OPEN: Several years ago, Christian Herter was running hard for reelection as Governor of Massachusetts, and one day he arrived late at a barbecue.
He’d had no breakfast or lunch, and he was famished. As he moved down the serving line, he held out his plate and received one piece of chicken. The governor said to the serving lady, “Excuse me, do you mind if I get another piece of chicken. I’m very hungry.”
“Sorry, I’m supposed to give one piece to each person,” the woman replied.
“But I’m starved,” he repeated, and again she said: “Only one to a customer.”
Herter was normally a modest man, but he decided this was the time to use the weight of his office, and said, “Madam, do you know who I am? I am the governor of this state.”
“Do you know who I am?” she asked.
When he replied he did not she answered: “I’m the lady in charge of chicken. Move along please”
APPLY: The Governor of Massachusetts ended up looking foolish because he tried to claim authority, that wasn’t his to claim.
ILLUS: Back when President Reagan was shot and the nation spent an anxious day waiting for the outcome of surgery. Some in the media asked the question: who’s in charge while the president is hospitalized – and for a few hours there was some worry about what might happen if there was a national crisis while Reagan was incapacitated.
Hoping to put those worries to rest, Alexander Haig (one of Reagan’s staff) stepped up and made the bold declaration: “I’m in charge here!” And he was promptly ridiculed because there were people who DID KNOW who was supposed to be in charge… and they knew Haig wasn’t.
Several days of news reports followed that laid out the pattern of the succession of authority and Haig was WAY down the list.
I. Who has authority? Who’s in charge?
In the movie, “The Lord of the Rings” the Dark Lord (Sauron) has the authority. He has the power. And he takes all of his power and stores it in one magical ring – the ring of power. But Sauron loses his ring in battle, and everyone who gains possession of the ring from that point on lusts for the power the ring can give. What they all learn in time – however – is that the ring’s power doesn’t belong to them… it belongs to the Dark Lord who formed it.
The plot of that story is the quest embarked on by the forces of good to destroy the evil power of Sauron - by destroying the ring.
The main point, tho’, is that the ring and its power belonged to the Dark Lord.
Here in Matthew 4, we find Satan claiming that same power for himself. Turn with me to verses 8 and 9:
“Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."
Now, just where does the devil get off telling Jesus to bow down and worship him? Doesn’t Satan realize who he’s dealing with?
Well… yes he does.
In fact, this is the moment Satan has been waiting for ever since the dawn of creation. Satan’s objective (ever since the beginning of time) has been to has been to have God bow down to him
Ezekiel 28:12-17 speaks of Satan when it says: “You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz and emerald, chrysolite, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared. You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones.
You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings.
What this passage tells us about Satan is, he was an angel of prominence. One of the most beautiful of all the angelic host. And seemingly an archangel – with a place of great influence in God’s creation.
But then Isaiah 14:12-15 tells us a little more about him “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how you are cut down to the ground, which weakened the nations!
For you said in your heart “I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God:
I will sit upon the mount of the congregation, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain.
I will ascend above the clouds; I will be like the most High.
Yet you shall be brought down to hell, to the depths of the pit.”
It seems that, because of his beauty and prominence, Lucifer sought to place himself above God
To claim God’s power and position
To claim God’s authority and importance
He wanted it for himself.
Unlike the Dark Lord in the “Lord of the Rings” Satan had no authority or power in his own right – so he sought to steal and cheat and lie to obtain that which belonged to God.
(pause) We’re told that in the beginning, God gave the world and all that was within it to Adam and Eve. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Genesis 1:28
The earth and all that was in it was created and given over to Adam and Eve. They had commanded to rule over and subdue God’s creation and they were placed in stewardship over it. In that action, God had given to Adam and Eve (if you will) the deed to His creation.
BUT when they sinned…
When they deliberately disobeyed God…
When they deliberately bought into Satan’s temptation that their sin would make them “like God”…
… they handed over to Satan the “deed” to God’s creation so that (later) when Jesus referred to the devil He called him “…the prince (or ruler) of this world” John 12:31
And Paul called him “the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.” Ephesians 2:2
So, here in Matthew 4, as Satan attempts to tempt Jesus, we find that this Dark Lord still wants what he was denied in heaven.
