January 27, 2019
One of my favorite comedy sketches was given by the late Flip Wilson. A woman trying on a dress and is tempted to buy it. Satan whispers, “That dress sure looks good on you.” The woman says, “Get thee behind me, Satan.” Satan says, “It looks pretty good from back here as well.” Temptation is a regular experience for everyone. But as Christians, our goal is to resist temptation so that we do not fall into sin.
After Jesus was baptized and affirmed as the Son of God, it says in Mt.4:1 that Jesus was led by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil. You remember that Israel was called God’s son. Israel was in the wilderness for 40 years. During that 40 years Israel failed to honor God. Jesus is called God’s son. And Jesus was tempted in the wilderness. But unlike Israel, Jesus, the true Israel, was faithful to God in every situation. Today we are looking at the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness after 40 days of fasting. And from this passage I want to ask: What kind of life enables us to resist temptation?
I. PURSUE PERSISTENT OBEDIENCE TO GOD. Mt.4:1-4; Dt.8:3
In v.1-4 we read, “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And 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, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God."
Jesus is quoting from Dt.8:3. In Dt.8, Moses is preparing Israel to enter into the Promised Land. Moses says, “And he[God] humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.”
Life in the wilderness is not easy. Food and water are not found in abundance. It’s nothing like the land flowing with milk and honey. You may remember that Israel wandered in the desert for 40 years because of their unwillingness to live by the word of the Lord. They were afraid to enter the Promised Land and refused to go. So God let them wander in the wilderness until that whole generation died. During that time Israel complained and showed a heart of disobedience against the Lord, taking matters into their own hand. They did this despite the fact that God provided manna for them every day.
So now, here is Jesus fasting for 40 days in the wilderness. He willingly experienced deprivation of food. After the 40 days, the devil comes to Jesus and encourages him to use his power as the Son of God to provide food for himself. “Act in your own interest. It’s your power. How would it hurt to make stones into bread?” I do not profess to understand the depth of this temptation other than to say that had Jesus done this he would have served himself in a selfish way, not in keeping with obedience to God. Jesus did not come to serve himself, but to serve.
When we feel as if we are in the wilderness, experiencing a time of great need, deprivation, anxiety and fear, there is often a temptation to do whatever will bring relief regardless of what God might have to say about it. Instead of pursuing a life of obedience to the good words of God, we lie or cheat, or yield to some indulgence that is not in keeping with the way of Jesus. We use whatever is in our power to escape the wilderness. However, the best remedy for wilderness deprivation is a life of persistent obedience to God.
I realize that, unlike Jesus, all of us fall prey to the temptation to take matters into our own hands often in disobedience to God. It is not the failure that I am so concerned about. We all sin. What I am wanting to encourage here is that we make obedience to God’s good word our daily pursuit. If we daily aim for a life of obedience to God, obedience will become part of our practice. The word of God is what helps us define and understand obedience. We learn the word of God through the life and teachings of Jesus.
Sometimes I have heard speakers suggest that when temptation comes we should quote scripture to the devil, just like Jesus did. Well, I don’t think that would hurt any, but just quoting Bible verses to the devil isn’t enough, especially if those verses do not express what is already part of our daily living. In essence I think Jesus is saying, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God, and that is my daily practice, to live according to God’s word.”
So when we sin, which we do, we confess it and take steps to address the sin by turning away from it in obedience to God. That may be difficult. Jesus likened it to cutting off one’s hand. Nevertheless, a life of persistent obedience to God is the way to avoid falling to temptation in life’s wilderness.
II. CULTIVATE HUMBLE TRUST IN GOD. Mt.4:5-7; Dt.6:16
In v.5-7 we read, “Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 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." Jesus said to him, ‘Again it is written, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test." Clearly the devil can also quote Scripture. He was quoting from Ps.91:11-12.
Some suggest that the devil is tempting Jesus to make a display of himself as the Messiah for all to see. “Throw yourself down! Prove to everyone who you are, for the Bible says that God will send his angels to bear you up. Let’s see if God is good to his word.” And this time, Jesus quotes from Dt.6:16, which says, “You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah.” This refers to Ex.17:2-7, where we find the people of Israel camped out in the wilderness. There was no water to drink. It says, “Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, ‘Give us water to drink.’ And Moses said to them, ‘Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?’ But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, ‘Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?" Clearly there are different ways of testing the Lord. The devil wanted Jesus to force God’s hand to do a miracle by jumping off the pinnacle of the temple. In the case of Israel in the wilderness, the people tested God by complaining in doubt and unbelief. They questioned the goodness of God by suggesting that God had brought them out of Egypt just to kill them in the desert. Instead of humbly asking God for water, they quarreled and complained against God.
