The holidays are here and, “Maybe it is the most wonderful time of the year, but the truth is it’s also the most tempting time of the year. We’re tempted to spend what we don’t have, to eat what we don’t need, to chase a feeling that doesn’t lasts. We see commercials, receive cards and scroll through carefully curated highlights and quietly wonder why our life isn’t so put together or picture-perfect. Everywhere we look we’ll see smiling families, cozy homes, beautiful meals, expensive gift, grandiose trips, but just below the surface many will experience anxiety, disappointment, dissatisfaction and temptation. The holidays promise peace on earth, but often deliver pressure, noise, and exhaustion.”

How do we prepare for what threatens to rob us of fully experiencing the goodness and grace of our great Lord and Savior? Look at the temptations Jesus face in the wilderness - to have our eyes wide open about what temptations will come, how we can avoid the giving into sin and what to do if we find ourselves caught in sin’s snare.

“Wilderness” is geographical, but it’s also a theological and spiritual concept.
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View this holiday season as a type of wilderness.

1. The Wilderness is a Place of SEPARATION
God often leads His people into the wilderness to pull them away from normal patterns. The wilderness creates a holy disorientation — life is not “as usual,” allowing God to get your attention.

2. The Wilderness is a Place of CONFRONTATION
In the wilderness, we are confronted by what’s in us and what’s against us.

3. The Wilderness is a Place of REVELATION
The wilderness is where God shows you who He is, who you are, & what really sustains you.

4. The Wilderness is a Place of PREPARATION
The wilderness is not where God abandons you — it’s where He forms you.
We will be tested and we will have the opportunity to grow in Christ or to give in to temptation.

WHAT IS TEMPTATION?
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Temptation is an immediate, pleasurable urge or impulse that disrupts an individual’s ability to wait for the long-term goals, in which that individual hopes to attain.

WHAT ARE THE SOURCES OF TEMPTATION?
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3 traditional sources of temptation, enemies of the soul, are the world, the flesh and the Devil.

Temptation #1 (The Flesh)
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And he (Jesus) ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” 4 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’”

Temptation of physical satisfaction over spiritual trust, self-pleasure over God’s provision.

“Boys do what they want, men do what they should.”

When the last time, you crucified some part of your flesh?

"Be killing sin or it will be killing you”

Temptation #2 (The World)
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5 And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, 6 and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’”

For Jesus, the temptation was the crown without the cross.

For us the temptation is the kingdom without the king, the creation without the creator, and like the prodigal son, the father’s stuff, without a relationship with the father.

Temptation you will face in this holiday wilderness is to prioritize more for you over being on mission for Him.

Charles Spurgeon: “If Christ is not all to you, He is nothing to you.”

Dallas Willard: “To depart from righteousness is to choose a life of self-destruction, even if it leads to what the world calls success.”

Temptation #3 (The Devil)
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9 And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’ 11 and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”12 And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

The temptation of popularity & pride.

THE TREACHEROUS TRACK OF TEMPTATION (The Sin Cycle)
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1. Temptation: “The Devil doesn’t come dressed up in a red cape, pitchfork and pointy horns - he comes disguised as everything you’ve ever wished for.”

2. Contemplation: Sin always begins in the mind before it shows up in our choices. When temptation knocks don’t let imagination answer.

3. Action: We give in, feel the rush, and experience the fleeting flash of pleasure.

4. Condemnation: The accuser does what he does best.

5. Repetition: The devil sends a fresh temptation and we’re right back where we started.

WHAT IF I GIVE INTO TEMPTATION?
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Three Desired Outcomes of the Evil One:
1. Slough It Off
2. Shame
3. Self-Righteousness

One Desired Outcome of the Holy One:
1. Sit In and Soak Up the Substitutionary work of Your Savior

That’s why Jesus came to earth - to resist what we couldn’t, to save us when we stumble, to secure salvation for those who would trust in him and ask for forgiveness.

“It is not easy to grow up - maturing as a Christian means making sacrifices, delaying gratification, setting the needs of others ahead of our own, pursuing distant goals instead of temptations ready at hand. In these stress-filled times, virtually all of us, as we get older, will seek relief by visiting, in our imaginations, childhood Holidays of impossible perfection. These longings are powerful and can easily deceive us into grasping for a new toy, new car, new house, or even a new spouse to fill up the empty spaces where unconditional love belongs. Our longings are powerful, our needs bottomless, our cravings insatiable, our follies numberless. For those who cannot or will not look deeply into the sinful human condition, sentiment and nostalgia can masquerade as strategies for coping quite successfully for a while—but because it is all based on illusion and unreality, it cannot be a lasting foundation for generations to come. The grown-up message of this holiday season is that in the very midst of our human selfishness, the love of God has broken through to us unconditionally.”

You want something to be thankful for, something to find hope in?
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- Jesus sympathize with you. Hebrews 4:15a
- Jesus sets an example for you. Hebrews 4:15b
- Jesus offers to save you. Hebrews 4:16