Today's text comes again from the fourth chapter of Matthew's gospel:
“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the
wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And
after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God,
command that these stones become bread.” But He
answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not
live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’”
Then the devil took Him into the holy city and had Him stand
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, so that You
will not strike Your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “On the other
hand, it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 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 things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.”
Then Jesus said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord
your God, and serve Him only.’” Then the devil left Him; [Luke:
Until an opportune time] and behold, angels came and began to minister to
Him. (Matthew 4:1-11)
Last
week we looked at the first temptation. At the end of the 40-day wilderness
trial, when Jesus was hungry, tired, cold – Satan challenged Him to turn the
surrounding rocks into bread. “Do a miracle,” Satan taunted. “You say you’re
the Son of God. Prove it.”
Now, at the outset of this message
it is important to remind ourselves that Jesus was fully, 100% human – just
like everyone in this room. But unlike anyone ever in eternity, He was at the
same time 100% God. Again, don’t ask me to explain it. No one with a finite
mind can ever hope to explain the infinite God.
Satan attacked the HUMAN Jesus,
knowing the HUMAN Jesus COULD HAVE SUCCUMBED to those temptations. Here is how
the Holy Spirit records it for us in Hebrews: “For we do not have a
high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been
tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.”
(Hebrews 4:15)
In His divinity, Jesus could never be tempted to sin. But
Jesus the man could and was tempted. That is why Satan did what he did –
because if he could seduce Jesus into sin, salvation history would never have
played out as it has.
So, as we said last week, when Satan
unsuccessfully challenged the MAN to turn rocks into bread, and Jesus rebuffed
the Serpent with the Word of God, Satan came back with another challenge.
We should take note that Satan is
not easily dissuaded from his attempts to destroy us. Undaunted by Jesus’ first
rejection to work a miracle, he came back with a second challenge.
Listen, please. We should EXPECT the
enemy of our souls to persistently roam about like a hungry lion, seeking to
destroy anyone he can. As the Holy Spirit tells us in Luke’s account of the
40-day temptation – the devil left Jesus until an opportune time.
Therefore, we should always be alert to the devil’s furtive, devious lures to
sin.
And now, the Serpent’s next
challenge of hurled at Jesus: Matthew records for us: “Then the devil took Him
into the holy city and had Him stand 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, so that You will not strike Your foot against a
stone.’”
(vv. 5-6)
This is the second time Satan
challenged Jesus to do something miraculous to prove He was the son of God. We
need to stop here a few moments and talk about miracles and their relationship
to a person’s salvation.
Miracles in and of themselves save no one. Yes, a person might be attracted to
Christ by a miracle – but unless a person drawn to Christ by a miracle STAYS
with Christ in obedience, what good is the miracle? That’s probably a reason
the Holy Spirit records for us in Hebrews: “But encourage one
another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of
you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For
we have become partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our
assurance firm until the end.” (Hebrews 3:13-14)
Many of you remember the story of the Rich Man in Hades
begging Father Abraham to miraculously send Lazarus to his five brothers to
warn them to change their lives, or they also will end up in the same
torment. Abraham answered: ‘If
they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even
if someone rises from the dead.’” (Luke 16:31)
Please hear this. It is critically,
critically important that we never forget this truth: Just because a person
works in miracles does NOT mean they are of God. If you have been with us in
our study through Exodus, you will remember Pharaoh’s magicians who turned
their wood rods into serpents and who also turned water to blood. Real blood.
But they were godless false prophets. In the book of Acts we find “miracle
workers’ called Simon and another named Elymas in chapters 8 and 13.
Nor must we forget that before the
Lord returns to earth, the Antichrist and his false prophet will perform
astonishing miracles. Here is a portion of Revelation 13: “He
[the false prophet] performs
great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in
the presence of men. And he deceives those who
dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in
the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an
image to the beast who *had the wound of the sword and has come to life.
And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the
beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do
not worship the image of the beast to be killed. And he
causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free
men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their
forehead, and he provides that no one will be able to
buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast
or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who
has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of
a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.” (Revelation
13:13-18)
So, I say it again for emphasis – just because a person
works a miracle DOES NOT mean that person is of God.
So, if not miracles, then what IS IT that demonstrates we
belong to God? Well, here are some examples from Scripture:
John 8:31 “So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had
believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples
of Mine;
John 13:34-35 “A new commandment I give to you, that you
love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By
this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one
another.”
1
John 2:9,11 “The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his
brother is in the darkness until now. . . .
But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness
and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”
Christian,
listen to this word of God: There is NO PLACE for bigotry in the body of
Christ. None. Whether racial bigotry, or economic or social or religious – if
we hold bigotry in our hearts, if we hold hatred in our hearts, we are walking
in darkness. Period.
Let me illustrate my point from my own experience. In 1976
I’d been a Christian for four years – but I’d spent those years overseas in
Japan where I was stationed with the Navy. So, my only exposure to Christians
of different theological persuasions was at the interdenominational base chapel
where we ALL worshiped together. It was not until my discharge from the navy
that I discovered just how divided Christ’s body really is.
After leaving the navy, Nancy and I
arrived in Springfield, Missouri where I was to attended Central Bible College
– known in town as CBC. It was an Assemblies of God Bible college, Pentecostal
in theology. In the same town was another Bible college, this one called
Baptist Bible College, known as BBC.
