Keith Battle - It's A Trap - Part 1

You may be seated for a subject in this series I’m calling «It’s a Trap.» Look at someone near you and just tell them, «It’s a trap.» A trap, by nature, has the intent and purpose of luring something in but never letting it back out. An effective trap gives you ease of getting in but makes it impossible for you to get out. You’re trapped. Hmm. What lures us into a trap is not the fact that we can see the trap; what we see is the treasure that’s contained in the trap. If a mouse could see beyond the cheese, if a monkey could see beyond the banana, if fish could see past the bait, they would realize that behind the bait was a hook, behind the hook was a rod, behind the rod was a fat man, and behind the fat man was a frying pan trap. I say this to you because in the fourth chapter of Matthew, Jesus is not just being tempted; the devil is trying to trap Him. When someone tells you to jump off the roof of a building, that’s not a temptation; that’s an attempt on your life. God’s got you; it’s going to be all right. They’re trying to kill you—that’s a trap. When somebody barters with you and starts negotiating, saying, «I’ll give you all this world if you bow down and worship me,» that’s a trap. You’re going to get that, but then you belong to them. I also bring this up because the reality is the devil is still setting traps. He’s setting traps for us; he wants to trap us. The reason I know this needs to be a series is that we need a lot of work in this area because we live in a culture that is immersed in so much temptation that some of us don’t even know when we’re being tempted. Some of us don’t even know we’ve yielded to temptation, getting fully into something and thinking, «What am I doing here with my saved self?» We are so inoculated by such a worldly environment that we don’t even know when we’re being tempted or when we’re in a tempting environment. We compromise our lives and our convictions to the extent that we live just like people who… um, let me stay over here; I didn’t feel safe when I said that over there. The devil wants to get us out of our purpose and off of our assignments, living a life below our privileges. Now, you can’t stop being tempted; everybody gets tempted. We are all temptable, but we have to fight against being trapped. I think the best way to address this in this passage is just to go through the verses one at a time, starting this message where the chapter begins in verse 1, which says, «Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted.» I couldn’t get past the word «then.» Then indicates the timing of temptation. If you’re taking notes, note the timing of temptation. Then—when? The text in Matthew chapter 4 doesn’t tell us when «then» was, so we have to go back to chapter 3 to find out when. When I went back to chapter 3, I found that Jesus was tempted right after He was baptized. Have you seen that pattern in your life? After a victory, after a spiritual high, after you come down from a great time in church, after the acceptance, you are called into the ministry? Are y’all not ready for this? Isn’t it amazing, the timing of temptation right after His baptism? What an amazing baptism! If you know the story, He got baptized by John the Baptist. John the Baptist was one of the most influential spiritual leaders of that time. He was respected and had a great ministry; he preached in the wilderness and baptized people in the Jordan River. People came from everywhere just to see him. They talked about his clothing, and how he ate locusts and honey and dressed in camel’s hair. He wasn’t about designer clothes; he was focused on Jesus. But despite all the popularity he garnered, he never let it go to his head. He always reminded people, «You think I’m great, but someone greater is coming.» He said, «I baptize with water, but the one coming will baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.» Yes, someone is coming that is greater. Somebody say, «Greater is coming!» Yeah, he says of the one coming, «I’m not even worthy to carry his sandals; I’m not even worthy to be his slave.» Someone is coming that is greater than me. In fact, Isaiah said of John the Baptist, «John will be that voice crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord, prepare the way for the Lord.’» John understood that as great as he was, there was someone greater on the way. Studying that blessed me because I sensed in my spirit that just like John, something greater is coming. I don’t know who this word is for, but God let me know in my spirit that something great is coming. I don’t know where you are, but He told me to tell you something greater is coming. I feel it in this world; I feel it in this church. Something greater is—does anybody feel me? Something greater is coming. I don’t know when, and I don’t know where, but something greater is coming.