Have you ever felt this way about God? You are facing a serious illness in your family or in your own life and you have been praying for healing, but healing has not come. Or maybe you are thinking that God ought to be blessing you in some way because, after all, he owns the cattle on a thousand hills and you have tried to live a faithful life, but God isn’t coming through for you. You begin to think to yourself, “What kind of God is this? He doesn’t keep his word! He has not provided me with a job or healing or a wife or husband or baby. God doesn’t seem to hear my prayer. He doesn’t seem to care about me.”
I remember a couple who just stopped attending church. When I spoke with them they told me that actually from the time they had begun attending church up to that point their business had gone downhill. So they figured that church/God had not helped them and so they were done.
This is putting God to the test. It is doubting God who has told us over and over again in his word that he is the good Shepherd who will not leave us in want. He is the God who “is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” He is the God who, “will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” The idea here is not one of passivity and inactivity. Rather the idea is that we move ahead in life trusting the Lord to provide what we need when we need it. God’s work in our lives is designed to strengthen us in holy living and trust in him. Strength training of any kind, whether physical or spiritual, always involves discipline and adversity. So we must learn to humbly walk by faith and not by sight.
Are you looking for a wife or husband? Keep your eyes open and seek the Lord in faith. Trust that God knows what he’s doing in your life. If marriage is not for you, he will fill your life with other good things if you will patiently trust him.
The devil will seek to make us doubt the goodness and love of God. Don’t do it. Look to Jesus Christ. “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.” We must cast our anxieties upon the Lord because he cares for us.
III. EXERCISE HEARTFELT WORSHIP OF GOD. Mt.4:8-11; Dt.6:13
In v.8-11 we read, “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 I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." 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." Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.”
The devil gave Jesus a grand vision of the world, a mountain top experience. Before Jesus lay all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. What an amazing sight that must have been! What an alluring sight it was! After all, in Ps.2 which was alluded to at Jesus’ baptism God says, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.”
I assume there must have been enough truth in what the devil was promising to give Jesus in order for it to be a real temptation. We don’t know if Satan knew Jesus would die on the cross, but I believe Jesus understood that he would give his life as a ransom for the world. Some point out that the temptation for Jesus was to gain the world without having to go to the cross. “Jesus, you can rule the world without the cross.” Thankfully, Jesus realized the peril of worshiping the devil in exchange for the kingdoms of the world. It would have been the height of idolatry and disobedience. Only God is worthy of our complete allegiance to him. You can’t worship God and the devil. So Jesus responded by saying, “Be gone, Satan!” Then he quoted from Dt.6:13, which says, “It is the LORD your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear.”
The world and all its ways are alluring to us. We can see it. We can feel it. We can taste it. We can embrace it. We can own it. What is more, the world holds out a promise to give us power, status, pleasure, wealth, and recognition. And the world can deliver all these things, for a while and for a price! If Jesus accepted the devil’s offer he would have had to bow in worship of the devil. Gaining the world goes hand in hand with worshiping the devil, who is the god of this world. Jesus taught us that to gain the world is to lose our souls. In worshiping the things of this world, we worship the devil and lose our souls.
If we are going to resist the world we must exercise heartfelt worship of God. It is Jesus who taught us to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.” Jesus said that if we seek the kingdom of God, “all these things will be added to you.” We will be satisfied with the goodness of God who created the world. So here is my advice. Whatever it is that you long for from this world, be sure you lay that desire, that dream at the feet of Jesus. Give your desire and ambition to God. Honor God before you honor yourself in this world. As Peter tells us, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you.”
This winter I am helping to coach a bantam hockey team in Elmhurst. Young hockey players often skate with their sticks in the air. I am regularly telling them to make it a practice to keep their sticks on the ice. You see, the puck moves fast and if your stick is on the ice you have a much better chance of catching the puck. Temptation is a regular experience in our lives. To effectively resist temptation we must make it a practice to live the kind of life that enable us to resist temptation. It’s the same kind of life lived by Jesus, a life of persistent obedience, a life of humble trust, and a life of heartfelt worship. Amen
