Today, part 3 of 3 in "Overcoming with Jesus." Our passage is Matthew 4:8-11:

Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; and he said to Him, 'All these things will I give you, if you will fall down and worship me.' Then Jesus said to him, 'Go, Satan! For it is written, "You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only."' Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him.

Today we witnessed an ancient rite of the Christian church: baptism. Some things in our experience seem to continue indefinitely, as if they always have been and always will be. I'm here to remind you most things do not continue indefinitely, and some things as we know them will soon be discontinued.

One day soon there will be no more baptisms. That's right; everyone will have decided where they stand morally. Somebody--maybe somebody who is now alive--will be the very last person on planet earth to be baptized.

Everyone gets to decide who they will be. We don't get to pick our eye color or our sex or our height. Those things are morally indifferent; they are situational. God has left it to us to choose who we will be. Will I be an unselfish person or something else?

While we aren't...

And when the hour was come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. And He said to them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: for I say to you I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God shall come (Luke 22:14-17).

Most people in America today have a cell phone. When I preached in Africa in 2016, cell phones were common. We are so connected, yet lonelier than ever before.

Some people insist that they can't find God. They look for God high and far away, but they might be having trouble finding Him precisely because they do not look low enough. He is very near.

How do you get to know God? You listen to Him. You talk to Him. In a world filled with alerts and notifications, ads and commercials, how do we draw near to the infinite One?

It's easy. He says just talk to Me.

Today a look at the second of three occasions where Jesus is tempted in the wilderness, to gather insights from Jesus' victory over these temptations.

Looking at the Second Temptation

Consider the sequence of the second temptation (Matthew 4:5-7):

Introduction

“Humanity and Divinity Combined” should be a stimulating hope. Man on his own can accomplish nothing. Man cooperating with God can experience a changed heart. God always intended the closest connection between Himself and the creatures He made in His image.

Humans are not left dangling helpless and hopeless on the battlefield between Christ and Satan. Humans are not intended to be the recipients of infinite “get out of jail free” cards. Humans will never enter heaven because they claim a loose verbal affiliation with Jesus.

My thesis is simple:

The gospel is the power of God to salvation (Romans 1:16); divinity works in the human believer. God has a part. Man has a part. Man may become a partaker of the divine nature.

To Will and to Do

Consider Philippians 2:12-13...

Someone said the Cross comes before the crown, and they were right. Consider our Bible passage Mark 10:32-34:

They were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking on ahead of them; and they were amazed, and those who followed were fearful. Again He took the twelve aside and began to tell them what was going to happen to Him, saying, 'Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and will hand Him over to the gentiles. They will mock Him and spit on Him, and scourge Him and kill Him, and three days later He will rise again.'