Speaker: Andrew Brown

Key Passage: Matthew 4:1-17

Date: 17 May 2009

About a hundred years ago an Englishman by the name of Greene was walking through the woods near London when he meet a stranger on the path.  He was surprised when the stranger smiled and waved at him, and greeted him, “Why hello, Mr Greene!” This ‘stranger’ obviously wasn’t as stranger at all, but for the life of him, Mr. Greene could not remember who he was.

He felt embarrassed, but was unwilling to admit that he couldn’t remember the gentleman’s face and name so he offered him his hand, shook it and said, “Ah, yes, hello!  Good to see you old boy! How long has it been?” The other guy replied, “It was at Lady Asquith’s ball last October I think. Nearly a year ago.”

Well Greene tried to recall all the people that he had meet at her star-studded ball.  The man’s face looked slightly familiar, but he just couldn’t place who he was, so groping for clues he decided to ask a few tactful questions. “So how is your wife?” he asked.  The other man replied, “Quite well.” “And your business?  Still in the same business I suppose?” “Why yes,” said the other man with a twinkle in his eye, “Things haven’t changed much lat all.  I’m still the King of England!”

Mr Greene, good Englishman that he was, had failed to recognise his sovereign – probably the most distinguished person in the land.  Sometimes it’s easy for people to do the same thing with Jesus –they don’t always recognise Him -so these last few Sundays in Matthew are all about us recognising the King of heaven and His coming.  Two weeks ago John the Baptist announced His imminent arrival “Repent!” Last week the Father spoke over Him saying “You are my Son,” and today we have arrived at the climactic temptation in the wilderness.

Imagine if you will that this is a World Wrestling Federation event –in the one corner there is Jesus and in the other is Satan.  This is going to be smack down time!  It’s a little bit reminiscent of the original match fought between Adam and Satan.  For only the second time that a fallen angel has met an unfallen man in the ring, and this time the God-man, Jesus, wins!  Jesus gets to prove that He is a true spiritual champion, a worthy partner for the Father’s kingdom plans, and He demonstrates His supremacy as the earth’s rightful King.  In the course of it you’re going to learn a little bit about resisting demonic attack and overcoming temptation, so would you please open your Bibles with me to Matthew 4:1-17 and let’s read together.  [Read -Chris speaks devil’s words]

In this account we find Jesus in a somewhat bizarre situation. The Holy Spirit leads Jesus into the desert to be tempted by Satan. A few verses ago we were celebrating the wonderful affirmation that Jesus received at His baptism and now we find ourselves in unfamiliar territory, watching a very strange situation unfold.  God has recently announced that Jesus is His own dear Son and has told all those watching that He is very proud of Him.  You would expect God the Father to take care of His Son, you would expect Him even to protect Him, yet within a month of this the Holy Spirit has led Jesus into a place of spiritual danger and confrontation. The Holy Spirit has unexpectedly (at least for us) brought Jesus into a place of temptation.

And yet isn’t this also a place where we often find ourselves?  Do you recognise and know Jesus position?  Have you ever found yourself cruising along quite nicely, even comfortably and secure in your relationship with God? You might be reasonably happy with your life, or you might not, when all of a sudden you find that you are facing a brand new spiritual situation where you have to make a choice, and you are actually thinking of making the wrong one.  Jesus now stands where all of you often stand each day.  Okay Jesus temptations are King-sized to fit the Messiah and the King of Kings, but this is a moment of truth.  The devil, Matthew tells us, comes to Jesus and presents Him with three attractive invitations.

1. The first invitation or challenge is for Jesus to turn the stones around Him into bread so that He can eat them. Satan says because you are the Son of God turn these stones into loaves of bread.  After all Jesus is extremely hungry after 40 days of prayer and fasting.  His hunger pangs are just returning.  What harm could it do?

But notice what the devil does.  It’s not sinful to wish that you weren’t hungry.  It’s not a crime to long to be full.  It’s not wrong to wish that you had bread enough to fill your belly.  Jesus need is completely legitimate, but what the Father wants is for Jesus to fast and to wait until God tells Him to stop.  The devil suggests instead that Jesus use His powers to take what He needs for Himself.  So there’s a worthwhile need, but what Satan is suggesting is the wrong means of resolving it.