A few days after arriving in town, I
needed an antibiotic prescription filled at a local pharmacy. I gave the
druggist my name, address, and the school I attended – CBC – as my insurance
provider. When I returned later that day to pick up my prescription. The
pharmacist confirmed insurance coverage by BBC.
When I corrected him and told him I
attended CBC, he blushed, and stuttered his apology. “I’m so sorry. I thought you’d
told me you are a student at BBC.”
I shrugged my shoulders and told him
it wasn’t a problem. I paid for my prescription and left the store wondering
why he was so apoplectic and apologetic over a simple mistake. It was not until
a few weeks later that I learned how many students in each school had nothing
good to say about those in the other school.
The perplexing thing about that
division in Springfield is this: Both groups believe the Bible is the fully inspired,
inerrant, and infallible word of God. Both groups believe Jesus has always
existed with the Father and the Holy Spirit as one God in three persons, each
with His own nature. Both groups believe Jesus was born of the virgin Mary,
lived a sinless life, He suffered and died a torturous and substitutionary
death on the cross to pay for our sins. They both believed He rose again on the
third day from death, and that He will return for His Church, which is His
mystical Body.
BOTH groups believed the essential
truths leading to eternal life. Where Pentecostals and Baptists disagreed, they
disagreed about things NOT essential to believe for salvation, such as are the
gifts of the Holy Spirit operative today? Or can a Christian lose his or her
salvation? But believing or rejecting either of those doctrines has no effect
whatever on the eternal destiny of the person. None.
The Lord Jesus warned us in Matthew
12: “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” (Matthew 12:25)
Christian! Satan also knows that
unerring Bible truth. And it doesn’t require a PhD in history to recognize how
deftly he has used that principle of division since the earliest days of the
church.
So, again, what demonstrates a person is from God, or not? Their love for one
another, biblical love, love that speaks truth to each other. Not a wishy-washy
sentimental love that tolerates sin, that preaches, “I’m okay, you’re okay, but
one that speaks truth even if it is unwelcome and offensive to the godless.
While we are on this subject of Satan’s second temptation of Jesus to prove He
is the Son of God, another tactic Satan routinely employs to discourage a
Christian – especially those who diligently try to please their Lord – Satan
will accuse us, either in our thoughts or through what others say to us (especially
family members) about our sins. It usually follows along the lines of: “If you
were a Christian you wouldn’t say (or do) something like that.”
And often times they will have made a good point because everyone knows how
Christians should act. So, when we don’t act that way, they mock us or try to
make us feel guilty.
What is the proper response to someone who rightly accuses
us of saying or doing wrong? What’s the proper response? That’s an easy
question to answer: Admit that you’re wrong and ask for forgiveness. Consider
it an opportunity to demonstrate your Christian integrity, even if the other
person wants to make you feel guilty. And remember what St Paul wrote to the
Christians at Philippi: “For I am confident of this very thing,
that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ
Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)
And
Jude 1:24 “Now to Him who is able
to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory
blameless with great joy, 25 to the only God our Savior,
through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority,
before all time and now and forever. Amen.”
No Christian likes
to sin. But we also know that sin sometimes still gets the upper hand in our
lives. All we can do is confess our failures, our limitations, and seek God's
help to be better next time – and the next time – and the next time at
overcoming.
THAT is what
demonstrates whether we are a child of God – not that we are super-dooper
people, but that we are striving to hear from His lips that He is well-pleased
with us.
One final word about this second temptation.
Satan quoted to Jesus from Psalm 91 – but his quote (not surprisingly) is out
of context. Here is what Satan quoted: “For He will give His angels charge concerning you, to guard
you in all your ways. They will bear you up in their hands, that you do not
strike your foot against a stone” (Psalm 91:11-12).
BUT here is the rest of that text
which the Serpent of the Garden of Eden omitted: “You will tread upon the
lion and cobra, the young lion and the serpent you will trample down.
(Psalm 91:11-13)
Satan knows the Bible backward and
forward. Do not be surprised when he quotes texts out of context, for he does
so to confuse and seduce the unwary. That is likely why Jesus said what He did
to the Serpent’s first temptation – man must live by every word that proceeds
from the mouth of God.
Throughout history, to this present
hours, false teachers and their missionaries knock on doors all over the
country bringing their brand of heresies based on texts taken out of context. Their
teaching – just like Satan’s selective text from Psalm 91 – is meant to delude,
confuse, and seduce the unwary and the Biblically illiterate away from the only
gospel that can save us.
You and I must continually seek
refuge in the word of God as has been taught unchanged by authentic Christians
since the days of the apostles.
In these last two weeks we’ve looked
briefly at the first two of Satan’s three challenges to Jesus. He tried to
trick Jesus into proving He is God's Son by miraculously feeding His empty
stomach with stones-turned-to-bread. Then he challenged the Lord to jump off
the roof of the Temple because – if He truly was God's Son – angels would
miraculously save Him.
Next week we examine the last of the
three wilderness temptations – the temptation of Jesus the MAN to attain unequaled
authority. All He would have to do is worship the creature, rather than the
Creator, who is blessed forever and ever.
