worldview, we sort of begin with, oh yeah, humans are sinful and, and that's what we'll always be.

And we just sort of try to do the best we can until we get to heaven. And that is just a false gospel. Dear brothers and sisters, could I say that again? Instead of beginning with sin, we should begin with God's original blessing that we were created in the imago dei, that he took the dust of the ground just as we put the ashes on the forehead on Wednesday and reminded ourselves that you are dust and to dust you shall return. Well, he took that dust and breathed into it the Holy Spirit, which is the breath of life, and it became a living person, a human being.

And it's from that that we begin, not from sin, not from evil. And this is the proper beginning place. And the Lord God commanded them, you can eat of every tree of this garden. So it's a wide open blessing that they could do it all. There was not a original prohibition, except for on one tree, and that one tree did a sin.

And I think, as you see, even from the temptation of Jesus, it's questions that get us there. It's doubt at the end of the day, questions that have seeds of distrust even at the core of what they are. Did God really say that was all he asked? And from there, all of humanity falls. And in fact, we can blame it on Adam and Eve.

But Paul would remind us otherwise. He says, inasmuch as you have sinned, you will die. Not just Adam's sin causes our spiritual death and consequently our physical death, but rather the fact that we too participate, just as our first parents did, in not trusting God, in falling for. Did God really say that? Isn't God hiding something from me?

Surely there's a way that he is not giving me all that could, that I could get on my own. It's a major case. Perhaps we could put it this way, of fomo. Do you know what FOMO is? Fear of missing out.

You know, it's this massive idea that, oh man, you have it better than I do, and so. And so has it better than I do. And then we go down a road that never leads to happiness. And in fact it leads to the opposite of that. It's disordered desire.

And so there's no crazy thing that happens in the garden. Except that the serpent, who later Paul will tell us is that serpent of old, the devil ask a question. And so I wonder, in our own lives, just as we're entering into Lent, remember, Lent just means a lengthening of days, just like we get in spring. So it just means springtime, right? And so it's more and more light, which I'm thanking the Lord for.

Is anybody else ready to come out of the darkness into the marvelous light of spring and summer? Amen. Right. Okay. Well, that's what's happening.

And so too, should we in our spiritual lives. We're moving away from the darkness to his marvelous light. But as we said a few weeks ago, when the light begins to shine, it exposes things in our own life, exposes deficiencies, it exposes attitudes. And here's the real, if you will, hard thing about Christianity is once we get to the New Testament and we get to Jesus, it's not just about the external things that we do. It's about what's happening in our mind.

It's about what's happening in our attitudes toward things. An ungrateful attitude, perhaps, an attitude of bitterness. Jesus will remind us that the law is not just external, but now by the Holy Spirit moves internal. And it's written on our very hearts and that he cares what we think. And so, you know, when we really start to sort of diagram, if you will, the anatomy of a sin, it's always this first desire, then act, then death.

Of course, death. Here you say, just like in the beginning, remember the day that you do this, you'll die. You say, well, that didn't die. Oh, yeah, they did. Because death is a separation, right?

And they were separated from God in this way. This is why they're hiding. When God comes around, they don't feel unified with him anymore. It's like when a little kid has done something, and then all of a sudden you come in, hey, where'd that thing go? You know, I had something on the table here.

It's like, you know, you see terror in their eyes. You know, it's like, oh, shoot. You know, I was just playing with that and I broke it. It's like, oh, man, you know, but we want to go hide, you know, I remember getting in trouble because I was talking at church and Steve Smith, you know, I knew he was going to tell my father, you know, and like, I played outside as long as I could and finally had to come in. And I just rushed through the living room, got about halfway up the stairs and I heard Marshall from my father and I knew immediately.

I just wanted to go hide, you know, to be honest with you, I didn't want to face up to what I had done.

And you know, if we look at our own lives, every sin that we've ever committed begins with disordered desire misaligned towards something else. But it comes from something. And you know, we kind of make fun of advertising, but I think Satan is the greatest advertiser of all time. You know, you didn't even know you needed something until you saw it scrolling on Instagram. You're like, oh man, wouldn't that be nice?

