Matthew 4:1-11
“Dueling with the Devil”
By: Ken Sauer, Pastor of East Ridge United Methodist Church, Chattanooga, TN www.eastridgeumc.com
Immediately after Jesus is baptized, He is compelled by the Spirit of God into the desert or wilderness.
The wilderness is a metaphor for the “domain of demons.”
It’s a place of vulnerability.
It is a place where our guard is down and we are desperate.
It is a dangerous place, for it is the playground of Satan!
The Bible informs us that Satan is the “Prince of the Power of the Air,” the “Ruler of this world,” and 1 Peter chapter 5 informs us that our “enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
Therefore we are called to be “self-controlled and alert.”
We are to “resist him, standing firm in the faith…”
But how can we do this when we are in the wilderness, the domain of the demons?
Every day, every moment we face temptation.
Remember Achilles from Greek mythology?
Achilles was the guy who was dipped head first into the River Styx, and this made him immortal and invulnerable, except for his heel that he had been held by.
Achilles later suffered a mortal wound to his heel—his vulnerable spot.
And Satan is quick to notice our Achilles heels…it’s where he stoops for his attack.
What is your Achilles heel?
It is important to know it and be aware, for it is the place you are most vulnerable—you will be attacked there over and over again!!!
That is a guarantee!!!
The writer of Hebrews tells us that Jesus was tempted in every way possible.
And these temptations were all ways of distorting, perverting the reason Jesus came to earth: to be a truly human being, to be God’s Person, to be a Servant to the world and to other people.
Jesus shared our flesh and blood.
In the human sense, Jesus was the descendant of Adam, as we all are, and He faced not only what Adam faced but also the powers that have been unleashed through human rebellion and sin down through the ages!
The Devil has become used to twisting human beings into whatever shape he wants.
Satan is the essence of everything that is against God.
If God loves us more than we can imagine; Satan hates us more than we can imagine…
…for the very sake that we are God’s beloved!!!
When we look at the Bible we see that it is the Devil who is behind human disease and suffering.
It is Satan who seduces Judas.
It is the Devil whom we must fight.
It is the Devil whose power is broken by the work of Jesus.
It is the Devil who is destined for final destruction.
Satan is the power which is against God and everything which is good.
God the Father was saying to Jesus, in essence, “Take my love to men and women; love them till You die for them; save them by this unconquerable love even though You will finish by hanging on a Cross!”
Satan was saying to Jesus, in essence, “Use Your power to blast men and women; obliterate Your enemies; win the world by might and power and bloodshed.”
“Accept the status quo of the rebellious state of the world…
…acknowledge that selfishness and practical atheism prevail, and fit in with it!”
“Jesus, with Your power You can have it all!”
God said, “Set up a reign of love.”
Satan said, “Set up a dictatorship of force!”
The three temptations we read about in our Scripture passage for this evening are plausible, attractive, and make, as we might say, a lot of sense.
But, they have to do with selfishness, power, and the easy way out.
And these are the temptations that the Devil is whispering in our ears every day, are they not?
Go for power!
Live for self!
Love is over-rated!
There sure are mighty echoes here of Adam and Eve in the Garden, with the serpent whispering plausible lies about God, God’s purposes and God’s commands.
A single command; a single temptation; a single devastating result!
Jesus is our model for resisting temptation.
He quotes Scripture, refuses to use His power selfishly, and prefers the Word of God to “material things.”
Do we know our Bible well enough to thwart the lies of the Devil?
Do we spend time, each day in God’s Word?
Do we come to Bible study?
When we have a question, do we turn to God’s Word?
The remedy to temptation and the Devil is more than willpower.
Did you know that during the years of 1987 and 1990, eight million children disappeared in the United States?
However, not one of them was abducted.
Not one of them was kidnapped or harmed.
No.
Rather, in the year 1987 the IRS first began to require proof that children claimed as dependents actually existed.
Beginning in 1987, Social Security numbers were required on tax returns when dependents were claimed.