This temptation is typically called the ‘cravings of the sinful flesh’, and the appeal here is to take a shortcut, to go against what God actually wants to satisfy a physical urge or need.  In short it’s to I take what I want, when I want, despite what God wants, ‘Because I need it!”

The temptation here is actually all about trust.  Do I trust God to look after my own best interests?  Do I believe that He knows what is best for me in the end?  Am I prepared to wait, or do I take matters into my own hands and cut corners because God can’t be relied upon to supply my needs?  Whenever you are tempted to cheat, or to steal, or to look for sex outside of marriage, to lie, or to get a quick fix for your physical needs, then this is usually the cravings of the flesh. To this Jesus answers, quoting scripture, that it’s not enough simply to satisfy your physical desires, you also need to rely upon God and to do what He wants, if you really want to live.

2. The second time, however, Satan comes back at Jesus and quotes scripture at Him. This time he says, “Why don’t you throw yourself off the top of the Temple.  If you do, then the angels will come and rescue you.” This is a misuse of Psalm 91:11-12 to manipulate Jesus, but if you know what’s Satan’s talking about then this idea appears to have some real merit.

You see what Jesus will need to do soon is to grab everyone’s attention.  He needs to get His message of repentance ‘out there’ quickly.  So what better way than to jump off the pinnacle of the Temple, about 137 metres above the ground, and be rescued in spectacular fashion by angels right in the middle of public worship? Why Jesus would be famous in a moment.  Think about it -Jesus Christ Superstar!

The temptation here is to do something ‘because it looks good!’ It’s where something looks like it’s a good idea, so that even if it’s not what God wants you to do, you do it.  Traditionally this temptation is called the ‘Lust of the eyes.’ Think of Eve standing there in the Garden of Eden looking longingly at the forbidden apples. “Why that apple just looks so good -so good.  So what if God says that we mustn’t touch it.  It won’t do us any harm.  Eating it will give us special powers.  It just seems like a good idea.”

This kind of temptation occurs when you decide to take an ethical shortcut to satisfy your own ambitions and you hope that God will bless it.  You take a moral shortcut to get to where you want to go and you gamble; you presume upon God’s favour, that He will bless you on the way, or at least not hinder.  You take a risk that God doesn’t want you to take expecting that God will rescue you.  Jesus response to this is again from the Bible -Deuteronomy in fact.  God goals must be achieved in God’s ways.  Even though God loves you, ‘you must not put the Lord your God to the test.’

3. Thirdly, the devil invites Jesus to worship him.  In exchange he offers Him all the kingdoms of the world. Can anyone guess what I call this temptation?  I call it the ‘L’Oreal cosmetics’ temptation because Jesus is tempted to sin “Because I’m worth it!” Traditionally this temptation is known as the ‘pride of life’ and it’s where you sin against God because, basically, you believe that you deserve it.  You want the glamour and the influence.  You want to boast of what you have and who you are.  Call it your ego.

How many times have you done the opposite of what God wants because it appeals to your pride and your ego?  How many times have you done something because it made you feel a little bit more like God, or at least somewhat better than others?  Then maybe you can understand the temptation facing Jesus.

What Jesus is being offered is the opportunity to have everything He ever wants right now without ever having to go through the pain and the agony of the cross.  Jesus can have all the gold, all the glory, all the love of girls and guys all over the earth simply by compromising Himself and bypassing what God actually wants for His life.  Isn’t that a tempting offer? But of course it’s false.  The kingdoms of this world are not Satan’s to give.  He’s sadly deluded.  They didn’t belong to him in the first place, and they will belong to Jesus once again so Jesus can only lose by accepting His offer.  What will Jesus gain if He wins the whole world, but loses His own soul? So again Jesus quotes from the Bible stating, ‘Away from me Satan!  Worship and serve God only.’

At this point the devil leaves Him and the angels come and assist Jesus.  Soon afterwards Jesus public ministry begins.

So what can we learn from this?

1. Well, we need to beware of spiritual attacks for we all face the same adversary as Jesus. Whether you believe in demonic powers as I do or if you just think that all temptation is purely personal, these attacks and moments of weakness are none-the-less very real. 1 Peter 5:8 says, “Be self-controlled and alert.  Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” Jesus was tempted by the devil, the flesh and the world.  So are we. Jesus was tempted on a number of occasions[1] and so will you.  Temptation is a regular part and parcel of being a follower of Jesus.  Watch out; be on your guard, for you may well be attacked and tempted this very week.