He still wants to exalt (his) throne above the stars of God
He still desires to ascend above the clouds; (and to become) like the most High
And Satan did have a bargaining chip:
“the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me." (Matthew 4:8-9)
When Satan did that, he was offering Jesus something he really had.. He now owned what Adam and Eve once possessed.
You see.. at that time Satan really was the “ruler of this world”
And he was offering Jesus a trade.
He’s basically telling Jesus – I’ll give you what you want… if You’ll give me what I want
Bow down… worship me… acknowledge me as the supreme power…. And I’ll give you back what I’ve stolen.
Satan knew how much God loved His creation. And Satan was bargaining that God would be allow Satan to be exalted in power that God would willing to surrender His sovereignty in order to save that which He loved so much.
II. Satan was partly right and partly wrong
Satan was wrong, because…
· Jesus wasn’t about to bow down before this wicked creature
· Jesus wasn’t about to this twisted offer by giving Satan what he didn’t deserve.
· In fact, Jesus had no intention of even stooping to a debate with that Dark Lord.
Instead of falling into an argument with Satan, Jesus simply quoted scriptures.
ILLUS: It reminds me of one little boy, whose mother asked him how Jesus got rid of the devil when he tempted Jesus.” The boy replied. “He told the devil all His memory verses.”
So, Satan was wrong in assuming Jesus would ever submit to giving him the honor and glory that was never his to have.
But Satan was partly right, too. For he gambled that God was willing to surrender his sovereignty to rescue mankind.
Philippians 2 tells us “Christ Jesus, who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2: 6-11
Jesus surrendered His Godhood, to take on the form of a servant, to be made in human likeness, so that we could be rescued from the grip of Satan.
ILLUS: S.D. Gordon. a Boston preacher, used a beat-up rusty bird cage one Sunday to illustrate his sermon. First he explained how he had come by the cage, saying when he first saw it. it contained several miserable small birds, and was carried by a boy of about 10.
Curious, he asked the lad what he was going to do with the birds.
"I’m going to play with them...have some fun with them." the boy responded.
"But after that!" the preacher persisted.
"Oh, I have some cats at home, and they like birds." said the boy.
Compassion tugged at the minister’s heart, and he asked the boy what he would take for the birds. Surprised, the boy blurted: "Mister, you don’t want to buy these birds. They’re ugly.. just field birds. They don’t sing, or anything."
Nevertheless. Dr. Gordon persisted, and soon struck a bargain with the boy for the birds.
At the first opportunity he released the poor creatures.
After explaining the presence of the empty cage. Dr. Gordon then told another story, this time about how Satan boasted that he had baited a trap and caught a world full of people. "What are you going to do with them!" Jesus asked him.
"I’m going to play with them, tease them; make them marry and divorce, and fight and kill one another. I’ll teach them to throw bombs at each other." Satan replied.
"And when you get tired of playing with them. what will you do with them!" Jesus queried.
"Condemn them." Satan answered. ’They’re no good anyway."
Jesus then asked what Satan would take for them.
"You can’t be serious," the devil responded. ’They would just spit on You. They’d hit you and hammer nails into You. They’re no good."
"How much?" the Lord asked again.
"All your tears and all your blood; that’s the price." Satan said gleefully.
Jesus paid the price, took the cage, and opened the door.
That’s why John 3:16 is so powerful “For God so Loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
CLOSE: Dr. Walter L. Wilson tells of the Revival he held where a woman approached him after the crowds had gone to explain that she had a desire to become a Christian but she just couldn’t understand how God could forgive her and accept her. For some reason, Dr. Wilson felt he should ask her if she recalled any scripture. At that point she said yes:
"For God so loved the world that he gave His only FORGOTTEN son..."
Noting that she had substituted "forgotten" for "begotten" he realized what he could say to help her... "Do you know why God forgot His son?"
"No," she replied.
“He forgot His son because He wanted to remember you.”
SERMONS IN THIS SERIES:
The Dark Lord - The Lord of The Ring = Ephesians 6:10-6:18
The Fellowship of the Ring = Matthew 16:13-16:19
Who Is The Lord Of The Ring = Matthew 4:1-4:11
Return Of The King = Revelation 19:4-19:16