A new car, a new house, a new spouse, they say, oh, you know, that's funny, it rhymes. Listen, there's been entire marriages and families devoured by a question that entered the mind by a thought. Does God really have your bet? Isn't there somebody else out there better? Isn't there something else out there better?

Fear has to do that whole fear of missing out has to do with distrust that you actually don't trust God enough that he has given you your life. Not mine, not somebody else's, but your life. And that he has brought those people into your life.

And he says, listen, you're permitted to live, to enjoy. But we turn like a selfish little kid and just say, why can't I have that one mine, right? Because that kid has it, I want it. I mean, have you ever watched kids play? It's devilish.

Have you guys ever, I mean, seriously, have you ever just like watched toddlers? I mean, it's like, man, full grown. That is some nasty. You thought politics was bad? Look at two year old politics.

I mean, I've seen them go over there, sweet little girl, just rip it up. That's mine. I had it first. It's like, well, I bought it. So what does that mean?

You know, when my kids try to take ownership of things, I just remind them, everything in this house, everything in your life is mine. And this is, you know, you know, we can argue about that, but the bigger point is I'm trying to teach them a principle about how we should live as Christians. Is nothing in this world is ours, not even our own life. It was given to us, dear friends, all the material blessing. It wasn't because of your genius.

God actually chose to give it to you. And when we think like Nebuchadnezzar, oh, I did this. It was my wit that got me here. We turn into a beast, just like he did in our mentality, in our misordered and Misaligned desires.

God help us. And listen, we've all been there. I'm not pointing the finger at any of you in particular, that I'm not pointing three back at me, because it's true. I mean, we can look around this room today and just say, you know what? We've all been tempted.

We all started with the desire in our mind. And then we, like Eve, remember, saw that it was good for food. Well, you know, he said not to, but it is food. So, you know, and then she desired it, Then she reached out and grabbed it. That is exactly the anatomy of a sin.

It's exactly how it always happens. We see it in a different light.

And I'm telling you from personal experience, that's why when we look at our spouse, we look at our kids, we look at our material, our stuff. Let's just clump it all into stuff. It matters how we see all that kind of stuff. It matters. What we say about really does.

Like that has some kind of real implication to the way we live our lives, which is why the scripture, you know, Paul said, be thankful in all things, like, all the time.

There's nothing, you know, because here's the thing, there's nothing that will happen to you that doesn't first pass through his hand.

Now, that's scary, I know, but it's also, he's our Father. He's our good Father. Now, it doesn't mean that all the decisions you're going to make by what comes your way or his doing in that way. No, you're responsible for you in this life to where Christ calls us back to his way, not to our own way. Thy will be done, not my will be done.

And so we begin in the perfect place with the perfect setup, and we fail. Jesus begins here, his ministry. Notice this is right after his baptism, right after his ministry sort of commences, if you will. And as soon as the baptism is over, he's led into the wilderness. Could we stop and just establish that as soon as you turn to go God's way, you will meet resistance.

As long as you're flowing in the stream of the world, there is no resistance. But as soon as you plant your feet and turn around, then all of a sudden the full force comes at you and you realize, oh, boy, this is not going to be easy. And many people find as soon as they become Christians and are converts and start down the right path, why is everything happening bad to me now? It's like, well, because now you're on target. And just like that old World War II pilot said, he was asking another pilot, he said, how do you know when you're over the target?

He said, you'll start getting plinked. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. You'll get shot. As soon as you start getting shot at, you know you're on the target. And, you know, I found that to be the case in my life.

When you start doing the right thing, it doesn't mean that all good things are going to come your way. In fact, it might get much, much harder from there.

You say, why would that be? Well, because we fell. We're not what we're supposed to be coming into this world. And that's a hard thing for some people to admit. I'm a sinner.

But listen, everybody that has ever existed except Jesus Christ is a sinner. We're all in the same boat. Now, one way is to say, well, because we are, we will always be. But that does not take into account grace. It does not take into account life in the Spirit, being born again.

