Know the Playbook

Recap:

Playing for the right team

Listen to the coach

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hodSGFxacI4    (Odell Beckham Jr.)

The whole idea about making a good play on offenseis to surprisethe defense by doing something that they are least expecting, or by being greaterthan the defense even when they are expecting it.  The way the Giants was able to bring the element of surprisewas to out man the defensive player using a starnamed Odell Beckham.  He has the ability to make somespectacular catches.  He did it for LSUand now he is doing it at a professional level.

It was a brilliant playwhich created a mismatchdown the field.

Realize the Mismatch

Today we want to open the scriptures and we will look at a personin the bible who also ran a play which created a huge mismatch.

I would like to give you some contextof the passage that we are reading today so we will start in:

Matthew 3:16-17

¹⁶And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; ¹⁷ and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Immediately after this, we find in the next chapter

Matthew 4

¹ Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 

Which goes to show, just because your baptizeddoes not mean that the devil will leave you alone. Baptism does not mean immunityfrom temptation in Jesus’ case His baptism and filling of the spirit of God was to prepare Himto be tempted.

We too will experience an infillingof the presence of God only to later be faced with various trials.  His Spirit preparesus for such adversity.

Jesuswas ledby the Spirit of God into a dry wildernessto be temptedby the devil.  The first movethat takes place in this story, is that Christ traveled to the wilderness.

This was the play that Godhad drawn up.  He was to send His Son into a wide-open dessert, all alone,exposedto the elements, to be a seemingly easy preyfor His adversary. 

By the way I would not recommendputting yourself in a situation in which you know you would be tempted to sin but rather you should avoid such circumstances.

Nonetheless, to show that the power of God was greaterthan the power of darkness, Jesus is put in a very vulnerableposition. 

Besides being all alone in a wilderness, Jesus is experiencing some hunger painsdue to fasting.

² And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 

• Was it a good play?

Jesus reveals his humannessas the scriptures say plainly that“he was hungry.”  Anyone who has ever fasted more than one day can attest to the fact that you get hungry during a fast.  That is the whole point of a fast; to crucify your fleshly desiresand cause you to rely on God’s strength. 

Jesus had fasted for forty days and forty nightsin the wilderness.  Most probably in the wilderness of Sinaithe same in which Moses and Elijahhad fasted for forty days. That is a long timeto be alone in a wilderness without food.  However, it was necessaryfor Jesus to have put himself in such a situation, so that He could sympathize with our weakness. 

Hebrews 4:15

¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 

So, to answer the question, yes it was a brilliantplan by our Heavenly Father to allow His Son to be in a position in which He would experience temptation, just as we experience it.  He not only experienced it, but He overcameit through the Spirit of God living in Him. This was done to give us hopethat we too as sons and daughters of the most high can experience that samepower to overcomethe temptations of the enemy.  

The whole point of this play was to expose the mismatchbetween the powers of darkness and the power of light.  Satan may have prevailedover the first Adam(begotten of God), but his victory would not extend to the second Adam (Jesus).  Let’s look at the next verse to illustrate the detailsof thismismatch.

³ And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God,

First off the tempter comes second guessingJesus title as Son of God.  He questions Jesus position as Son of God.  When in the previous chapter, after Jesus’ baptismthere was a voice that proclaimed,“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” 

Even so, satan attempts to get Jesus to doubt who He was.  To many Jesus was just an ordinary manwhose father was Joseph the carpenter.

Isaiah 53:2

²he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.
Satan uses Jesus’ lowlyappearance to try to get Him to question His sonship.  How could Jesus be the Son of God, and yet have been humbledwith such lowly appearance.
satan our adversary will do the same with us. he will get us to question our identity in Christas sons or daughters of God.  If there is no sonship, then there is no authorityto overcome the enemy.  Ultimately satan is set to destroy the relationshipbetween The Heavenly Father and His children.

He then wants Jesus to proveHimself if He is the Son of God.  

^3b command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 

It would have been very temptingto turn that stone into bread, especially after a forty day fast.  Apparently satan knew that Jesus had the powerto do such a thing as the Son of God. But if Jesus would have consentedto this request, it would have diminished the hopethat God is the sourceof our provision.

If Jesus would have consented, it would have been equalto saying “God, you’re not enoughto meet my needs and care for my well being, I must actin my own power to get that which I need.”

How many times are we guilty of doing the same thing?  If we don’t see God moving like we wantHim to then we try to make it happen ourselvesrelying on our own power.

However, Jesus knows the playbook. He is aware that satan came to the first Adam and tempted himwith the lust of the fleshas well.  Instead of turning a stone to bread, he tempted Adam with eating a fruit that was forbiddento be eaten. Both temptations had to deal with satisfying the appetiteof the flesh.  Both were questioning God’s sovereigntyas well as His ability to providegood things for His children.

Jesus had seen how the defense(satan) reactedto the coach’s (God’s) offensive plan, so Jesus initiatesanother play to get the unmatched defenseoff balanced.  Coaches like to call this

Stick to the Script

Sticking to script is running playswhich an offense has had successwith.  The one playbook that has stood the test of time is the bible.  Let’s see how Jesus sticks to the Scriptin combatting his opponent.