2. Learn to recognise these attacks because we all face similar temptations as Jesus. In fact they get easier to spot after a while, because sin is such a boring thing.  It’s amazingly repetitive at times. There are the cravings of the flesh that tempt you to sin ‘because I need it.’ There is the lust of the eyes which tempts you to sin ‘because it looks good’ to me, and there’s the pride of life which tempts you to do the wrong thing ‘because (you think) I’m worth it.’ They are all slightly different, but they all have a same common thread -to entice you to go against what God really wants.  All temptation encourages you to doubt God’s love, to take yourself out of God hands and to act independently of His will.  Learn to recognise temptation so that you can spot it coming.

3. Then use the same tools that Jesus did to overcome temptation. Defeat them in the same way.  Have a look at Jesus and then do the same thing.

-For a start spend more time with God.  Seek God and pray so that you will leave no empty spaces in your heart into which temptation may enter.  Be like Jesus who sought God through prayer and fasting. Because the easiest way to stop temptation from getting a foothold in your life is to fill it to the brim with things are already very good.  As Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Build yourself up in God.

-In particular get to know your Bible. Understand what God wants you to do and think in any given situation.  After all this is what Jesus did.  He was able to respond decisively to the temptations that He faced because He had memorised and understood what God wanted from His Word. Psalm 111:10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow His precepts have good understanding.” So how well do you know this book?  Find the guidance here that God wants to give to you.

-Then resist the devil. Decide that you are not going to give into him.  Refuse to go along with his plans.  As 1 Peter 5:9 says, “Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” “Submit yourselves, then, to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James 4:7).”

Whatever you do don’t cave into him. Don’t give up whatever good you are currently doing because you have been tempted once again.  Jesus was resolute in doing the Father’s will, even though He was tempted three times.  He didn’t budge.  He didn’t move one inch.

One of the greatest tragedies that I have observed time and again is that someone will be doing a great job somewhere when the devil has a go at them.  They get all upset about what has happened (about facing the temptation) and sometime even about giving in, and as a result they stop doing whatever good they were doing. Some people think that this is prudent to withdraw, but I wonder at times if this is just plain dumb.

We used to play a game when we were kids.  We would come up behind another child and push the back of their knee with our foot so that it would go in.  It was kind of fun so we would do it again and again and again.  Do you know the only thing that stopped us from doing it more often?  It was when the kid threatened to punch us in the face if we didn’t stop kicking them!

So why give up on building the Kingdom if you are tempted or attacked?  You are just telling the devil to come and have another go again. He’ll think, “Oh, that temptation worked well.  I think I’ll give that one a go again!  I think I’ll come back with that temptation more often!” One of the best ways to deal with spiritual attacks and temptation is to resist them by getting back into the saddle again.  Continue to do the good that you are already doing.  Don’t give the devil any leeway or satisfaction.  As 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man.  And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.  But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” That’s stand up, not run!  So resist the devil in the power of the Spirit through the guidance of the word to accomplish the will of God.

C. If you do this then you will also receive similar blessings to what Jesus did when you overcome. You see temptation is a pre-requisite to ministry.  It’s what proves your character and faithfulness.  It’s when you get to demonstrate your integrity.  It’s a part of your training that opens you up to other God-given opportunities.

You see temptation is surprisingly enough for your benefit.  The Greek word for “to be tempted” in verse 1 also means, “to be tested,” so the devils encounter with Jesus is also the moment of Jesus testing. The thing is that temptation and testing are really the flip sides of the same coin.  Satan tempts you to do the wrong thing in order to enslave you and to alienate you from God.  God, however, allows him to test you in order to make you decide which way you will ultimately go.  I don’t know if you recall in Deuteronomy 8:2 where Moses tells the Israelites there to, “Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.” Now God knew what was in the Israelites heart.  What He needed to do was to show them what was within them and to test them –to help them make up their own minds.  So testing helps you to know and decide who you will be.  It helps you make decisions that reveal whether you have got the kind of character that can be trusted with greater things.  As Teresa of Avila once said, “We are (often) fonder of consolations (that’s all the good things that God brings us) than we are of the cross (i.e. of following Jesus no matter what the costs).  Test us, Lord –for you know the truth