And suddenly, eight million children disappeared in America.
Temptation.
It is a constant companion, and everyone deals with it.
The key to overcoming temptation is more than to “just say no.”
The key to overcoming temptation is God’s Power!!!
We are never to try and deal with temptation alone.
That’s where the Devil wants to get us—alone in the wilderness.
Jesus wasn’t alone—Jesus entered the domain of demons “full of the Holy Spirit.”
Never let the Devil get you alone.
Whenever you are tempted to let your worship attendance slip, when you begin to think you don’t need others at church these are the Devil’s ways of setting you up for a fall.
Also, don’t play with temptation.
It’s real and it’s deadly.
A wise person once said, “Temptation is to see the Tempter standing outside the back door of your heart.
Sin is to unlock that door so he can have his desire.
Victory is to open wide from the front door of your heart, inviting the Savior to enter and give you strength to bar the back door.”
It’s very important to make the distinction between temptation and sin.
Jesus was tempted in every way we are, but He was without sin.
God does test us, but God does not tempt us to do evil.
As the Bible says in James chapter 1, “When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by [his or her] own evil desire, [he or she] is dragged away and enticed.
Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”
The key is not to let sin be conceived.
As humans, we all have an Achilles heel.
The form in which these weaknesses are manifest varies from person to person.
And Satan is quick to attack at the point of our weaknesses.
Temptation is like a fork in the road.
We either do it God’s way or we do it the Devil’s way.
When we are tempted we are confronted with an opportunity!
Because temptation is a chance to rise as much as it is a chance to fall.
And we rise by relying on the Power of God!!!
A young man was sent by his company to Spain to work in a new office they were opening there.
He accepted the opportunity because it would help him to earn enough money to marry his long-time girlfriend.
The plan was to pool their money and, when he got back, put a down payment on a house and get married.
As he said good-bye to his girlfriend at the airport, he promised to write every day and keep in touch.
However, as the lonely weeks slowly slipped by, his letters came less and less often and his girlfriend back home started to have her doubts.
“Spain is filled with beautiful women,” she wrote, “and after all you are a handsome man.”
When he got that letter, he wrote her right away declaring that he was paying absolutely no attention to the local girls.
“I admit,” he wrote, “that I am tempted. But I find myself so busy with my work that I have no time for such foolishness.”
When the mail came, the young man received a package from his sweetheart.
In it was a harmonica and a note.
“I’m sending you this harmonica,” his girlfriend wrote, “so you will have something to take your mind off those girls.”
He wrote back thanking her for the harmonica and promised to practice it every night as he thought only of her.
Finally, after months of waiting, the day came for him to return to the States and his girlfriend was waiting for him at the airport.
As he rushed to embrace her, she held up a restraining hand and said sternly, “Hold on there. First, I want to hear that harmonica!”
I remember my dad telling me as I went off to college, “Life is so short Ken. It seems like yesterday when I was always the youngest person at work, in meetings, and so forth. Now, out of the blue, I’m always the oldest!”
Life on this earth is short, and we cannot receive from Satan what God has to offer: Full life here on earth filled with peace, love and meaning and then eternal life with God in heaven.
Christ was tempted to compromise His ministry and His mission for the immediate, selfishly.
He was tempted to go the way that left the Cross out of it.
And so are we.
But Jesus gave His answer in the domain of demons, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”
“Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.”
Only two Greek words make up what the English translates as “Away from me, Satan!”
They express Jesus’ authoritative command to which Satan must be subject.
But we ourselves do not have such power.
It is Christ Who has defeated the enemy.
It is Christ Who is God-Made-Flesh.
And it is Christ Whom we must rely on completely as we continue to struggle against demonic forces which seek to destroy us, put road blocks up in front of the ministry of this church, and leave the world in the darkness of hell.
When we resist temptation in all its forms, we are doing it not just for our own sakes, but for the sake of Christ, for the sake of a lost and broken world.
For how can we love if we have been dragged away into the abyss of selfishness?
Let us pray…
