Matthew 4:1-11
A mother walked into the kitchen one day and interrupted her 3 year old, who was on top of a chair eating cookies.
When she asked what he was doing, the toddler explained: “Mom, I just climbed up here to smell them but my tooth got caught.
When we give in to temptation we almost always have a justifiable excuse as to why we gave in.
For the next 6 weeks many of us will be fighting the temptation to break down and give up on the commitments we made last Wednesday when we decided to give up certain foods or activities during the Lenten season.
I know some chocolate lovers who are probably having 4th stage withdrawal symptoms right about now.
There are others who are longing to watch TV or craving a piece of pie, or longing for a Pepsi or Coke.
This always happens around this time of the year because this is the Lenten season and Ash Wednesday, which was last Wednesday, is the day we commit to giving up some vice, or delicacy that we believe will help us to experience a little of what it feels like to be tempted as Jesus was at the beginning of his ministry.
As for me, I didn’t give up anything. I thought about giving up meat and sweets again this year, but by 10:30 am on Wednesday morning I had already eaten several pieces of ham, and a piece of Cake.
I usually stop down in the kitchen when Ann and Larry are preparing the Rotary luncheon and the temptation to snack is always greater than my desire to resist.
Which makes me admire Jesus all the more because in our reading it starts by saying: “Jesus was lead by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights he was hungry.”
Note: it was after forty days and nights of fasting that the devil came to tempt him. He didn’t come in the beginning when Jesus was strong and in fresh, no, he waited until Jesus was hungry, tired and weak.
He waited until Jesus was probably at his lowest.
Administrators in prison camps use to use this technique to get information out of prisoners. They would keep them from falling asleep and withhold nourishment and water from them until they were in a weaken condition and then tempt them with food and drink to get them to admit to false saying or to get them say whatever they wanted them to say.
Starvation is one of the most effective forms of torture known to man because it gets results. When everything else fails, starvation breaks down all barriers. Because the physical human body needs physical nourishment to remain strong and healthy.
But even in this weaker condition, Jesus was able to resist the temptations of the devil because Jesus relied more on the power of God that came from being in a personal relationship with God.
The same kind of relationship that God wants to have with each and every human being that was ever born.
You might say that Jesus couldn’t fail this test of temptation because of his divine nature. You may think he used supernatural powers to resist the devil.
But if you read the bible you know that Jesus was fully human—and if the temptation he suffered was to be legitimate Jesus had to be exactly like those he came to save. He needed to be human in every aspect because only then would God be able to use him as an example for us to follow.
Hebrews 2:14-18 says:
“Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For surely it is not Angles he helps, but Abraham’s descendants (all of us).
For this reason, he had to be made like his brothers and sisters in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”
And again in Hebrews Chapter 4:15 it says: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize (meaning to identify ) with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.”
So if Jesus did not yield to the temptation to sin then we don’t have to yield to it either. Amen.
In every way Jesus was just like us with the exception that he was conceived by Immaculate Conception.
In all other aspects of his life and nature, Jesus was fully human.
He was born a baby who had to have someone love and care for him just as we do.
He grew up facing the same issues—having to make everyday choices just as we do.
He felt pain when he was hurt just as we do.
He got hungry and tired just as we do.
He shed tears when he was sad just as we do.
He was tempted daily by the devil just as we are.
He had the opportunity to choose who he was going to follow just as we do.
He chose to follow God just as we should.
There are times when we give the devil too much credit. We blame him for all our troubles and indirectly he is the reason. Because it was because of Satan that sin came into the world, if you don’t know the story, you can read all about it in Genesis Chapter 3.
But more directly many times it is not Satan that is to blame for our troubles—it is us and our unwillingness to follow God wholeheartedly that is the cause of our troubles. Sometimes all we have to do is say, NO, to to the devil when he comes prowling around looking for someone to devour, and he will leave us. The scriptures say: Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
More times than not—we make unwise choices when faced with the temptation to sin that get us into hot water and we cry foul! Shame on you devil for doing this to me—when in actuality it was us who were weak and yielded because we did not do as Jesus did and use the power of the Holy Spirit which comes for reading and meditating on the Word of God—but instead we relied on our human strength to get us through.