⁴ But he answered, “It is written,

“‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Jesus knew the playbook(also known as the Word of God.)  The scripture He uses is found in Deuteronomy 8:3.

Jesus not only quotes Deuteronomy word for word, but in doing so He reminds himself that God had ledthe Israelites to a place of hungerin the wilderness, in which He fed them with as much mannaas they needed to satisfy themselves.  His faithfulness had been proven then, and it would be proven now.

It was a brilliant playas it was a reminder of God’s faithfulnessand His loving careto His faithful followers. It was a much-needed promise to holdon to as He was experiencing such a dryand vulnerableseason.

We too will be temptedwith the lust of the flesh. 

The lust of the flesh is that temptation to feel physical pleasurefrom some sinfulactivity—to do something which satisfies the flesh. (sexual sin, violence, drugs, etc...)

However, we too can use the playbook(bible) to remind us of times in which God has wrought victoriesfor His people and can be assured that same hope is availableto us today.

The defense was again outmatchedhis evil plan did not work, but did not give up.  As our enemy is relentlessin trying to prevent us from fulfilling the will of God for our lives.

⁵ Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple ⁶ and said 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,lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

Be prepared. 

Another aspect of having a good offense is to be preparedfor a specific opponentwith a specific gameplan.  You must anticipatehow the defense will respond to any given offense.

The first time satan comesat Jesus he tries to question His identityas the Son of God, and attempts to bring doubt regarding God’s provision.  Being that Jesus uses the Word of God to combat against him, satan uses a similarapproach. 

However, he will not use the entirety of scripture, only a part that playsto his advantage.

Psalms 91:11-12

¹¹ For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. ¹² On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.

It should not surprise usthat satan uses scripture to his advantage.  He knows it better than we do and has been twisting scripturesince the beginning of time.  Which stresses the importance of knowingthe playbookfor yourself so that you will not be deceived.

Psalms 91was not intended to be a licenseto live as recklessas possible rather it was the promise to those who had made the Lord their dwelling place.  Which means if He is your dwelling place you are secured and protected. 

Why would you purposely expose yourself to possible harmwith the false assumptionthat you would be protected, when you have already found His sure protectionin the secret place.

Jesushad found himself in the secret placeas He had been fasting for forty daysand communing with the Father.  Besides that, God had already established that Jesus was the Son of God, so therefore Jesus did not need to provehimself by jumping off the temple.  

But what satan was tempting him differentlythan he had previously done before.  He now tempting Himwith the pride of life.

 If Jesus would throw Himselfoff of the temple and be rescued by angelsthen surely He would make a name for Himselfin Jerusalem and everyone would knowthat He is the Son of God.   That is the essence of what He was being tempted with.

However, Jesus was fully preparedin Spirit and fully prepared with the playbook.  He knew it left and right, and He knew what play to runor what scriptureto use to gain groundagainst the enemy.  

⁷ Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to thetest.’” 

The defense is yet again outmatched.  Because you cannot out word “The Word”

John 1:1

¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ¹⁴And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,

We know the word to be Jesus.  So, when He speaks the Word, He is speaking of not only of Himselfbut of the God who isin Him. It was the spokenword that Jesusused to out man his enemy.  He was prepared as He knew the word.

So not only do we read the wordto be better equipped, but Jesus is the Wordand He is alive on the inside of us.  We too must allow “The Word” or the Spirit of God to rise within usso that we can boldly declare the Word.

Like Jesus, we will also be temptedwith the pride of life. The pride of lifeis that sinful temptation for excess greatness or power.  Some examples

• Desiring to get credit or gloryfor things that others (or God) did
• Desiring for others to hold us in excess esteem, “to make a name for ourselves”
• Desiring to feel valued or more important than others around us
• Desiring to have positions of powerover others in a way that puffs up our own ego for the sake of bragging rights

When we are fighting against darknessit is vital to know the playbook, which is the word of God.  We must not only read the word, but the word must be in us, so that we would speak the wordnot only to our circumstances but to those around us as well. 

We must go to the playbook to combat the pride of life.

⁸ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ⁹ And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” ¹⁰ Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,

“‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”

¹¹ Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

The finalway that satan came to tempt Jesus was with the lust of the eye. 

The lust of the eyes is that temptation to look upon things we shouldn’tlook upon.  In other words, it is to cast our eyes upon something with desire or pleasure, even though God has told us not tolook upon those things. (like another man’s wife, pornography, coveting other’s possessions etc..)

He had probably taken Jesus to one of the mountains in the wilderness, from which he might behold many magnificent buildings, rich fields, pleasant meadows, hillscovered with woodand cattle, riversrolling through the fertile valleys, and washing the cities as they passed along.  Satan had promisedthem all to Jesus if He boweddown and worshipped him.

He fully exposes himselfas the deceiver that he was, and Jesus addresseshim as such.  He calls him “satan.”  But then Jesus tells him to go.

Jesus had another playin the book for the lust of the eye. 

“‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”

Three timesHe was tempted during this season, and three times He overcame by speaking words that were in the playbook

The way that you will overcomethe lust of the flesh, lust of the eyesand the prideof life will be the same way.  You must know the playbook, meaning you must be spending time either reading or listening to the word of God.  The word of God must be in you.

So that when the tempter comes to you, that you will

• realize the mismatch(God is greater),
• stick to the script,
• speakthat which you have prepared for