You see, what Paul is describing in Romans 7 often tries to become an excuse for us Christians. I want to do this, but I can't. I don't want to do this, but I do. And we say, yup, that's my experience. Exactly.

And you know, it's okay that that's your experience, but understand we're not to live there. Move on to chapter eight in Romans, where there's victory in Jesus who gives us his Holy Spirit, Which means during Lent, maybe more than ever. It's not by our own super willing that we're going to get it done. It's not through our own power, but rather it's through surrendering ourself to God's will and trusting that he knows best.

And I know that is hard for anybody to do. It's hard when there's health issues. It's hard when there's relational issues. It's hard all the time.

But we're called, just like Jesus was in his earthly life, to trust the Father's will, not his own in his human nature. And the same way that he succeeded is the same way we will succeed. And that is being united to the Father's will, to the Father's way.

Not through somehow bolstering more our will. No, it's a grace. Empowered, willing.

Now, as we see here, the tempter comes and there's. If you read this one way, there's kind of a showdown here. You know what I mean? Here's Jesus and here's Satan, arch nemesis, kind of Thing, right? If you read it one way, that's what you get.

And back in the day, by the way, in. In youth group, I was in a play by. You remember Carmen, the singer? Carmen. I mean, some of you that didn't grow up in the church in the 90s would never know that name.

And that's okay. But he had this song where Jesus and Satan, like, fought, right? And it was like this battle and all. And like, me and my buddy were. Matt.

Were the ones in the ring, you know, like, it was this whole thing, right? And I still remember that. But in the finer points of our theology, we would say this is not a fight at all, because God is so much greater than anything created that it's maximally different. Like, it's not even the same sort of being. He is God alone.

And then there's everything else. You understand what I'm saying there? So it's not really even a fight. However, what is true about this kind of showdown here?

You know, that's what I think of. Right? You know, you got the tumbleweed come across. You know, it's like this show is human nature. Now follow me real quick.

The Incarnation. What is. What is the doctrine of the Incarnation? It says that God, who is immaterial, uncreated, joins himself to his material creation as a human being. In other words, he has a human nature.

He has a divine nature. The Son does. He takes us on in the Incarnation and a human nature. Two natures, one person. Remember the little thing we did?

Remember that? You know, Remember this, You know, two natures, right? One person, okay? He's not confused, he's not divided, he's not insane, okay? But instead, God is joining Himself to pull us up.

Human nature is swirling down the toilet, going to be dumped. And instead he reaches down and joins himself to human nature by becoming human. Joins himself to a human nature which can be tempted. So there is an aspect here that is a real temptation. And what his success does is mean success for us.

Where Adam failed in the garden, you know, remember in Romans 5, it's Adam who then spreads death to all. But also like Adam, the second Adam, who is Christ, succeeds and then brings life and righteousness to all creatures who will repent and believe. And so there is a type of showdown here, but it's not God versus Satan as much as human nature being raised up. And when we unite, just like what happens in the Incarnation, when we reunite our human nature to the divine, guess what? We're raised up.

We move from darkness to light.

And so in Any temptation that we find ourselves in, we must be joining our will because it's never going to be strong enough to fight off the desires of our hearts, the lust of our minds. And, you know, I think this is a really helpful illustration for me at least. Desire, often throughout church history has been seen as like a fire burning. And you know, fire is good. I mean, you can cook stuff on it, especially in the ancient world.

Like you cook stuff on it, it heats your house. You know, if you come over in the winter and there's a fire going there in the fireplace, that's great. Right? Fire. Rightly ordered, in the right place.

Fireplace is wonderful. Fire in the curtains is not fire. Misplace. Burn the whole house down. We all have desires.

Everybody in this room, we've got desire. We've got a fire burning. It needs to be rightly ordered, needs to be put in the right place. If it doesn't, it doesn't matter what it is, whether it's pleasure, whether it's power, whether it's fame, whether it's riches, whatever it is, if it's let loose in you, it'll burn the whole house down.