Notice that the first words out of Jesus’ mouth when the devil offers him the opportunity to change stones into bread were: “It is written!”
And then he says, “People do not live on bread alone,
But, (and this is a really bit but)—but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
If you are trying to resist the temptations of the devil on the strength you get from meat and potatoes—you might want to pay close attention to this scripture.
The power to resist temptations doesn’t come from sitting on our posteriors at the dinner table—it come from being on our knees at the altar. Asking God to forgive us and accepting Jesus as our savior.
The power to resist the temptations of the devil can only be given to us by God.
There are many times in my life when I have failed to live up to the standards and expectations that I have set for myself. And in almost all instances, I beat up on myself afterwards trying to figure out why I was not able to remain strong in the face of whatever I yielded too.
In every case it was because I sought to win the battle on my own and didn’t consult God until it was too late.
That hasn’t happened lately because now I know from whom I get my strength.
Now I know who holds all power over sins and how to have him unleash that power on the enemy whenever I find myself facing some insurmountable obstacle or spiritual battle with the enemy..
I know as Jesus stated, that I do not live on bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
I know that there is no valley to wide or mountain too high that can’t be overcome by the power of Jesus.
I know that there is no situation in life that God and I cannot handle together.
I know that each morning when I wake up that the devil is sitting on the side of my bed waiting to pick up where he left off the day before—and that he will follow me and Jesus all day long waiting for an opportunity to trap me, or lure me into one of his traps.
I know that if I don’t say “No” to sin, I can never say “Yes” to God—because it is impossible to go in two directions at the same time.
Three times in this text the devil tried to win Jesus over to his team and three times Jesus used the Holy Word of God to stand him off.
I love the way, Jesus finally dismisses The devil.
Look at verse 10. Away from me, Satan, Get out of here! In other words, I’ve just about enough of you and your tricks.
When Jesus said “No” to the devil he was saying “Yes” to God.
There are many times in life when we come to Jesus with the intention of saying yes, but we wind up saying no.
There is a story in Mark 10, about such a man. He came to Jesus asking the question as to what he must do to inherit eternal life. He had all the intentions of saying yes but when Jesus told him what he needed to do, he became sad and slowly turned and walked away, because to sell all he had and give the proceeds to the poor was more than he bargained for.
He came wanting to say yes to God, but the possibilities of what Jesus lays out for him is not what he expected.
There are going to be times in our lives when we are called to make a choice.
To say no to temptation and to say Yes to God!
To say no to temptation and say yes to our Faith!
To say no to temptation and say yes to obedience!
I believe these are radical choices but nonetheless these are choices that have to be made. Jesus made them.
3 times he said No! And by saying no to the devil he was saying Yes to God.
Jesus made his radical choice and he encourages others to make theirs.
Let me close by saying, if we want to follow Jesus’ example and make wise choices as we go through this life we need to learn the lesson of the dog.
If you have ever trained a dog to obey then you know this scene.
First you place a piece of meat on the floor near the dog and the master says No! Now the dog knows that No means he is not supposed to touch the meat.
What happens is, the dog will usually take his eyes off the meat because the temptation to disobey is far greater when he looks at it.
Instead he fixes his eyes on his master’s face. So the lesson of the dog is: Always look at the master’s face.
Yield not to temptation,
For yielding is sin;
Each vict'ry will help you
Some other to win;
Fight manfully onward,
Dark passions subdue,
Look ever to Jesus,
Because it is He and only He that is able to carry you through. Amen.
I invite anyone who feels led to come forward now to receive the oil of anointing and to pause and kneel at the Altar to offer God your thanks and praise for sending and sacrificing his one and only Son.
Please come as the Holy Spirit Leads you.
