Deadly Appeal

Jesus could have grabbed the entire world with its positions of authority, control and influence. Satan took Jesus to a mountaintop to show him what he could offer him. All the world was right there if he would just bow and worship Satan. He took Jesus away from the arid desert to a beautiful scene from a mountaintop. He said all you see that I show you can be yours right now. Do you see how he was being tempted to love this world more than God? JAM 4:4 “Don’t you realize that friendship with this world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again, that if your aim is to enjoy this world, you can’t be a friend of God.” Matthew 6:24 "No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

You have many things as you find when you go out shopping for food. Do you have consult God as to what you want? Have you ever had to put something back because you lacked the money or have you ever experienced shelves that did not have much on them? Not every door we see is not from God. A good example I want to give you as we leave point one is this. A man was berated by his boss and his working conditions are not very great. He works hard but finds that he is sometimes passed over for a promotion and the career seems to not be going like we wants. One day he is offered a job with another job like this one with another company. The job would involve moving to a smaller city where there is not church to meet his family’s’ spiritual needs. He will have to travel more and be away from this family. The school his children will have to attend will have not a good influence on them. There will be much more stress on his wife with this job and his time involved. So he being to think about it more and more as he goes to work each day. He decides that it must be of God or there would have never been such a door opened to him. If he takes the job, he is being lured away from being spiritual leader, a faithful husband, a present father and placing his children at risk with bad influences. He needs to spend time alone with God and talk with his family about this move and how they could work together to help him where he is presently employed. Satan’s way is to buy high and sell low. My wife has worked many low paying jobs to help with our expenses and she has a college degree where she could have sought a job with higher wages but she put family and husband first. This first point has to do with can I trust God in the place He wants me to be whether it is pleasant or not?

II. “I can have it all now.”

There are many who say, “I want it now and do not want to wait.” This plays on our impatience saying we do not have to wait for what we want. The devil said I will give you. I can hand all this to you now. You do not have to on with the life God has planned for you with its toil and suffering. You have the right to rule and control the world right now. Jesus had not begun his ministry; he had no disciples, performed no miracles, not given any teachings, nor had to put up with man’s unbelief and ridicule. Satan says why go through suffering, sacrifice and struggling when you can have it all now. It is true that God wants His Son to rule over all the world. Satan had the power to do this. Adam forfeited his right to rule when he disobeyed God and the authority was given t o Satan to rule over this world. Jesus said he was the prince of this world. The Bible says he is the ruler of this world, the god of this world, he rules over the spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places and the whole world lies in the power of the veil one. He has power to give it to the highest bidder as he pleases. That is why in many ways evil people seem to have so much power. Satan has this power and we know that one day he will make this offer to the antichrist and he will rule for a brief time known as the great tribulation. Satan comes to us with this temptation but we need to wait upon God for the best He has for us. I will illustrate this as we see a young couple right after they are married and hardly have any thing to their name. He has a low paying job and his wife works part time. They are able to make it and the bills are being paid. One day they come to a mall and enter a furniture store. They find a bedroom set marked down. It is dream to them. So the salesman says this is an opportunity of a lifetime. It will last you the rest of your life. It is a smart investment. It is the last one in stock. I will knock off a few hundred dollars just for them. This will not be here long. The go off to talk about it. This is a chance of a lifetime. It is what they have been looking for. It seems so good to come at this time of need. Wait we cannot buy this with our other expenses. But it will not be here much longer. The salesman comes over to say do not worry about finances for I can check your credit and we can set up a payment plan. Let me check and we can deliver it this afternoon. I need to go to lunch and need for you to decide now. They decide it to be OK and are given a burden that will be around their necks for many years. All because they want it now. This temptation had probably happened to all of us and though we do not see the devil’s signatures on it comes from his office. It was God’s will for Christ to receive the kingdom of this world. Satan has said, “Since you have not wanted to do it my way by turning the stone into bread, let me help you get what God wants you to have.” You can reign now over what you will reign over but this way is much easier. God has all to give us but it comes in His way not ours. Jesus suffered and died but with it, He is able to save us from all our sins. He is coming back some day to rule over all the earth. It is in God’s time and not Satan’s. The best God has for us will come because He has the best for us.