And we see as you're scrolling the news or watching somebody's life burning down, you know what I mean? You've got people in your life whose whole life burned down because of this one thing. And we often go to drug addicts, all this kind of. Listen, it can be bitterness.

Unchecked. Burn the whole house down. Now, the good news is this. The only way our desires are purified is if the Holy Spirit's fire comes in to purify and to cleanse, to see. It's not through knowing more, it's not through doing more.

It's through being born again. Please hear me. It's through the new birth. Because when we're born again, we're born of his spirit. Now, all of us have been born once.

Hello. That's why you're here. Hey there. You know, but that's not enough. According to Jesus, we must be born again, born of his spirit.

And when we're born again, we're not just made better, we're made a new creation.

Here's what Jesus says. John 3. 3. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

But once we're born again, God immediately begins to purify our desires, to align them to his own, to his own nature. He's restoring the image of God in us.

That's what we call sanctification. By the way. And, you know, here's the hope. You say, pastor, but I got this thing that I'm telling you, I can't get rid of it. And that's right, you can't.

You really can't. But if you surrender it, and I mean keep surrendering it, I don't care if you have to do it 50 million times, keep surrendering your will to his. He will bend our wills back into alignment with his, and you will come to a place where you enjoy doing what God's way is.

It sounds so foreign. And that's a. That's a. That's a good news message that is, I think, rarely preached. We just want the forgiveness.

Just forgive me of my sins, Lord. Let me keep doing it and keep forgiving me. No, no. He's reorganizing everything in our life, including the things that our will is enslaved to. He's releasing that.

That our mind is captured by and darkened by. He's renewing that if we'll let him. The enemy wants to come along and says, no, no, no. He just. Just forgiveness of sins.

That's all that matters. Christ has a whole new life, brothers and sisters, and that stuff is not going to be allowed in heaven. So where do you think it's got to be dealt with right now? Like, it's. Today is the day of salvation for this stuff.

So whatever it is, whether. Whether it's laziness or anxiety or all these things that swirl around the universe, that's you. And we all have it. Like, we all have these. Just a lot of stuff.

I mean, we do.

He's going to pick one and go after it. And the next step, and the next step, don't do this thing where, oh, yeah, tomorrow I'll be perfect, you know, doesn't work like that. It's a walk, friend. It's a walk. We walk with God day by day.

Do not let the enemy tempt you. Otherwise he is here. Christ is here to refine our wills, to align them with his own. He's here to renew our minds, to be the mind of Christ.

And so when you're tempted, locate that desire. Like, where's that desire coming from? And give it to the Lord. Is this what you want of me, Lord? That's hard to do.

It's hard to do in the moment when somebody pulls out in front of you and your desire is to. Right. I don't know what it is. Probably not good. It's like, lord, I want to give you this.

Help me. I don't want this to Burn my house down. Victory is in surrender. Victory is in surrender. Not doing more, but instead aligning, uniting our will to his will.

I mean, it really is. I mean, you talk about we move from garden to desert, back to garden of Gethsemane right at the end of Jesus life. And what does he say? Not my will, but yours. I mean, that's.

Maybe that's just the prayer for this whole week. For me, not my will, but thine, whatever happens, not my will, but that I fully trust you, Lord. Have you ever said that to God? Just like I actually fully trust your way for me this week, today, If we're united to him, we'll be more than conquerors through him who loved us. Romans 8:37.

Again that Romans 8, chapter of victory. So instead of grasping at life, trust, grasp, open hands.

Instead of trying to control everything with your own will, which will result in your ruin, receive the will of God for your life. Receive it moment by moment, day by day, as you walk, instead of asserting yourself. I'm going to be a better me. Surrender. Surrender your identity to Christ.

And what you'll find when you're born again and the Spirit comes in to renew us is a new identity, not your own. And thanks be to God, it's not. It's better. It's a human fully flourishing, fully alive. To all the permissions that God has given to us.

And the prohibitions are the thing of the past. We're enjoying the doing his way. That's victory in Jesus. So if you want to be happy, as the old song says, right, Trust and obey. For there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.

In the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit. May it be so, Lord. Amen.