02/26/23 - So Many Temptations

So Many Temptations (Matthew 4:1-11)
Rev. David French
02/26/23 

My friends, Satan is no dummy. He knows you. He knows your every weakness. He knows your secret desires, and he knows how vulnerable you really are. Satan knows you are a sinner whose nature is only evil. Satan knows you are drawn by temptations like a moth to a flame. Satan knows who you are.

Forty days in the desert, and like anyone who hadn’t eaten for over a month, Jesus was very hungry and He was alone. The conditions seemed right to Satan. He saw a chance to do to the Christ what he had done to Eve, that is, temp Him to sin. Tell me, why do you think Jesus listened to him? He could have simply said, “Away from me, Satan” and that would have been the end of it. As the only-begotten Son of God, Christ’s power over Satan is like His power over all His creation. Jesus could have banished that ancient serpent with a single word. 

But He didn’t do that. Why? Well, survival and comfort were not the path of The Christ’s journey. His was a path of suffering and death. Jesus chose the path of suffering by refusing the comfort of bread. And, He didn’t always refuse the comfort of what a miracle can bring as we see when He miraculously created enough bread to feed thousands. But this was not the time or the place. This was the time of temptation.

Satan next tried the temptation of risk and spectacle. If Jesus threw Himself from the pinnacle of the Temple, then surely the angels would catch Him, Satan said. And why not? It was promised in Scripture that the angels would hold Him in their hands. Can you imagine how word of Him would have spread if He was seen coming down off the temple in the hands of angels? How many would have come to Him? But that was a way of testing God, and Jesus was not here to test God or to bring glory to Himself. Jesus chose the path of humility and would not put God to the test with foolish risks.

And again, Jesus was certainly willing to, and often did, put Himself in danger. To claim the Scriptures were fulfilled in Him in the Synagogue was not a safe path to follow. And not just the leaders, but the people of the town drove Him out of town to throw Him off a cliff, but Jesus trusted that His life would be preserved. But here in the desert was not the time nor place. This was the time of temptation.

Jesus then faced the temptation of the quick and easy fix. All it would take was one little compromise. Just a nod. No one would ever need to know that He had bowed down to Satan. A moment of compromise and He could get around all the suffering and death on the cross and posses all the kingdoms of the world without having to purchase them with His blood. At least that’s what Satan said. But then, what kind of king would He be if He willingly bowed to the prince of darkness? No, there could be no getting around the cross. No giving in to evil, not even half a bite.

So, what are we to do with this example the Holy Spirit inspired Matthew to leave us when Satan whispers in our ears that, if we only compromise on this or that teaching or doctrine, we could win so many more people for Jesus? That is, after all, what we’re here to do. Why go through the suffering? Jesus reminds us today that there is no room for compromise, no quick and easy fix for the damage sin has brough into our world and into our lives. And if you think, “But Jesus was sinless. It was easy for Him to resist temptation,” remember Adam was also sinless, and yet was caught in Satan’s trap. But look at what Jesus did in His time of need. He turned to His Father in heaven. You see, resisting temptation is not about your power. It’s about the power of God within you.

Certainly, you know that the gnawing hunger and temptations which Jesus endured, He endured in our place. You know He didn’t need a victory over Satan for His sin, but Jesus came to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. He came to succeed where Adam and all who have been born in His image have failed. But He did not come in power. He came in humble obedience to the will of His Father as Paul records, “Christ humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross! And that death by the grace of God has become your life. This man who was alone in the wilderness starving to death, this Man who was offered comfort and glory, instead chose suffering and death to fulfill what God demands from you.

The truth is this wasn’t Satan’s opportunity at all. This was, from the beginning, God’s plan of salvation for our very souls. The cross was not a failure. It was Christ showing His love for you by choosing to take your punishment for sin. And it’s a good thing because, let’s face it, if left on our own, we would be in real trouble, eternal trouble. You and I fail so often, we sometimes get tired of trying. Sometimes it seems like Satan barely has to lift a finger to tempt us. Other times we go looking to satisfy our sinful desires without any tempting, on our own, and when we find them, we forget who we are and practically dive headfirst into sin. I wonder if Satan ever complains that it’s just too easy!

It’s not that we don’t know we should resist temptations to sin or that we should set Christ before our eyes as an example to follow. It’s not that we don’t know we should suffer all sorts of sorrows rather than give in to even a single sin. We are all very aware of those truths. How sad it is that we take don’t take His example to heart. How thankful we should be that it’s not following His example, but believing Jesus died to pay for our sins that saves us.

How thankful we should be that Jesus, standing in our place, resisted Satan, both in the wilderness and on the cross, so that now, by grace through faith in Him, our sins are no longer counted against us. Jesus has paid for them all. In and of ourselves, we are destined to fail and our sins are always before us, but as we read in Romans (8:37), “… in all these things we are more than conquerors through (Christ) who loved us.”

Now, does that mean Satan will leave you alone? You know better. There are so many temptations, and one way or another, Satan will never stop tempting you to doubt God’s love for you. He will fill your mind with all the sins you hide. He will use the truth about how you have failed. He will tell you the lie that God’s love for you has its limits. And when you look at your life, your imperfections, you will be tempted to believe that you will never know God's peace.

When those times come, and they will, look to the cross and to the blood Christ shed, and you will know that there is nothing God would not do for you. Remember the words of God penned by the prophet Isaiah, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine” (43:1b).

In His name, Amen.